NC Navigator Consortium Receives $6.4M Award From Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Grant is the second largest award given to 59 organizations across the country 

Raleigh, N.C. – The NC Navigator Consortium is proud to announce that the total for its 2022 CMS Navigator Cooperative Agreement is $6,444,386, the second largest award given to 59 navigator organizations in the United States. The NC Navigator Consortium reaches more than 300,000 North Carolinians each year, providing peace of mind to those seeking free, unbiased help finding quality, affordable health insurance coverage. This grant will enable the organization to expand its reach and increase awareness of the credits and subsidies available on the Health Insurance Marketplace® at HealthCare.gov. More about the NC Navigator Consortium is available at ncnavigator.net. Information about the program and all 2022 awardees can be found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) website.

The NC Navigator Consortium is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group of organizations whose health insurance navigators connect consumers to qualified health plans that provide essential health benefits and preventive care, in addition to mental healthcare, ER care and maternity coverage, not limited by caps or pre-existing conditions. Navigators show consumers all their options, and check to ensure their providers and prescriptions are covered on the plan they select. Navigators are available year-round for questions and to address other issues like qualifying life events, special Open Enrollment periods and income adjustments.

“We thank CMS and are humbled by the vote of confidence in our organization that this award represents,” said Mark Van Arnam, director of the NC Navigator Consortium, who added more than one million North Carolinians are uninsured. “This grant will ensure every North Carolina resident has access to the help they need to get coverage to keep their families healthy.”

According to CMS: “Since 2013, Navigators have helped Americans understand their health insurance options … As trusted community partners, their mission focuses on assisting the uninsured and other underserved communities. Navigators serve an important role in connecting communities that historically have experienced lower access to health coverage and greater disparities in health outcomes to health coverage.”

“With adequate health insurance, families in poverty don’t have to choose between staying healthy and feeding their family or keeping the lights on,” said Ashley Campbell, CEO of Legal Aid of North Carolina, which leads the NC Navigator Consortium. “Access to affordable health insurance is key to providing stability for our clients and helps move families out of poverty.”

The NC Navigator Consortium is the only federally funded entity of its kind in North Carolina, supported in part by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Learn more at ncnavigator.net, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Members of the Consortium are Access East, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, Council on Aging of Buncombe County, Cumberland HealthNET, HealthCare Access, HealthNet Gaston, Kintegra Health, NC Field and Pisgah Legal Services. The Consortium is led by Legal Aid of North Carolina

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Learn more at legalaidnc.org. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube

The project described was supported by Funding Opportunity number CA-NAV-21-001 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The contents provided are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or any of its agencies.