The Trump administration says navigator groups are ineffective, with 78% failing to meet their enrollment goals last year, and only signed up 81,426 people, or less than 1% of total enrollment.
In cutting advertising, it said most people already know about Obamacare enrollment and that the administration would instead rely on digital media, email and text messages to inform consumers about the shorter sign-up period.
Former Obama administration officials dispute the numbers, saying they do not reflect the scope of navigators’ work or capture everyone who they helped sign up. They did not provide their own data on the groups’ impact.
Navigators say that this year, their work includes convincing the skeptical that they will have benefits.
“Our big focus has been to redirect clients to say this is a law and until this law is repealed you are safe and have coverage,” said Madiha Tariq, deputy director for community health and research at ACCESS.