White House launches competition to reduce uninsured in 20 communities

Twenty communities will compete to sign up more of their eligible uninsured residents for coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplaces this open enrollment period, the White House announced today. “Based on particularly high opportunity for impact, the White House reached out to local officials in each of these 20 communities, who embraced the ‘Healthy Communities Challenge’ to get their uninsured constituents covered,” the White House said. At the end of open enrollment, the Department of Health and Human Services and state-based Marketplaces will publish tallies of new signups in the communities, which will be compared to previous HHS estimates of their eligible uninsured residents to see which communities made the most progress. “The victorious community gets bragging rights, a healthier community and a visit from President Obama to celebrate their success in helping ensure every American has health coverage,” the White House said. The communities are: Atlanta; Charlotte, NC; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Detroit; Great Falls, MT; Kansas City, MO; Las Vegas; Long Beach, CA; Milwaukee; Nashville, TN; New Orleans; Oakland, CA; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Richmond, VA; Salt Lake City; Seattle; and Tampa, FL.