Aliyya Swaby Photo
New Haven’s uninsured have fewer than 90 days to finally enroll in a health plan.
The second year of Access Health CT’s open enrollment period began Saturday. City officials and community groups are working to inform people about their rights under the federal Affordable Care Act, as part of a larger effort to reach out to the state’s approximately 140,000 uninsured.
Many of those 140,000 are located in “large cities” such as New Haven, said Jason Madrak, chief marketing officer for Access Health CT. The marketing campaign in these areas focusing on two main points: the ease of enrollment and the affordability of the plans.
Madrak said Access Health CT saw about 600 calls per hour on Monday morning. “The system is stable” enough to handle the high volume, he said.
Mayor Toni Harp said everyone in the city should consider getting coverage.
For both city infrastructure and human health, “preventive maintenance is the best, most efficient, least expensive way to take care of things,” she said.
Last year’s enrollment period cut the rate of uninsured by nearly half, from 7.9 to 4 percent, said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
“Passing the Affordable Care Act is one of the proudest votes I have cast in Congress,” DeLauro said. She listed some of what she considers the most successful factors in the federal law, including improved health care for women, reduced cost for sexual health, no lifetime caps on family plans, and affordable pediatric care.
Though Republicans continue to challenge the law at the federal level, DeLauro said the state’s high rates of enrollment show that people are happy with the act.
“People want health insurance they can afford,” she said.
Open enrollment ends Feb. 15. For more information or to sign up, visit the Access Health website, phone the call center or visit the store at 55 Church St.
Again,Selling the people snake-oil.
Obamacare VS Single Payer – Top 10 Things the ACA Gave Us VS the Top 10 We Gave Up
submitted by Bruce A. Dixon on Wed, 10/16/2013
http://blackagendareport.com/content/obamacare-vs-single-payer-–-top-10-things-aca-gave-us-vs-top-10-we-gave
Beyond the Spin, Some Facts About the Affordable Care Act
Margaret Flowers, MD
Health insurance does not equate to healthcare
In the US, having health insurance does not guarantee access to necessary health care. The ACA will increase the number of people who have inadequate insurance which requires high out-of-pocket costs and does not cover all necessary services. This trend towards underinsurance has been growing steadily over the past decade so that currently about one-third of employer-based health insurance and half of individual plans are high-deductible plans. It is expected that in 2014, 44 percent of major US companies will only offer high-deductible health plans.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/beyond-spin-some-facts-about-affordable-care-act
We need a single-payer health system.