Open enrollment starts Friday for people getting health insurance on the federal marketplace.
The individual insurance market, percentage-wise, is smaller than workplace plans, Medicaid or Medicare. But the exchanges are still mired in politics.
A federal judge will decide any day whether or not to strike down the Affordable Care Act, and an appeal is likely either way.
Claudia Maldonado, program director at Keogh Health Connection, said her plan is to carry on.
“What we know is that we still have the marketplace,” said Maldonado, whose organization has staff to help people sign up for insurance. “There are still choices for the community at this point.”
Prices for marketplace plans for Arizonans have decreased the past two years, and many enrollees will qualify for federal subsidies.
“There are options. And you don’t know until you actually go and talk to someone about that,” Maldonado said.
The effort to enroll Latinos is important, according to our next guest, because of all of the misinformation that’s out there about the ACA, or Obamacare. From threats of changing immigration policies to the court battle over the ACA’s legality, there's been a chilling effect among this population. Plus, the enrollment window has been shortened, and there have been cuts to the funds for ACA navigators like Maldonado.
For more on this, The Show got a hold of Alberto Gonzalez, senior strategist for health policy with UnidosUS, formerly the National Council of La Raza.
The enrollment period lasts through Dec. 15.
