$1 = 4 Meals

"Without adequate funding or a viable path forward, we have been forced to make an impossible choice. It is with incredible disappointment that we regrettably announce our decision to exit the Navigator program. Help will still be available by contacting the Marketplace at 1-800-318-2596 or by visiting HealthCare.gov. The ACA remains the law of the land, and Open Enrollment in 2018 Marketplace plans will take place from November 1 through December 15, 2017."

"In Ohio and across the nation, navigator groups provide a variety of services, including providing outreach to people about how to obtain health coverage, helping them decide which insurance plans best meet their needs, and getting them signed up. Federal regulators had invited the Ohio Association of Foodbanks to apply for a $1.7 million grant. Now, they've been given two weeks to come up with a revised budget and plan for about a quarter of their annual spending."

Navigator grantees like the Ohio Association of Foodbanks have been left without answers or information, with no expectation about when grant contracts or funding amounts would be issued. "Our navigators are doing yeoman's work. Now, we've had to inform these nonprofits that we have no information, no official guidance, no contract and no funding. On top of that, consumers across Ohio will likely have nowhere to turn, and we will lose the momentum we've gained approaching the new open enrollment period. This is an unimaginable and heartbreaking situation. It's unconscionable."