The federal mandate for health insurance coverage impacts thousands of Kentuckians.
Another step toward getting those individuals covered occurred today in Lexington. A call center for the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange Office is located in Lexington. Gov. Steve Beshear was on hand for the official launch of the center where 60 agents stand by ready to answer questions. Carrie Banahan directs the Exchange office.
“We have over 640 thousand people today in Kentucky that don’t have health insurance and we’ll be able to cover most of those folks through the Medicaid expansion as well as premium assistance that will be available through the exchange,” said Banahan.
Open enrollment begins in October. Between now and then, Banahan says an advertisement campaign will include radio, television, billboards, and bus banners. She says well known insurers like Anthem, Humana, Bluegrass Family Health, United Healthcare of Kentucky, and the Kentucky Healthcare Cooperative are all enlisted in the program. 60 people are stationed at desks in Lexington answering questions. Xerox spokesman Chris Gilligan says upwards of 100 agents are expected when open enrollment begins this fall.
“We’re ready to go, having 40 years of experience running call centers around the country. We answer one point six million calls a day at Xerox, so we are experts in this field, so we focus on the call center allowing the state to focus on giving folks better access to health insurance,” said Gilligan.
Some 70 calls came in Thursday, a day before the official launch of the call center. The call center toll free number is 855-459-6328.
