For years now, low income people who visited Ohio’s foodbanks could also get help filling out paperwork necessary to get health care through the federal Affordable Care Act’s Navigator program, but not anymore.
The Ohio Association of Foodbank’s Lisa Hamler Fugitt says she’s profoundly disappointed that the foodbanks are being forced to end the service because of a 71 percent cut in funding for it.
“Quite honestly, we had really no ability to continue to provide these services or recoup the expenses that we were incurring," Hamler says.
Hamler Fugitt says the navigator program has been instrumental in helping people who live in rural areas who are not able to use computers or navigate the internet. Though they will no longer have the assistance of helpers at food banks, Ohioans can still sign up for the program on the website Healthcare.gov or by phone. But the Trump administration has decided to shut down the site for 12 hours every Sunday but one during the open enrollment period.
