ACA open enrollment begins
By Melinda Harrell
Published in News on November 2, 2017 5:50 AM
Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act began Wednesday and will continue until Dec. 15.
The open enrollment period has been significantly reduced by President Donald Trump's administration, where once there was a 90-day enrollment period, this year it is 45 days.
The reduced amount of time to enroll for health insurance coverage through the ACA has created an urgency for residents to complete the process as soon as possible, said Marc Van Arman, the N.C. Navigator Consortium director of outreach.
N.C. Navigator, led by Legal Aid of North Carolina, is a consortium of 12 non-profit organizations working to raise awareness about the open enrollment period and to help residents of the state get health insurance through the ACA marketplace.
Many navigator programs across the country saw significant grant funding cuts, posing problems for some areas, but Van Arman said that N.C. Navigator was not one of them.
"We were fortunate that the N.C. Navigator Consortium was fully funded this year," he said.
"So, we have been able to double down on our enrollment efforts with the shorter open enrollment period."
The political back and forth concerning health care in the country has left many consumers confused, Van Arman said.
"We know there is confusion," he said.
"That is one of the biggest things we work with every day. With everything that has gone on and all the political noise around that ACA, we know it is easy for consumers to get confused."
Van Arman said the politics and the debate did not change the fact that the "ACA is still the law of the land," however, and people can still get "quality, affordable coverage in 2018."
The fines associated with not being covered also apply as well.
Willona Stallings, N.C. Get Covered director, echoed Van Arman's assertion that the actual ACA has not changed and people can still have effective, affordable insurance.
N.C. Get Covered is a statewide, non-partisan initiative designed to facilitate the enrollment process.
"The message that we really want to get out -- there has been a lot of confusion about ACA -- but we want consumers to know that it is still the law. We want consumers to act as soon as possible and don't delay," she said.
Stallings said financial help is still available under the ACA.
"Last year, nine in 10 people received financial assistance with their coverage," she said.
"And that is important."
N.C. Navigator also encourages people who already have marketplace coverage to review the 2018 plans rather than automatically re-enrolling as new plans and prices are available.
Stallings and Van Arman encourage people to call 1-855-733-3711 to schedule an in-person appointment with a free navigator to help with the open enrollment process.
Consumers can also visit www.nc navigator.net, or visit www.ncgetcovered.org and go to the ACA resources tab and click the "get covered connector" tab in the drop-down menu, Consumers may also visit https:// connector.getcovered america.org/en-us/widget/?original=/connector-embed/ to be connected to a navigator locally.
"We have navigators stationed across the state that have appointments available throughout the week," Van Arman said.
"Most of the time you can find an appointments close to the area."
Legal Aid of North Carolina -- Goldsboro office, 102-A S. William St.; Community Health Intervention and Sickle Cell Agency, Inc., 1202-C Wayne Memorial Drive; and Wayne UNC Health Care, 2700 Wayne Memorial Drive, are local locations people who use the navigator will be directed to.
There are also enrollment counselors available at Goshen Medical Center, 2701 Medical Office Place, on Monday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the enrollment period.
Appointments can be scheduled by calling 910-935-0450 or 919-223-7842.
To enroll, people can also go directly to the ACA marketplace website at www.healthcare.gov.