Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News
SUITLAND, Md. — At a SuperSuds Laundromat simply south of Washington, D.C., a gentle stream of shoppers loaded garments into washers and dryers on a latest Sunday morning, passing the time on their telephones or watching tv.
Amid the low hum of spinning garments, Adrienne Jones made the rounds in a vivid yellow sweatshirt, asking clients about their well being wants. “Do you have health coverage?” Jones, an outreach supervisor for Fabric Health, requested Brendan Glover, 25, who was doing laundry along with his toddler in tow.
Glover works in legislation enforcement, however he misplaced his protection in 2024 when a job ended. “I am young, so I don’t think about it, but I know I will need it,” he mentioned.
Jones collected his contact data, gave him a present card for a future laundromat go to, and promised to assist him discover inexpensive protection.
State Medicaid and Affordable Care Act protection packages have lengthy struggled to attach with lower-income Americans to assist them entry well being care. They ship letters and emails, place telephone calls, and publish on social media platforms equivalent to Facebook and X.
Some of those state packages try another strategy: assembly folks on the laundromat — the place they often go and normally have time to speak.
Fabric Health, a Washington, D.C.-based startup, sends outreach employees into laundromats in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and — as of January — the District of Columbia, to assist folks get and use well being protection, together with by serving to schedule checkups or maternity care. The employees, a lot of whom are bilingual, go to the laundromats additionally to determine relationships, construct belief, and join folks with authorities help.
Medicaid well being plans together with these run by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Maryland, UPMC in Pittsburgh, and Jefferson Health in Philadelphia pay Fabric Health to attach with their enrollees. The firm was paid by the Maryland Managed Care Organization Association, the state’s Medicaid well being plan commerce group, to assist folks recertify their Medicaid eligibility after covid pandemic-era protection protections expired.
Since 2023, the corporate has related with greater than 20,000 folks in Maryland and Pennsylvania alone, accumulating contact data and knowledge on their well being and social wants, mentioned Allister Chang, a co-founder and the chief working officer. Chang also serves on the D.C. State Board of Education as Ward 2’s elected consultant.
Fabric Health wouldn’t disclose its charges to KFF Health News. The firm is structured as a public profit company, that means it’s a for-profit enterprise created to offer a social profit and isn’t required to prioritize looking for earnings for shareholders.
Pennie, Pennsylvania’s ACA market, which opened in 2020, pays Fabric Health to speak to folks within the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas about protection choices and enroll them.
A survey final yr discovered that two-thirds of uninsured folks within the state have by no means heard of Pennie, mentioned Devon Trolley, Pennie’s government director.
“Fabric’s approach is very novel and creative,” she mentioned. “They go to where people are sitting with time on their hands and develop grassroots relationships and get the word out about Pennie.”
For enrollees, the laundromat chats may be simpler and faster than connecting with their well being plans’ customer support. For the well being plans, they’ll enhance state efficiency funds, that are tied to enrollee satisfaction and effectiveness at getting them providers equivalent to most cancers screenings.
“Our pitch is: People spend two hours a week waiting around in laundromats and that idle time can be incredibly productive,” mentioned Courtney Bragg, a co-founder and the CEO of Fabric Health.
CareFirst started working with the corporate final yr to assist folks in Maryland renew protection, schedule checkups, and join different advantages together with vitality help and meals stamps.
Sheila Yahyazadeh, chief exterior operations officer for the CareFirst plan, mentioned the initiative exhibits the significance of human interplay. “There is a misconception that technology will solve all, but a human face is absolutely fundamental to make this program successful because at the end of the day people want to talk to someone and feel seen and cared for,” she mentioned.
On a earlier go to to SuperSuds, Jones, the Fabric Health outreach employee, met Patti Hayes, 59, of Hyattsville, Maryland, who’s enrolled within the Medicaid well being plan operated by CareFirst however had not seen a main care doctor in over a yr. She mentioned she most popular to see a Black doctor.
After they met on the laundromat, Jones helped her discover a new physician and schedule an appointment. She additionally helped her discover a therapist in her plan’s community.
“This is helpful because it’s more of a personal touch,” Hayes mentioned.
Fabric Health additionally texts folks to remain in contact and inform them when the outreach employees will likely be again at their laundromat to allow them to meet once more in particular person.
Paola Flores, 38, of Clinton, Maryland, instructed a Fabric Health employee she wanted assist switching Medicaid plans so she may get higher look after her autistic baby. Communicating together with her in Spanish, the employee mentioned she would assist her, together with by making an appointment with a pediatrician.
“Good help is hard to find,” Flores mentioned.
Ryan Moran, Maryland’s Medicaid director, mentioned Fabric Health helped preserve folks enrolled in the course of the Medicaid “unwinding,” when everybody on this system needed to get renewed after the expiration of pandemic-era protection protections that lasted three years.
Outreach employees there targeted on laundromats in cities that had excessive charges of individuals being disenrolled for paperwork causes.
“There is no question about the value of human-to-human interaction and the ability to be on the ground where people are, that removes barriers and gets people to engage with us,” Moran mentioned.
KFF Health News is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working packages at KFF—an impartial supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Learn extra about KFF.
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