Kentucky Equal Justice Center, active in Obamacare signups, wins award from Consumer Reports magazine

The Kentucky Equal Justice Center, a non-profit advocacy organization most recently in the news for encouraging Obamacare enrollments, has won the Consumer Reports Excellence in Consumer Advocacy Award, which includes a cash prize of $25,000 to support the organization’s work.

The group received the award for its positive impact over the years “as a watchdog and advocate for low income and other vulnerable residents of the state,” says a press release from the magazine, published by Consumers Union.

The center has been instrumental in Kentucky’s successful implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the release notes, helping residents take full advantage of the available benefits and supporting expansion of the Medicaid program. It has also played a key role in making sure health insurers in the state follow the law’s rule that 80 cents of every premium dollar must be spent on patient care, saving an estimated $1.3 million for Kentuckians in 2013, the release says.

The center helped lead efforts that protected $45 million in charitable assets when the nonprofit Kentucky Blue Cross & Blue Shield merged with Anthem, allocating the funds to create the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which provides millions of dollars in grants to address unmet health care needs in the state.

“It’s just delightful that work by a small organization, persistently and well over a long period of time, will even be noticed,” said Rich Seckel, director of the Kentucky Equal Justice Center. “We deeply appreciate it.”