California's health insurance exchange is targeting uninsured LGBT residents with a new marketing campaign aimed at signing them up for coverage.
The billboards, ads in LGBT newspapers and on bus shelters in gay neighborhoods throughout the state began appearing this week. The advertisements from Covered California feature either a male or female same-sex couple with the tagline "Welcome to health insurance made affordable."
It is part of the state-based agency's partnership with 11 local community-based organizations throughout California to reach LGBT people and educate them about the benefits being offered due to the federal Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
The goal is to see as many LGBT people without health insurance as possible sign up for coverage through Covered California by December 23 so their policies will kick in come the new year.
"As of January 1 you will be protected," Peter V. Lee, Covered California's executive director, said Tuesday during a press conference for LGBT media outlets held at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. "Same-sex couples will have the same protections as heterosexual couples. Being transgender will no longer be a pre-existing condition. This is a huge opportunity."
Unlike with the national rollout of Obamacare, derailed by a glitch-prone website and faced with constant attacks from Republicans, the Golden State's online exchange has been dubbed a success. Since opening October 1 through November 23 the exchange has seen 385,556 enrollment applications started.
It is unclear, however, how many of those were from LGBT people. Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have authorized Covered California and Medi-Cal to include voluntary questions about a person's sexual orientation and gender identity on their application forms.
"We are at the early part of the first inning in a nine-inning game," said Lee. "We will continue to look at how we collect data and those we serve."
What is known, said Lee, is that members of the LGBT community are less likely to be insured, are more likely to smoke, leading to increased health risks, and have higher rates of mental illness.
A 2009 study of nearly 5,000 LGBT Americans led by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund found that 10 percent (502 people) were uninsured and that nearly 5 percent (228 people) were both low-income and uninsured.
"The Affordable Care Act is a game changer for our community, especially those with HIV," said Christopher Brown, the L.A. center's director of health and mental health services. "The LGBT community faces significant health disparities and access to health care when compared to our heterosexual brothers and sisters."
Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, many gay and bisexual men with HIV or AIDS were denied health insurance due to pre-existing condition clauses, while transgender people's hormone therapy or gender-reassignment surgery was not covered.
Now, said Lee, "getting into care can be dramatically improved" due to Obamacare.
"Denial of health care for people with HIV or women with breast cancer, that is a thing of the past," he said. "It really is a remarkable testament to our country. The Affordable Care Act is about changing the game for everyone; it is about health insurance being a right not a privilege."
Those without coverage have until March 31 to sign up, as well as receive financial assistance if they qualify, before the open enrollment period ends. Otherwise, the next opportunity to do so will be in October of next year for coverage that begins in 2015. (Medi-Cal enrollment will remain open year round.)
"If in June you get a cancer diagnosis or are hit by a truck you will not be covered. You will have to wait till the next open enrollment," noted Lee. "You run the risk of having medical bills you can't pay. It is why we are trying to pound the pavement."
Undocumented immigrants and people incarcerated are ineligible to apply. The paperwork asks individuals about their immigration status, but Lee noted that the information is not shared with federal immigration officials.
After March 31 those people who are released from jail, lose their employer-provided health insurance due to being fired, or divorce their spouse under whose policy they were covered can still enroll through Covered California.
Those who do not have insurance will face a fiscal penalty for each month they do not carry coverage. In 2014, the fine will be 1 percent of yearly income or $95 per person, whichever is greater, plus an additional $47.50 per child for adults who lack coverage for their children.
In 2016 the fine will increase to 2.5 percent of income or $695 per person, whichever is greater.
Based on the half-page ad that is running for two weeks in the Bay Area Reporter, other than the image of the two men (or two women) there is nothing explicitly stating the new marketing campaign from Covered California is targeting the LGBT community. It does not use the words gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender in the ad copy.
Rather, the message is more generic, explaining that Covered California is "your destination for quality, affordable health insurance." It includes the exchange's website address and toll-free phone number.
"We provide financial assistance for those who need help with their monthly insurance bills, and no one can be denied because of a pre-existing condition," states the ad, which will appear only in English though the website has forms in various languages.
"We are reaching out to the Latino gay community but not in outdoor billboards," said Lee.
In addition to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, the campaign is being rolled out in the counties of San Joaquin, Alameda, Riverside, San Bernardino, Contra Costa, and Orange.
Covered California will continue its marketing efforts through March 31.
"Then we will take a deep breath and evaluate what works," Lee said, before rolling a new campaign sometime in April through next October.
For more information, visit https://www.coveredca.com/