By Bay City News Service
With the deadline to sign up for health insurance through Medi-Cal or Covered California approaching rapidly, Bay Area residents are being offered some face-to-face assistance in getting enrolled.
The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, a health care workers union with 150,000 members, is offering five free health care enrollment fairs in the Bay Area this week, starting with events in San Francisco and Hayward this afternoon.
The fairs offer information and face-to-face help in signing up for free or low-cost health insurance, according to union spokesman Sean Wherley. Those who currently lack insurance are required to either sign up for Medi-Cal, for those who are eligible, or purchase insurance through the state's health care exchange, Covered California.
Wherley said the union has been holding the fairs since October, but attendance is expected to go up as the March 31 deadline for enrollment approaches.
"We're seeing numbers go up with each passing week, and we think there will be quite a spike before the deadline," Wherley said.