Of the $10.8 million given to Texas groups by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the Affordable Care Act's "navigator" program, the Texas chapter of Migrant Health Promotion received over $580,000.
The group will be promoting healthcare solutions to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in South Texas.
"Our programs are all grounded in the promotora model," said Rachel Udow, a grantwriter at Migrant Health Promotion. "Promotaras are community health workers who are trusted members of the communities that they serve. And so our approach to the navigator grant was to propose that Promotoras, who we employ as an organization, be the navigators in the community."
Udow said that since the state opted out of the federally-funded Medicaid expansion that is part of the ACA, there are many more people in Texas who are uninsured and will need help with the insurance exchanges.
"There are a lot of people that will need outreach and education about what their options are," Udow said "and our goal is to reach an estimated 200,000 people through outreach and promotion about the market place."
Udow said about 4,200 of that population will actually qualify for some type of assistance.
