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Grant will aid access to health care for Portland minorities

By Staff

The Maine Health Access Foundation has awarded a $20,000 grant to help increase the number of Portland residents enrolled in the MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, and in health coverage provided through the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace.

The four-month grant will be used by the Portland Public Health Division’s Minority Health Program, which aims to increase MaineCare and marketplace enrollment for minority populations with assistance from community health outreach workers (CHOWs).

The program will serve identified low-income and underserved French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic and English-speaking community members.

“We are very excited that our partnership will support Maine’s efforts to do outreach and increase enrollment for MaineCare and Marketplace for minority and underserved populations in Greater Portland,” said Nélida R. Berke, minority health program coordinator for the Public Health Division.

Five CHOWs will implement outreach and education events in their respective communities to identify persons who are either newly eligible under the 2018 MaineCare expansion or are seeking new or re-enrollment for the federal marketplace.

The growth of MaineCare coverage

After the July 2018 expansion of MaineCare, over 70,000 people in Maine became eligible for Medicaid, including those with incomes up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Limit, people who are pregnant and people ages 19-20 who are currently uninsured. Although residents in the state have access to enrollment-support organizations such as Consumers for Affordable Health Care and Maine Equal Justice Partners, the biggest barriers to enrollment are knowledge of the opportunity to enroll and completing the extensive electronic paperwork, barriers which have greater impacts for non-English-speaking or low-income community members.  

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