By Justin Giovannelli, Kevin Lucia, and Sarah Dash. 

To help consumers enroll in the recently opened health insurance marketplaces, the Affordable Care Act created outreach and consumer assistance positions such as “navigators,” in-person assisters, and certified application counselors. Though they are subject to uniform federal standards, in practice, these programs range widely from state to state, because of the adoption of laws and regulations in many states that make it difficult for navigators to perform their jobs, as well as differences in funding for consumer assistance for different types of marketplaces. In this post, the first of a two part-series focusing on consumer outreach in federally facilitated exchanges, we continue to examine these new restrictions. Read more here.

Editor’s Note: This blog is part of a series of blogs published by the Commonwealth Fund blog.