Covered California will be paying $58 for each enrollment through their In-Person Assistance Program. The enrollment must be completed by a Certified Enrollment Counselor and is paid to a Certified Enrollment Entity (CEE). The CEE can be any number of organizations including a church or philanthropic group. The enrollment compensation may be a fundraising opportunity for some nonprofit organizations.
Fundraising with Covered California
Certified Enrollment Counselors who speak different languages are in high demand.
When I explained the In-Person Assistance enrollment program to one gentleman recently he started to map out how he could generate a nice donation for his favorite nonprofit. Essentially, if he was to become a CEC, enrolled 10 individuals or families, he could let his nonprofit keep the $580 compensation as a donation. Wow, helping people get affordable health insurance and making a donation to your favorite charity or group all at once!
Certified Enrollment Entity
While it isn’t an insurmountable task to get set up as a CEE or CEC, it will require some time. The CEE needs to be an organization that can reach out to a targeted population (ethnic, farmers, fisherman, construction, church members, etc) and have the necessary organization to handle receiving compensation, insurance and some staff.
CEEs needed to recruit counselors
Payments for completed enrollments will be paid to the CEE, not the CEC. The CEE has to reimburse the CEC for the completed applications. So you can begin to see that the CEE needs to be able to handle the paperwork for each of the CECs affiliated with it. Of course, if the CEC let’s the CEE keep the $58 per completed and effectuated enrollment, that will reduce the paperwork. There is a specific agreement that the perspective CEE needs to sign making sure they have the necessary infrastructure, mission and have no conflicts of interest.
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Certified Enrollment Counselor
The path to becoming a CEC is a little more arduous. In order to become “certified” to enroll individuals and families in Covered California health plans, and be eligible to receive the $58 compensation, a person need to complete 2 1/2 days of training, pass a background check with finger printing and pass a final test. As a method of generating donations to your favorite nonprofit or charity, it is ideal for retired folks that can invest the time and make the commitment to enroll people.
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Volunteers and donating the compensation
If a person is passionate about helping enroll folks in affordable health insurance plans and has time to commit to training and working with families, it might be a good fundraiser. Covered California has said they will also pay the $58 for people who are enrolled in Medi-Cal. It is hard to determine if a person or family is eligible for Medi-Cal until the application is being filled out with income data.
This isn’t like selling popcorn
It is estimated that each application will take approximately 60 minutes. This will be the ideal situation if the household has all their documentation like their 2012 tax return. If documents like proof of residency or immigration status need to be scanned and uploaded it may take longer or another in-person meeting. This may be more “volunteer/donation” time than some people are willing to invest.
A variety of funding possibilities
Trained Certified Enrollment Counselors will be available to help individuals and families enroll in health plans.
- One example might be a church with 100 families. If 50 of those families could be enrolled in a Covered California health plan that would be a $2,900 donation to the church. (50 x $58 = $2900). If the CECs affiliated with the church were to go out into the community and help enroll other households, the donation potential would be even greater.
- A school district could become the CEE and work with parents to get certified as CECs and have enrollment payments go to the Parent-Teacher Association for needed school supplies.
- A CO-Op might become a CEE, have one of the members get certified as a CEC and the funds could go to improvements or scholarships for local FFA students.
Pay day is after the 1st
All of this hard work won’t see a return until mid-January 2014. Covered California will pay the $58 after the enrolled member has
Volunteers with Sacramento Mighty Oaks have been trained to explain the different elements of Covered California.
made their first premium payment. Consequently, enrollments done in October, November and December can’t be paid until the application is put into effect. However, this is the fundraiser that keeps on giving. Annual renewals of $25 will also be paid to the CEE.
Commitment is necessary
I don’t want to leave you with the impression that this is easy money. Volunteers need to invest time to get certified. The CEC could donate all of their $58 to the organization or maybe they split the payment on some agreed percentage like 50-50. There is also the prospect that some families will need more assistance the others. The CECs may need to have multiple meetings with the household to answer questions, acquire necessary documents or change data in the online enrollment system.
Will rural California get assistance?
It’s possible that if not enough organizations don’t become CEEs and recruit enough CECs, there will be parts of rural California that will be under served with enrollment opportunities for affordable health insurance. The In-Person Assistance program can be a great fundraiser for some organizations, but more importantly, it will help many households obtain affordable health insurance to keep them healthy and productive.
For more information about becoming a Certified Enrollment Entity or Certified Enrollment Counselor visit Covered California needs “Boots on the Ground” assistance
Certified Enrollment Entity Web Page