JACKSONVILLE, Florida, April 2, 2024 — On November 2, Mayor Donna Deegan, City Councilman Michael Boylan, Dr. Sunil Joshi, Chief Health Officer for the City of Jacksonville, and Lynn Sherman, Executive Director of Health Programs for the City of Jacksonville, launched Get Covered Jax!, a public education campaign to help Jacksonville residents without health insurance get covered.
At that time, approximately 120,000 individuals were uninsured in Duval County. As of the close of the open enrollment period, the number of new enrollees was 40,726 – a 34% decrease in the number of uninsured individuals.
In the interest of building a healthier Jacksonville for everybody, Mayor Deegan and healthcare leaders in City Hall created the Get Covered Jax! campaign to help make the process of enrolling in a private healthcare plan as simple – and as painless – as possible.
“I am thrilled that Get Covered Jax! was so successful,” said Mayor Deegan. “I often say that a confused mind says ‘no,’ and this campaign provided important information for our citizens so they could say ‘yes’ to enrolling in health insurance. I want Jacksonville to be a healthier city because health, both physical and mental, is key to our economic prosperity. And the fact that Get Covered Jax! helped reduce our uninsured rate by 34 percent is a tremendous first step in helping us get there. I look forward to reducing this rate even further during the next open enrollment period.”
Get Covered Jax! sought to educate citizens about the benefits of having health insurance, eligibility, coverage options available, best practices for navigating the Marketplace, and resources to help consumers through the process.
“More people will now have access to preventative health services including yearly physical exams, blood work, vaccinations and cancer screening that can help keep people healthy,” said Dr. Joshi, Chief Health Officer for the City of Jacksonville. “It is very encouraging to see so many people take advantage of signing up for marketplace insurance. This is just the beginning of our road to being one of the healthiest communities in the country.”
The next general open enrollment period will begin on November 1, 2024.
About the City of Jacksonville
The City of Jacksonville is the largest city by land mass in the contiguous United States, serving nearly one million residents. City of Jacksonville leadership includes Mayor Donna Deegan and a 19-member City Council led by President Ron Salem. The City of Jacksonville and Duval County are the only consolidated city-county government in Florida. To learn more, visit jacksonville.gov.
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