Though they should have declared last Monday a holiday, the staff at Thrive Allen County was too busy to celebrate.
At least there was a bottle of bubbly.
After a tense two months, the staff learned it had been awarded an $11.9 million grant to fund its statewide Navigator program over the next five years.
It’s the largest grant the 17-year nonprofit has ever been awarded. Funding is through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
That’s not only job security but also a big boost in confidence that Thrive is running a model program.
“We’ve never had this kind stability before,” said Lisse Regehr, president and CEO of Thrive Allen County, on Thursday morning. “These funds will allow us and our partners to really take this into the future.”
The Navigator program helps Kansans sign up for The Marketplace, the federal government’s health insurance program.
Since its inception in 2013, the federal program has reduced the number of uninsured Americans by more than 10 percent, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service.
In Kansas, almost 200,000 — 5.8% of the population — signed up for the federal program during open enrollment for 2024, a 37.7% increase over the previous year, which in itself was a 15.5% increase over 2022’s numbers, according to the Kansas Health Institute.
In Allen County, 7.6% of the population — 947 individuals — are enrolled in the program. Statewide, the average monthly premium costs $111 for the health insurance on the Marketplace.
Open enrollment for 2025 is from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15, 2025.
Thrive began offering Marketplace services 10 years ago and in recent years has developed a statewide program, Kansas Cares, whose menu of services, in addition to Navigators, include securing food, utility, weatherization and housing assistance as well as disability benefits.
Regehr credits Rhonda Culp, Thrive’s director of care coordination, as the one who keeps all the balls in the air.
Culp oversees the Kansas Cares program, which includes its 23 Navigators, of which 14 are placed across the state including Dodge City, El Dorado.
Piggybacking on Thrive’s recent grant are seven organizations that use Thrive’s Navigators. They are Be Able of Manhattan, Grow Clay County, Barber County United, the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, El Centro of Kansas City, Kan., LiveWell Northwest Kansas of Colby, and the Liberal Area Coalition for Families.
