Posted on 10/29/2013 12:35:30 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Two Triad groups will be hosting events this week aimed at helping consumers get information about the potential impact of the Affordable Care Act.
The Forsyth County Central Library will conduct an event at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday involving an official state navigator for the federal health marketplace that’s the centerpiece for what is known as Obamacare. Other events will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Southside library and at 3 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Rural Hall library.
On Wednesday, two Novant Health Inc. medical centers — Forsyth and Thomasville — will hold seminars from 3-7 p.m. providing marketplace information and enrollment through www.healthcare.gov. Jeff Lindsay, Forsyth’s president, will participate in a formal presentation at Forsyth at 3:30 p.m.
Novant also will hold a web seminar from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday at NovantHealth.org/healthexchange.
Clay Ragan is coordinating the library system’s educational efforts on the Affordable Care Act
“The sessions are not a response to concerns and confusion with www.healthcare.gov,” Ragan said. “They are more intended to give a background on the changes, give information about the marketplace and provide answers to members of the public that have questions.”
Novant said it will have trained staff and insurance agents available to help consumers learn whether they are eligible for the federal subsidies and guide them through the application process.
“Although the Affordable Care Act requires most people in the United States to have health insurance, issues with the system — coupled with confusion over subsidies and enrollment requirements — have deterred many uninsured people from purchasing coverage,” Novant said in a statement.
Novant spokeswoman Jeanne Mayer said Monday all of its hospitals will hold a similar session by Nov. 14.
The possibility of gaining tens of thousands of patients with federally subsidized health-insurance coverage has spurred hospitals statewide to take an active role in signing up local residents without insurance.
Having more uninsured residents gaining coverage could play a role in hospitals reducing their bad debt and decreasing the amount of charity care they are providing to low-income individuals and households.
According to www.healthcare.gov, other Triad hospitals providing application assistance include: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Davie, Lexington and Winston-Salem campuses, and Yadkin Valley Community Hospital.
“We provided an overview of the sign-up situation to our members less than two weeks ago,” said Don Dalton, a spokesman for the N.C. Hospital Association. “Only they know how the issues they are facing (are affecting) helping people gain access.”
The healthcare.gov website has been besieged with glitches and technical problems since it was turned on Oct. 1, limiting the number of people who have succeeded in enrolling for coverage in 2014.
On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., requested that the Obama administration extend the enrollment deadline by two months until May 31, and also waive the penalty for the individual mandate for the same period of time. However, only Congress can make the changes in the legislation.
The tax credits will be available to uninsured individuals and families who meet income guidelines, with the upper range being 400 percent of the federal poverty level. For individuals, that would be $45,960; for a family of four, it would be $94,200.
Also eligible are employees who pay more than 9.5 percent of their wages to participate in an employer's health plan, and whose employer plan pays less than 60 percent of the cost of covered benefits.
The plans cover the same benefits and cap annual out-of-pocket expenses at $6,350 for an individual, $12,700 for families.
The main differences come from required deductibles and copayments. Bronze covers 60 percent of expected costs; silver, 70 percent; gold, 80 percent; and platinum, 90 percent. Bronze plans have the lowest premium rates and the highest cost sharing of deductible and copayments.
If anyone goes ask them “How many doctors are signed up in my area?”
So, now the citizens know where to go with their torches and pitchforks! They are making it too easy.
I wouldn’t want to be a navigator when the Shiite really hits the fan!
Will they demo how the website works?
No, the helpless and uninformed will flock there like Sheep to the Slaughterhouse.
Yeah, that should be comedy gold, a laff riot!
“No, the helpless and uninformed will flock there like Sheep to the Slaughterhouse.”
Will they have the guy with the tattoo gun there to tattoo your AHC number on the back of your hand and your forehead?
I hear that invisible ultraviolet ink really stings for several days afterwards
"OBSOLETE!"
Who decides who is an "official state navigator?"
Do they get a shiny new badge? /s
They should be trotting out Nancy Pelosi at these things so she can extol the virtues of her wonderful bill. Hell, they ought to dig up Teddy Kennedy and take him on tour. I’m being mean and rotten.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.