Participatory evaluation of a community mobilization effort to enroll Wyandotte County, Kansas, residents through the Affordable Care Act.

Abstract

Successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) depends on the capacity of local communities to mobilize for action. Yet the literature offers few systematic investigations of what communities are doing to ensure support for enrollment. In this empirical case study, we report implementation and outcomes of Enroll Wyandotte, a community mobilization effort to facilitate enrollment through the ACA in Wyandotte County, Kansas. We describe mobilization activities during the first round of open enrollment in coverage under the ACA (October 1, 2013-March 31, 2014), including the unfolding of community and organizational changes (e.g., new enrollment sites) and services provided to assist enrollment over time. The findings show an association between implementation measures and newly created accounts under the ACA (the primary outcome).