Final push is this weekend for Affordable Care Act health plan enrollment
If you were watching “Saturday Night Live” last weekend, you may have noticed a spot promoting enrollment in Affordable Care Act health plans.
It wasn’t a spoof.
The real-deal commercial is part of a new advertising buy the federal government is making in Kansas City and seven other markets to encourage uninsured people, particularly the young and hard to reach, to sign up for the 2016 health plans before the enrollment deadline this Sunday.
Several organizations across the metro area, including the Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, Swope Health Services and the Kansas City CARE Clinic, will offer help Friday and Saturday to people who want to go through the sometimes perplexing enrollment process.
Although the government gave procrastinators a reprieve last year — extending the deadline an extra week after latecomers jammed the HealthCare.gov enrollment website — federal officials insist that won’t be happening this time. Both the website and the accompanying telephone hotline are more robust, they say.
In most cases, those who miss the Sunday deadline will have to wait until Nov. 1 for the next open enrollment period to get an Affordable Care Act plan.
The health plans come with premium subsidies for many people with low or moderate incomes. But people who stay uninsured this year risk having to pay a penalty of $695 or more.
So far, more than 102,000 people in the Kansas City area have signed up for coverage in 2016.
Nationwide, the number now exceeds 11.6 million people, Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Thursday in a teleconference.
Alan Bavley: 816-234-4858, @AlanBavley
Help signing up for health insurance
For information about health plans or to enroll, go to www.healthcare.gov or call 800-318-2596 (TTY: 855-889-4325).
Help signing up will be available at these locations:
Friday
Johnson County Department of Health and Environment
6000 Lamar Ave., Mission (map), 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
11875 S. Sunset Drive, Suite 300, Olathe (map), 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Saturday
Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center (education center), 2100 E. Ninth St., 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
People may call 816-889-4634 to make an appointment. Spanish speakers may call 816-889-1917; Vietnamese speakers, 816-889-4695. Walk-ins also accepted.
Kansas City, Kan., Public Library, South Branch, 3104 Strong Ave., Kansas City, Kan. (map), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Enroll Wyandotte will help consumers sign up. For more information, call 913-371-9298, ext. 209 (English); 913-371-9298, ext. 202 (Spanish).
Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road (map), 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Kansas City CARE Clinic will be providing help with health insurance enrollment during the Community Tax Day event.
Swope Health Services, 3801 Blue Parkway (map), 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 816-599-5590.
This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Final push is this weekend for Affordable Care Act health plan enrollment."