Why language support matters for Open Enrollment
Fall is here, and Open Enrollment season has started. For Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period, which runs from October 15 to December 7 each year, members can join, switch, or drop a plan, with coverage beginning January 1. When you’re thinking about new and current members, how can you best serve them during this Open Enrollment period?
When communicating essential plan details, member costs, and benefit changes, it is critical that members and applicants can understand that information in their native language.
Below are the primary reasons why language support matters for attracting new members and retaining existing ones during Open Enrollment.
You are advocates for your members’ wellness
Language support ensures non-English speaking members fully understand their plan options and available benefits. Rather than focusing solely on general wellness, language access acts as an advocacy tool—empowering members to understand critical plan details, including:
- Coverage details and benefit updates
- Cost-sharing changes, premiums, and out-of-pocket maximums
- Provider network options and directory access
- Formulary changes and prescription drug coverage
Providing equal access to this information ensures every member can make informed decisions about their healthcare coverage.
Ensure your members have language support throughout every encounter
Every touchpoint matters when communicating with your members. Some of the primary encounters where you’ll want language support in place include:
- Digital front door: Website enrollment portals, online plan comparison tools, and member accounts
- Call center interactions: Inbound member services calls, sales inquiries, and benefit explanation support
- Member apps: Mobile enrollment interfaces and digital benefit cards
- Provider directories: Searchable online networks and printed provider books
- Plan documentation: Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC), Evidence of Coverage (EOC), and Annual Notice of Change (ANOC)
- Outreach and engagement: Community information sessions, webinars, and mailed marketing materials
Increase participation and engagement for your diverse membership
Language support directly impacts participation during Open Enrollment. If a prospective or current member receives enrollment packets, benefit change notices, or renewal forms that they cannot read, they cannot take necessary action.
When health plans provide clear communication in a member’s native language, members are far more likely to active-enroll, select appropriate coverage, and complete required documentation. This level of engagement across multilingual audiences builds long-term member retention and loyalty.
Grow market share
If you want to expand into new markets with limited-English proficient (LEP) populations, language support is essential. Offering real-time remote interpretation and translated plan materials removes barriers to entry, enabling sales representatives, field agents, and call centers to guide prospective members through every stage of the enrollment process.
- Multilingual Sales Events: Equip field agents with on-demand interpreters during community Open Enrollment fairs and health expos.
- Plan Comparison Tools: Translate online plan selection engines, premium calculators, and side-by-side coverage sheets so LEP applicants can evaluate plan options.
- Direct-Dial Inbound Support: Use dedicated toll-free numbers on marketing materials to connect LEP callers directly to bilingual reps or pre-connected interpreters.
- Targeted Marketing Campaigns: Localize digital ads, mailers, and radio spots into top regional languages to communicate enrollment deadlines, subsidies, and preventive care benefits.
Meet federal requirements
Civil Rights Act, establish language access obligations for health plans and programs when those laws apply. In practice, health plans may be required to provide language assistance services at no cost to members, post Notices of Availability in top state languages, and deliver accessible formats to avoid communication barriers.
Evaluating AI in Language Access Workflows
As artificial intelligence tools become integrated into translation and customer support workflows, health plans must evaluate AI usage through a compliance and accuracy lens. While AI can accelerate processing, unvetted machine translation in member-facing communications risks misinterpreting critical coverage details. Healthcare compliance teams should ensure human-in-the-loop validation by certified translators to maintain accuracy, cultural appropriateness, and regulatory alignment.
Compliance Checklist: Touchpoints to Consider for Members
You can provide language support for the following to help meet these requirements and retain LEP members in your health plan:
- Enrollment and renewal
- Premium payments
- Deductibles and co-pays
- Claims processing
- Appeals and grievances
- Policy documents and summary plan descriptions
- Explanations of benefits
- Provider locators and directories
- Preventive care, including culturally relevant health guidance
- Prescription management
For a deeper look at building a multilingual communication strategy for Open Enrollment, check out Propio’s guide, How to Keep Multilingual ACA Members Informed During Open Enrollment.
Propio’s suite of language solutions
Document translation and localization services
Propio provides HIPAA-compliant, high-quality, specialized document translation and localization services in more than 125 languages. We give you the ability to have documents translated in advance, so you can accommodate all of your new and current members. Propio can also help with Section 508 compliance for online documents for visually impaired readers, and closed captioning (English and multilingual) can be added for video training or messaging. You can manage translation requests within your CMS using Propio’s content management integrations to help meet your required turnaround times.
How Propio’s document translation service works:
- Propio matches your project with a translator who is an expert in the subject matter and a native speaker of the target language.
- A second certified translator proofreads the translation to catch typos, grammatical mistakes, and any other issues.
- Propio sends you the completed translation with formatting and desktop publishing included, so your materials are ready to use right away, with many documents ready 24 to 48 hours from quote approval.
Get started with Propio’s document translation and localization services today.
Remote interpreting services
Propio provides call center support, over-the-phone interpreting, and custom workflows built for fast connect times. Propio ONE is an on-demand audio and video app for field representatives, telehealth visits, and community events, built for personal, real-time communication. Language direct-dial numbers are available for larger language populations, giving your members the ability to have their call answered by someone speaking their language. More than 300 languages are available 24/7/365 to interpret via phone or video at the touch of a button.
Remote interpreting use cases:
- If you’re already on a call with a member, conference in Propio using your dedicated direct-dial phone number, and an interpreter joins in seconds; no PIN required.
- Take down a client’s name and number, and invite them by call, text, or email to join the call with Propio ONE.
- An interpreter can join directly on your platform of choice, including Zoom or Teams.
Connect with highly trained interpreters from wherever you are, any time.
