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NY Health Insurance Exchange Open Enrollment Begins Saturday

The state health department expects 350 thousand new people to enroll in insurance through the New York State Marketplace before February 15th.

The second Open Enrollment for the state health insurance exchange begins Saturday.

Executive Director Donna Frescatore explained to reporters Wednesday the state is ready with an outreach campaign intended to bring in New Yorkers from all ages.

"One of the things we've added this year, in addition to increasing the presence on social media, is we've added a texting campaign to the outreach. So, young invincibles or others will be able on their smartphones to get information about New York State of Health," said Frescatore.

Frescatore also points to increased efforts to bring in people of diverse linguistic backgrounds-including resources in 8 more languages than last year and an application website completely in Spanish.

A recent national survey showed most uninsured Americans are unaware of the upcoming open enrollment, but Frescatore says she thinks New York will get the word out effectively.