Community health events for enrolling uninsured into public health insurance programs: implications for health reform.

Objectives: To determine whether enrollment events may serve as a venue to identify eligible individuals, enroll them into health insurance programs, and educate them about the changes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will bring about.

Methods: More than 2900 surveys were administered to attendees of 7 public health insurance enrollment events in California. Surveys were used to identify whether participants had any change in understanding of health reform after participating in the event.

Results: More than half of attendees at nearly all events had no knowledge about health reform before attending the event. On average, more than 80% of attendees knew more about health reform following the event and more than 80% believed that the law would benefit their families.

Conclusions: Enrollment events can serve as an effective method to educate the public on health reform. Further research is recommended to explore in greater detail the impact community enrollment events can have on expanding public understanding of health reform.