Under Trump administration budget cuts two years ago, the state’s health care navigator program was reduced to one tool for finding uninsured people and getting them insured: a telephone number that’s answered in West Virginia. That’s about to change. 

A $1.6 million federal grant headed to New Hampshire will maintain the hotline but will also add 16 navigators across the state. They will partner with local health care and social service agencies to help people navigate enrollment challenges of Medicare, Medicaid, and private plans in the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Marketplace.

“Our whole approach is grassroots, on the ground, reaching people where they are, trying to tackle health insurance complexity,” said Elias Ashooh, project director for the newly created Health Market Connect, which received $1 million of the grant. The company has hired about half of its 13 navigators and plans to begin by Oct. 1. “I just think it’s a win for New Hampshire.”

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