“We believe that everyone deserves access to quality, affordable healthcare in Rhode Island,” said Nina Harrison, policy director at the Economic Progress Institute and co-chair of the Protect Our Healthcare Coalition. “Unfortunately, some federal legislation was passed over the summer, and combined with federal inaction, resulted in a projected 53,000 Rhode Islanders expected to lose health insurance in the coming year or so, which is huge. It’s expected to double our uninsured population, and that’s after we’ve done so much successful work as a state to get that number down. Unless we want those federal actions to destabilize our healthcare system here in Rhode Island completely, we need to act now. Fortunately, we have some champions and sponsors in the General Assembly who have introduced great bills to address what Congress failed to address.
“To name what I’m talking about, a federal reconciliation bill, HR1, was passed over the summer that slashed funding for Medicaid in a way that’s going to cause hundreds of millions of dollars to be missing from what the state would normally get in federal funding. Combined with allowing Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire, this will cause 53,000 people in this state to lose healthcare. Today we’ll hear from the legislative sponsors of two bills aimed at addressing these problems. You will hear from providers who have boots on the ground providing this care to people, often uncompensated, and we’ll also hear a patient story.”
Here’s the press conference video. The transcript has been edited for clarity.
“I’m here to talk about the Coalition’s two priority pieces of legislation for the 2026 session,” said Shamus Durac, senior attorney and health policy analyst with RIPIN, and co-chair of the Protect Healthcare Coalition. “First, I’m going to talk about the Protect Our Healthcare Act, H8137 and S2811, a bill intended to address the crisis we’re anticipating in the state’s uninsured population. As you’ve heard, because of federal cuts, the state’s uninsured population is expected to double this year. That’s already started. HealthSource RI reported yesterday that 10,000 fewer people signed up for coverage through HealthSource this year than last year because of the expiration of federal assistance. It’s only going to get worse as the year goes on because of federal cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and the individual market; a total of more than 50,000 Rhode Islanders who were eligible for coverage last year will have lost it by the end of this year.
“Somewhat perversely, those cuts will actually save money in the state budget because when the state has fewer people on Medicaid, it spends less money on Medicaid. Those savings from funds the state had already agreed to pay for healthcare for low-income Rhode Islanders amount to $26.6 million in fiscal year ’27, $54.8 million in fiscal year ’28, and $54.8 million each year thereafter. But as we know, when people’s health insurance goes away, their healthcare needs don’t go away.
“People who lose coverage respond in a few different ways. They can get some care from existing programs that serve uninsured Rhode Islanders, such as primary care from community health centers, care from the Rhode Island Free Clinic and Clinica Esperanza, behavioral healthcare from Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), and emergency and some follow-up care from Rhode Island hospitals and hospital-run clinics.
“But limited funding means those existing institutions can’t absorb a doubling of the uninsured population without new resources. And there are a lot of services that uninsured people cannot access, including prescriptions, imaging services, durable medical equipment, scheduled specialty care, and important but non-emergency surgeries. When people can’t get the care they need, they sometimes rearrange their budgets. They pay full price out of pocket for healthcare, leaving them with less money for other necessities like food, housing, and childcare. Sometimes they skip the care they need, or they cut pills in half, or they ignore the pain in their chest, and hope it goes away.
“And if their care needs are bad enough or if they get worse because they’re delayed, they end up with medical bills they can’t afford. That can cause financial ruin for consumers and is a threat to our entire healthcare system. When providers provide care without being paid, they can’t pay their own bills, which threatens their solvency.
“The Protect Our Healthcare Act would address this crisis in two ways. First, it would provide additional investments in the state’s existing healthcare system that serves the uninsured, including funds for hospitals, community health centers, and free clinics. Second, it would create a program that would cover some of the most important services missing from that healthcare system, allowing people who are losing coverage to maintain access to basic life-saving treatments. It would be partially funded by reinvesting the funds the state would have saved if it had done nothing and let coverage lapse for that population entirely.
“It won’t fully be able to replace health insurance loss through Medicaid or through the individual marketplace or Medicare, but it would go a long way to help prevent some of the worst impacts of these federal cuts.”
“I read the entire HR1 last July, front to back, every single page, and then, subsequently, as many of you have, I read articles, reviews, and analyses of HR1 done by Millbank, Pew Charitable Trust, Kaiser, etc,” said Senator Louis DiPalma (Democrat, District 12, Middletown, Little Compton, Newport, Tiverton). “If I were to ask you what the dollar impact of HR1 on Medicaid is across the country, we’re beyond billions. We’re at about $1 trillion. One trillion cut from the federal budget for Medicaid. Rhode Island is a good-sized piece of that, but $1 trillion is being taken out of the Medicaid budget, while the federal deficit is being increased by $4 trillion... which is unconscionable. It affects all of us, whether you’re on Medicaid or don’t have insurance, and if you do have insurance, you’ll pay more.
“If I were to ask you what our Medicaid enrollment numbers are as of February 2026, we are now lower than we were in 2020, before the pandemic. At the height, we were at about 370,000 or thereabouts. Granted, many of those folks probably should have come off, but they were on there because they couldn’t, and now we’re seeing those families that had come off go back on. We have 290,000 people on Medicaid. People say, ‘Well, that’s good. Fewer people are on Medicaid; they’re better off because of that.’ Well, no, they’re not.
“Let’s talk about somebody who’s on Medicaid, for instance, who potentially is going to lose health insurance. One of the first things someone on Medicaid needs is a place to live, right? So you’ve got to pay for them living somewhere. If you’re paying for a place to live, you need a way to heat it and turn on the lights. The fourth thing is, well, we haven’t talked about eating yet, so let’s talk about eating. Maybe then we’ll get to that fifth thing: health insurance. I have a constituent who just got a raise in his Medicaid. He’s excited about the raise. He now makes $1,180 a month. Do you think all five of those things will remain in his portfolio of things he needs? What’s probably going to happen is that prescription medication? He probably ain’t getting it.
“Or, ‘I’ll take half today and half tomorrow.’ Pretty soon, we all become doctors of, ‘I can take half today and half tomorrow, and maybe I’ll sleep double the amount of time, so I’ll be okay.’ Well, no, that’s not okay... If the health insurance isn’t there, it’s going to be uncompensated care, and uncompensated care means other costs that we pay differently. Private insurance, on the other extreme, will go up for those who do have it. So it’s imperative.
“It’s incumbent upon us to understand and appreciate the magnitude of the problem, and it’s a big problem. The point that was made a minute ago, that if folks are coming off of Medicaid, that means our Medicaid costs from a general revenue perspective are down, and they’re coming down. We’re seeing that. We’ve seen a little bit over the last year because of what’s happened at the federal level. So we have the ability to figure out what we can do and what we should do for our uninsured Rhode Islanders. You’ll see a healthcare package coming out soon on the Senate side. Know that this is a focus of the Senate and the General Assembly.
“Regardless of where you live, it affects all of us. We have an opportunity to do something, but we’re not going to do it on our own. We need your support. Today is a first step towards getting there, but we must stay true to representing all of Rhode Islanders.”
“I serve the towns of Bristol and Portsmouth, which have about 5,000 Medicaid recipients,” said Representative Susan Donovan (Democrat, District 69, Bristol, Portsmouth). “And if 10% of those recipients lose their Medicaid coverage due to federal cuts, that’s approximately 500 residents in those towns who will become uninsured. These residents won’t see their care needs go away. They won’t have the health insurance to pay for that care. On top of that, many Rhode Islanders will be losing their coverage through HealthSource RI. Research suggests that people who lose health insurance and have to pay more out of pocket often skip the healthcare they need, leading to worse outcomes and, down the road, adding to the strain on our emergency room services.
“Our proposal would ensure that the many Rhode Islanders losing coverage through no fault of their own will maintain access to primary care, emergency care, prescriptions, and specialty care for cancer, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. These are important pieces of legislation to protect our citizens’ healthcare.
Shamus Durac: I want to turn now to the Rhode Island Individual Market Affordability Act, H7466 and S2255. This bill would establish a state-based subsidy program that would replace the expired federal assistance, in the form of enhanced premium tax credits, which ended at the end of 2025 after the federal government failed to extend them. Because of their expiration, more than 40,000 Rhode Islanders who get their coverage through HealthSource RI saw their premiums increase by an average of 101% between 2025 and 2026, and some individuals saw much larger increases. As I mentioned earlier, HealthSource RI reported during a hearing yesterday that 10,000 fewer people enrolled in coverage for 2026 than in 2025, resulting in an estimated final impact of more than 13,000 people losing coverage.
“This is a piece of legislation that the coalition has been working on for a few years now, and while we unfortunately weren’t able to get across the finish line last year in time for the program to be effective for this year when the federal subsidies ended, we’re glad to see a step forward in that the governor included a smaller version of this program in his proposed budget. That was heard in House Finance yesterday. We’re appreciative of that step that would restore premium assistance for the lowest-income enrollees, but we in the coalition strongly believe that the state should replace the entire program. That’s what a cross-stakeholder work group recommended last year as the best approach for the state to maintain coverage for the most people. Our proposal would replace the expired federal tax credits for more than 41,000 Rhode Islanders affected by the federal cuts.
“With an annualized investment of $59.3 million in state funds, we could keep those 13,000 people expected to lose coverage insured, and we could keep another $70 million in federal funds flowing into the state to help people buy their coverage and to support our beleaguered healthcare system. Without action, that $70 million will be left on the table, resulting in a considerable decrease in funding for our healthcare system, which allows people to access the care they need. Given all of these cuts, this is not a time for half measures.”
“As we have heard several times already, what has happened in Washington has dramatically exacerbated inequities in access to healthcare and health insurance and pushed more Rhode Islanders into financial distress,” said Representative June Speakman (Democrat, District 68, Warren, Bristol). “As elected leaders, we have a responsibility to push back and to make Rhode Island a leader in meeting the healthcare needs of our residents. We’ve done pretty well over the past 10 years or so. We drove the uninsured rate way down, and we can’t lose ground on that. H7466, the Marketplace Affordability Act, addresses a significant affordability gap created by the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credit program.
“I have to tell you, three or four years ago, when the coalition invited me to partner on this legislation, I said, ‘Enhanced premium tax credit program? I have no idea what that is.’ Now I know what it is and how extraordinarily important it was to the people who benefited from it. It expired at the end of 2025. And you’ll recall that calls for restoration of this program were one of the causes of the government shutdown in the fall, and we should thank our leaders in Congress, the Democrats, and Congress for fighting for that program.
“They didn’t succeed, but let’s hope they’ll fight again. This expiration has led to huge spikes in premium bills for the 41,000 Rhode Islanders who had been eligible for the tax credit. The governor’s budget proposes replacing that expiring premium assistance starting in January of 27 for the lowest-income health source, Rhode Island enrollees, and that’s a good start. They need it the most. However, half of the former enrollees in the program won’t receive any benefit, meaning that they would have to bear the burden of these much higher premiums on their own. For many of these people, premiums may quadruple by hundreds of dollars a month, forcing families to make hard choices between keeping their insurance and paying their utility bills, rent, or childcare, and many will choose to go uninsured.
“This bill helps bring HealthSource RI employees’ premiums closer to their pre-expiration level. This would go beyond the partial approach in the governor’s budget and would apply to anyone who received coverage through HealthSource RI. It would help reverse some of the healthcare access cuts that, in total, are expected to result in thousands of Rhode Islanders losing their insurance. We cannot let that happen.”
“I just raced here from my day job as a primary care nurse practitioner,” said Senator Pamela Lauria (Democrat, District 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence). “I’ve been practicing primary care for almost 29 years, which means I remember what healthcare was like before the Affordable Care Act. Before that, many Rhode Islanders were uninsured. I remember people making devastating choices about their health, whether they had that screening, whether they treated the illness that they knew they had, and sometimes those choices had grave consequences. So it’s been wonderful to come forward and say that most people are insured and don’t have to make those choices. But let’s be clear about something: Healthcare is too expensive for everyone.
“It’s too expensive if you’re on Medicare. It’s too expensive if you have commercial insurance, but now, think about having to pay for it out of pocket, and you’re getting no help. It’s devastatingly expensive. One of the things every clinician is told is that what we do in that exam room is only a small part of someone’s health. The social determinants of health: Can they afford housing, nutrition, and their prescriptions? Can they have their children cared for? Can they fix their car if it breaks down? Those are the factors affecting 60% of people’s health. What I do in the exam room is like 25%. We need to know if people can afford to do what they need to do. When you have diabetes and need to eat healthy, you should eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Am I saying that to somebody who can’t afford to get canned vegetables?
“Now look at somebody who, on top of the overwhelmingly high cost and the deductibles, cannot get any help with the initial premium payments. Statistics tell us that 41,000 will say, ‘I cannot do it.’ So we’re back to those devastating choices, but it actually affects the health of all 41,000 because it has just become less affordable for all of them. Now they have to make those choices. This is so important. When you talk about making a direct impact on people’s health, their being able to afford to do their daily lives because they can afford to do their healthcare, that’s where the real difference lies. I came to grips with that as a healthcare provider a long time ago, but we all need to do the same. I’m going to keep fighting for healthcare, but I know this is where the real battle is, so we need to win this fight.”
“While this is about healthcare, we also need to acknowledge that the costs of goods have risen across the board,” said Nina Harrison. “For the people who’ve lost their enhanced premium tax credits and are trying to purchase healthcare, even if they can still afford it, their premiums have doubled on average. And even for people who don’t purchase healthcare through HealthSourceRI, many of us are also seeing our premiums increase. This is untenable when combined with many of the other things that Rhode Islanders are dealing with, including the fact that 78% of single parents with two children cannot afford to meet their basic needs without assistance.
“These subsidies are the type of assistance that helps people meet their basic needs and keep them out of poverty. Unless we want more people in this state to descend into poverty, we need to make the policy choice and pass these bills to provide the necessary support for the healthcare system and for Rhode Islanders and their families so they can meet their basic needs. As another example, in addition to cutting healthcare funding by a trillion dollars, Congress also cut SNAP funding. There are upwards of 14,000 people in Rhode Island who may be losing their SNAP assistance, which will mostly harm children. It may be some of the same families who are seeing their healthcare go away are also seeing their SNAP benefits go away. They may also be using RIPTA and dealing with reduced service and cuts.
“We can’t think of this in a vacuum. This is not business as usual. The federal government has dealt us a curveball, and we need all hands on deck in Rhode Island to prevent the state from descending into crisis.”
“We, along with these seven other health centers in Rhode Island, form a big part of Rhode Island’s safety net, and we care for one in five Rhode Islanders,” said Dr. Cristina Pacheco, CEO of the Blackstone Valley Community Healthcare. “We see all patients who walk through our doors, insured or not. Last year was a year of growth for us. We added nine new Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) and 5,000 more patients, bringing the total to 25,000 patients served in 2025. As you might imagine, caring for the underserved is a challenging job. Our patients struggle with issues around transportation, food insecurity, language barriers, as well as higher rates of depression, diabetes, and maternal health complications. At Blackstone, uninsured patients receive the same care and attention as everyone else. But outside of Blackstone, the experience for uninsured patients is quite different.
“The next speaker will tell you more about that, but I wanted to share a little bit more about how this impacts primary care providers. The people who work at Blackstone do so out of love for the community, and many of us, like me, are from it. They work at Blackstone because of a commitment to the mission of caring for everyone, but that work has gotten much harder over the last year.
“I want to give you a few examples: A few weeks ago, a new patient made an appointment for foot pain. It turns out he’d burned both of his feet pretty badly at work. Because he didn’t have insurance, he waited eight days to come and see us. I don’t know if you’ve ever burned yourself, but burns are very painful. He endured eight days of excruciating pain at home. Unfortunately, that delay led to significant infection, and he had to be rushed to the hospital, where he needed X-rays, lab work, and surgical intervention.
“Another uninsured patient presented to the Express Clinic last week with several days of a worsening abscess. By the time he got to us, he wasn’t able to sit or stand without excruciating pain. He got admitted to the hospital for several days for surgery and antibiotics.
“A 93-year-old patient with a broken shoulder wasn’t able to get the lidocaine patch her primary care provider had prescribed to her. Her insurance company won’t return our calls. We call this underinsurance, not uninsured, and that’s a real issue too. This leaves the primary care doctor with opiates as the only affordable option for this particular patient. But you need to wonder, is this going to lead to a fall and another broken bone, or is the pain going to be so severe that this patient presents to the emergency room?
“None of these patients who are trying to save money is actually saving any money. This is a much more expensive and painful way to go. Lack of insurance leads to delayed care, causing needless suffering and paradoxically increased costs. Day after day, this takes its toll. We call this moral injury. People talk about the primary care crisis in Rhode Island, and yes, salaries and reimbursement rates are a very important component. But my experience at a federally qualified health center is that this moral injury is the biggest contributor to burnout.
“In January, 1,400 of our patients lost insurance, and that’s 1,400 patients who are likely to forego their colonoscopies, pap smears, mammograms, and all that preventive care, which statistically leads to cancers being found later and more aggressively. This doesn’t even touch on the lost revenue from all these visits we may or may not be getting, or the empty spaces on our calendars. This threatens our ability to continue to provide the care that is so important to 25,000 patients in Rhode Island. We need to work together to ensure people keep their coverage and have timely access to care. Failure to do so will lead to catastrophic consequences, not just for the patients themselves, but for the healthcare system as a whole.”
Nina Harrison: It’s so important that we hear these stories about real people and what happens when they don’t have access to quality, affordable care, and a reminder that it often is life and death.
“Last year, I paid $586.25 per month for health insurance. I pay out of pocket as an entrepreneur, singer, poet, and marketing person,” said Alicia Pina, director of the Interfaith Coalition, there to share her patient story. “One of the Coalition’s missions is to provide access to healthcare when they need it, at all times. We’re talking about equity here. When I took the job at the Interfaith Coalition, I got to join the Protect Our Healthcare coalition. Then, in the first week of January, I was told I had breast cancer. My insurance went up from $586.25 to $731.68, not because of tax credits, but maybe as a result of that. You heard Senator DiPalma: it affects all of us. And Senator Lauria talked about all the things that you contemplate when you have issues and healthcare matters.
“I would love to eat better, but it’s more expensive. I would love to pay my mortgage on time, but as of today, and this is without radiation, the bills I’ve received for just the surgery, doctor visits, and diagnosis amount to $42,998.07. My portion will likely be about 10%, which I can’t afford. I paid my February mortgage yesterday and my health insurance, electric, gas, and my dad’s care at Wingate, which is more than his pension. All of that, I will worry about when more money comes in, because right now I’m working for all of us and working for me. I have to prioritize myself.
“It’s so hard when you are a community person, and you care about community. Right after the surgery, I didn’t want to stay in bed because I knew there was work that we needed to do collectively, because it would take all of us. Every day you guys fight for us, and we are praying for you and fighting alongside you. Some of us on the coalition have more cancers than I do and will lose Medicaid in months, and they’re still fighting because we know it will take all of us.
“Thank you for letting me share my story, for being involved, and for being the one who says we need you for all of us.”
“Thank you for your vulnerability, Alicia,” said Nina Harrison. “Thank you for your courage. Thank you for showing up to fight. I hope you take comfort in knowing we’re all here fighting with you and for you and wishing you the very best, along with Lev Poplow, who’s also battling cancer. That’s who Alicia was referring to. He’s an active member of the Protector Healthcare Coalition and may stand to lose his Medicaid benefits while he’s in the middle of battling multiple types of cancer. We’re here to fight for you. We’re here to fight with you, and we hope that you do continue to prioritize yourself, take care of your health, sit down, and rest during this fight, because as you can see, you have a lot of people here who are willing to pick up the baton.
“People tend to think, ‘Well, if I don’t have Medicaid or SNAP, HR1 might not affect me. These federal changes might not affect me,’ but that’s not true. All of our healthcare costs have risen because when people have to choose between rent and healthcare, it’s usually healthy people who say, “I’m just going to skip healthcare.” When healthy people drop out of the insurance pool, costs rise for everyone because the pool gets sicker, and treating sick people becomes more expensive.
“We need everybody in the insurance pool to keep costs down for everyone in this state. Remind your friends and neighbors, even if they think they’re exempt from the effects of HR1 because they’re not on Medicaid or SNAP. Maybe they weren’t receiving healthcare subsidies through the Health Source RI; they are still affected. And for those of us who were directly affected by HR1, think about everything else they may be dealing with on top of that, and share your feelings.”
On Monday, HealthSource RI released the following:
HealthSource RI Open Enrollment 2026 closes with a falling enrollment trend
"HealthSource RI (HSRI) concluded its annual Open Enrollment (OE) period January 31, with enrollment totals and the mix of plan selections bearing out expectations, as customers faced increased monthly costs upon the expiration of enhanced federal premium tax credits. Individual and Family enrollments totaled 38,557 during this Open Enrollment, a 10-percent decline from the record-high close of OE2025 (42,695). Overall enrollment decreased by 20% from year-end (48,060) to the end of OE, a highly unusual development, as the marketplace has recorded growth nearly every year over the same period.
"Of this year’s enrollment, 6,472 (16.8%) Rhode Island residents are newly enrolled in the affordable, qualified health plans available through the state marketplace. The remaining 32,085 individuals, or 67% of last year’s customers, renewed their coverage during the same period, which started November 1.
"From 2021 through 2025, historically high levels of financial assistance -- available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA, March 2021) and extended by the Inflation Reduction Act (August 2022) -- made coverage through HSRI more affordable than ever. The enhanced premium tax credits expired on December 31 due to a lack of federal action. Simultaneously, premiums rose more sharply than usual, at least in part, as insurers across the country, including Rhode Island, anticipated shifts in the uninsured and underinsured rates in their markets.
"Average premiums across the HSRI population increased by 101%, or $111 per person per month this year compared to last year. Lower-income households saw the largest percentage increase in their premiums this year. For example, a single adult household in the 150%-200% of the Federal Poverty Level range, which is about $24,000-$31,000 annually, saw its average premium increase from $40 to $137. These affordability challenges led consumers to reconsider their options for health coverage.
"Aside from considering whether to continue or newly enroll for 2026, customers also grappled with which plans to choose, and plan selection shifted notably. Over recent years, customers have been using their enhanced financial supports to steadily migrate into silver and gold plans, which offer lower out-of-pocket costs and more predictability. That trend reversed sharply this year, with bronze plan selection rising sharply (from 21% to 32%) as silver and gold selection fell (from 38% to 31% and 38% to 35%, respectively). While customers are likely making this decision based on the affordability of the monthly premium, it comes with a trade-off: bronze plans have much higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, exposing insured individuals to higher bills as they use their plans. This raises concerns that, as the year progresses, customers may find it unaffordable to keep their coverage as they begin to encounter those higher costs.
“‘It is disheartening but not surprising that, as President Trump’s policies have caused health insurance costs to skyrocket, more Rhode Islanders are struggling to pay for health coverage,’ said Governor Dan McKee. ‘My FY27 recommended budget appropriates $9.5 million to subsidize coverage for the 20,000 hardest hit individuals purchasing insurance through HealthSource RI.’
“The increase in premiums, combined with the decrease in federal support, makes this an incredibly challenging year for folks depending on HealthSource RI for health coverage. We understand that, and we are committed to working with our customers and potential customers through these difficult decisions,’ said HSRI Director Lindsay Lang. ‘Having health coverage helps protect against one bad turn of luck becoming years of financial burden. We will work with every customer to find options that are best for their needs and budget, and continue to work with state leaders and our federal delegation to find long-term solutions.’
"Since 2013, Rhode Island has decreased the uninsured rate by more than two-thirds. The Rhode Island Health Information Survey, conducted biannually and last updated in 2024, pointed to an uninsured rate of just 2.2%, among the best in the country. For detailed information on both HSRI’s 2026 Open Enrollment Report (also attached) and the 2024 Health Information Survey, visit HealthSourceRI.com/Surveys-and-Reports. The 2026 Health Information Survey has just begun and will be available late this year.
"HSRI is still the only place where Rhode Islanders can receive Advance Premium Tax Credits to help pay for their health coverage, with customers qualifying for more than $14 million in Advance Premium Tax Credits in January 2026. Currently, 81% of HSRI customers receive financial assistance, down from 88% last year. The average premium before tax credits of all currently active plans is $662; that average drops to $172 per month after applying tax credits.
"With annual Open Enrollment complete, individuals and families who have experienced certain life events may be eligible to shop for a new plan during a Special Enrollment Period (SEP), which is a 60-day window to enroll starting before or after that event. Qualifying SEP events include a loss of other coverage, such as Medicaid; moving to Rhode Island; marriage or divorce; or the birth or adoption of a child. Individuals can visit HealthSourceRI.com/SEP to learn more about these qualifying events, register for an online info session, get live expert support through chat in English or Spanish, book an appointment, or enroll online. Enrollment support is also available by calling 1-855-840-HSRI (4774)."
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HealthSource RI is the State’s health insurance marketplace. Since 2013, HealthSource RI has reduced the uninsured rate by more than two-thirds. Today, nearly 98 percent of Rhode Islanders have health coverage, the sixth-highest insured rate in the country. HealthSource RI is the only place where Rhode Islanders can receive financial help to pay for their health coverage. Currently, 8 out of 10 HealthSource RI customers receive financial assistance. Through the HealthSource RI for Employers program, HSRI also services over 1,200 small employers in Rhode Island and more than 8,500 employees and dependents.
The whole idea of using the healthcare industrial complex as an economic engine, as a way for the rich to get richer, means that we never focus on prevention or primary care. The state of RI has to stop funding start up culture medical device businesses and focus state resources on primary care and prevention. The Republican party needs to go to Hell and the rest of us need to keep pushing for single payer national healthcare. It is not just about can we make sure that no one goes without care, we also have to make sure the care does not bankrupt us on a national level as well as individually.