Duluth organization offers free health insurance guidance

DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) – With 50 plans to choose from in St. Louis County, enrolling in health insurance can be a complicated task.

Bạn đang xem: Duluth organization offers free health insurance guidance

And with open enrollment closing on Jan. 15, it’s crunch time for many people.

Insure Duluth is an organization aiming to make the process a bit easier.

Elizabeth Fairchild says she was feeling overwhelmed when facing her insurance options before she stopped in at the Insure Duluth walk-in hours at the Duluth Library on Saturday.

“Like a lot of people, insurance is kind of not my forte, so I came looking to the experts,” said Fairchild.

Alyssa Peoples is one of those experts.

She works for Lake Superior Community Health Center, which is just one of many organizations that make up the Insure Duluth coalition.

Xem thêm : 2017 North Bay Tubbs Fire survivor helping LA wildfire victims navigate insurance claim process

She’s been a navigator with Insure Duluth for 10 years and says that while people come in at many different stages of life, they’re generally there for the same reason as Fairchild.

“People are here because health insurance is complicated,” said Peoples.

For Fairchild, the most challenging part is understanding her options.

“The biggest thing that makes it complicated for me is the words, the wording that’s used in insurance, and they don’t really teach you that in school,” said Fairchild.

Lucky for Fairchild, navigators at Insure Duluth’s free drop-in clinic were there to walk her through the application process, helping her understand the terminology and paperwork.

Peoples says their services are for anybody who has questions about their health insurance options—from those going through a job change to new parents to entrepreneurs exploring self-employment.

She sits down with people individually and helps them find the best plan for their situation using Minnesota’s insurance marketplace tool MNsure.

“People deserve to be able to utilize systems and understand what kind of benefits they have or even just understand how health insurance works,” said Peoples. “Everybody deserves to be able to live a healthy life.”

Xem thêm : Nonprofit insurance good for our health

Fairchild says she’s walking out of the library drop-in hours with an action plan, feeling grateful and relieved.

“That completely simplified the process, and it made a mountain seem just like a hill for me,” said Fairchild.

Insure Duluth hosts walk-in hours at the Duluth Library every Thursday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and at the St. Louis County Government Services Center every Monday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. year-round.

Open enrollment closes on Jan. 15, but Peoples emphasizes that many are eligible to enroll year-round.

She encourages anyone with a question to stop by at the weekly hours.

If you wish to visit their website, click here.

Click here to download the Northern News Now app or our Northern News Now First Alert weather app.

Copyright 2025 Northern News Now. All rights reserved.