From the inbox:
It’s constitutional – deal with it
The Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS) will open four of its multi-service centers on Sunday and extend their business hours next Monday to help people sign up for a health insurance plan by the Affordable Care Act’s March 31 deadline.
HDHHS will open Acres Homes, Denver Harbor, Northeast and Southwest multi-service centers on Sunday, March 30, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. It will also extend the four multi-service centers’ business hours on Monday, March 31, until 10 p.m., setting the last ACA enrollment appointment for 8 p.m.
Approximately 99,000 Houston-area residents have enrolled in one of the more than 40 low-cost ACA health plans available in the region. Those without health insurance have only one week left to sign up.
Residents can set up an appointment for one-on-one help from certified application counselors at HDHHS by calling 832-393-5423. The counselors are able to help residents compare health plans and find one that fits their budget and health care needs.
The phone number connects residents to an ACA call center that HDHHS set up as part of the Gulf Coast Health Insurance Marketplace Collaborative, a group of 13 agencies helping people obtain insurance coverage through the ACA.
Certified application counselors and outreach staff with HDHHS and the other agencies in the collaborative have met face to face with more than 151,500 area residents since the enrollment period began in October. They have also reached out or distributed ACA brochures and information to approximately 538,000 people.
Documents needed to enroll during an appointment include:
- Proof of U.S. citizenship: social security number or copy of U.S. passport for all family members
- State residency: driver’s license, housing lease or utility bill
- Income: W-2 forms or pay stubs; unemployment or disability; social security, pension and retirement income; or copy of 2012 tax return
- Current health insurance: policy numbers for any current health insurance and information about job-related health insurance
- Immigration status or legal residency: Immigration document status numbers.
The press release is here, and Stace was also on this. There are going to be a number of rallies and other events aimed at getting people signed up while they still can. Another event, via State Rep. Jessica Farrar, will be Saturday, March 29th from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at the Harris County Department of Education Conference Center, 6300 Irvington Blvd. Anyone who has questions about the exchange or is currently without health insurance is encouraged to attend. Here’s a Trib story about the pre-deadline push.
The Affordable Care Act requires most individuals to purchase health insurance by 2014, specifically by March 31, which will mark the final day of canvassing and enrollment outreach by nonprofits, local governments and community organizations.
At the start of March, 295,000 Texans had selected a coverage plan in the federal marketplace, but the number of total enrollees represents a small fraction of the uninsured in Texas.
National advocates for health reform have homed in on Texas’ enrollment in recent weeks, including U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, who was in Texas last week to promote enrollment efforts, including a final push to mobilize young adults to sign up for insurance through the marketplace.
Enroll America, a nonprofit group promoting the federal health reform law, launched a six-city bus tour through Texas last week to help people enroll in the exchange. Anne Filipic, president of the group, said it has focused on Texas because of the amount of people “who stand to benefit” from the federal health reform.
The organization has also set up a series of enrollment events throughout the state, including the one Donnell attended, as part of the final week of enrollment and is following up with individuals who started their process at one of the events to help them complete their enrollments.
Locally, state Democratic legislators have hosted their own enrollment efforts or have worked with entities like the Texas Organizing Project, a group that advocates for low-income Texans, to host regular enrollment events in Dallas, Bexar and Harris counties.
Federally qualified health centers in Texas also received more than $15 million federal grants to help individuals enroll in the marketplace. Lone Star Circle of Care clinics was among the top recipients in the state, receiving a combined $600,000 in grants to provide enrollment assistance.
Lone Star spokeswoman Rebekah Haynes said its 35 certified application counselors have seen an uptick in demand for enrollment assistance in the last few weeks, and they are working with hundreds of individuals to verify whether they qualify to purchase health insurance through the marketplace.
Texas could have delivered half of the enrollees the Obama administration is banking on. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 3,143,000 Texans are potential marketplace enrollees, but only 9.4 percent of that population has enrolled. (Potential enrollees include uninsured Texans who are U.S. citizens and have incomes above the amount needed to qualify for Medicaid.)
You have to wonder what might have been if anyone in the Republican leadership cared even a little bit about the vast number of uninsured people in Texas. Be that as it may, if you know someone who needs coverage but still hasn’t signed up yet, do whatever you can to encourage them to get it done now. Time is very much running out.