Californians Face Monday Deadline for ACA Sign-Up
Californians Face Monday Deadline for ACA Sign-Up
Procrastinators take note: Monday is the last day to get health insurance without facing a possible penalty under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Covered California, the state's online health insurance marketplace, says more than a million Californians have already bought insurance. But some people are waiting until the very last minute.
At a clinic in San Francisco's Chinatown this week, a crush of people came in for help with their new coverage. “We have actually been very busy since the pre-enrollment started back in October. And our appointments are pretty much booked weeks in advance in terms of enrollment,” says Christina Ng.
She oversees Obamacare sign-ups for a group of nonprofit clinics serving the San Francisco Bay Area's Asian community. Ng says most of the clients here don't speak English -- and most come from working families. “We actually have many, many patients who are eager to apply, who are eager to enroll, because before they didn’t have – they weren’t able to afford insurance. They didn’t have the opportunity,” she says.
But Ng tells me all that has changed with the Affordable Care Act. Now, people who qualify for subsidies get help paying for private insurance -- and more low-income Californians are eligible for Medi-Cal.
“They do try to, if they're able to get coverage, just get the coverage and have coverage, and even (though) they may be paying $80 a month or $100 a month, it’s still better than having no coverage and paying the whole thing themselves,” she says.
So far, California has fallen far short of getting uninsured Latinos to sign up for insurance on the health care exchange. But Asian-Americans are a different story. They represent nearly 23 percent of new enrollees, far more than their portion of the eligible pool.
In a room off the main waiting room, clinic worker Judy Leung is helping Ivy Hong, a mother of three children, sign up for private insurance. “This is her family's concern. In the United States, everyone has to have insurance. Otherwise, in case you don’t have insurance, when you’re sick then you have no access to care and this is very important to have medical insurance,” Hong explains.
Another big motivator, says Leung: Avoiding that tax penalty. People who don't sign up for insurance by March 31 could have to pay a fine of up to 1 percent of their household income.
There is a little wiggle room, however. The state now says that as long as people begin the application process by midnight Monday, they'll help them finish in time to avoid that penalty.