The Department of Health and Human Services has received more than 830 nonbinding letters of intent from organizations that plan to apply for $54 million in federal grants to be "navigators" helping people get enrolled in health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, an agency official testified May 21 at a congressional hearing.

Gary Cohen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, told a joint hearing held by two subcommittees of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that a final rule on the navigator program will be issued "very soon."

Cohen defended grants HHS is making to state-based online marketplaces being created under ACA.  Republicans on the subcommittees questioned whether HHS has statutory authority to issue grants to the state-based marketplaces that open for enrollment Oct. 1. A May 6 letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius questioning the legality of the state funding and other aspects of the program was released May 21.

Cohen told the subcommittees that HHS is providing the state grants on a transitional basis through 2014 until the state-based marketplaces are financially self-sustaining. HHS has the authority to issue the state grants because ACA requires the marketplaces to provide outreach, education, and enrollment assistance, he said.