MNsure, of course, is Minnesota’s Obamacare exchange. They are looking for the young, healthy, legal immigrants to make it work. The part I don’t get is, how is it going to help premiums for all if the immigrant is unemployed and will likely just be pushed onto Medicaid?
Here is the news from Minnesota Public Radio about how to get tens of thousands of Somalis signed up:
The Somali 24 Mall and mosque in Minneapolis is a serpentine maze of stalls, where merchants selling sandals, cell phones, prayer rugs and pots try to lure the throngs of shoppers.
Most days you won’t find health insurance among the wares. But that’s what Asli Ashkir was trying to sell recently — in Somali and English.
Ashkir isn’t an insurance agent. She leads Somali Health Solutions,* an organization designed to introduce people to MNsure, the state’s new online health insurance marketplace.
Minnesota is home to at least 83,000 uninsured immigrants who may be eligible for health coverage through the state’s new insurance marketplace. But convincing them to use the new exchange is proving to be a communications challenge.
“The government will be at your side…..”
Ashkir’s organization has crafted a decidedly Somali outreach plan that includes telephone and in-person assistance in Somali. On her visit to the mall, Ashkir enlisted the imam in the mall’s mosque to talk about the program during the midday prayer.
“Whatever the Imam says is highly respected,” she said. “He is the leader in the religion.”
Setting up shop at the mall also was strategic. On Fridays, when few Somalis work, the shopping center attracts young, uninsured men — a demographic that’s critical to the economics of the exchange. [They would have to be employed men with a decent salary to make it work! Right?—ed]
Hassan Abdi of Minneapolis followed the imam’s advice and stopped by. Abdi, who is unemployed, dropped his health insurance earlier this year because it cost too much and covered too little. He had not heard of MNsure and wanted to know the cost.
“Sometimes, it’s difficult to get the insurance that covers all of your needs,” he said.
Price is a chief concern among the people she’s talked to about MNsure, Ashkir said.
“But there’s help available from the federal as well as the state, that’s what we keep telling them,” Askir said. “You will be supported if you don’t make enough. The government will be at your side to help you. Then, they like that.”
About the photo: Minnesota Public Radio says that symbols chosen for MNsure’s logo are unfamiliar to most immigrants. No kidding!
*By the way, I tried to find some financials for Somali Health Solutions, but could not. I couldn’t even figure out in my cursory search if they are a non-profit organization.