Rural areas face confusion as ACA enrollment begins - Entrepreneur Generations

Open enrollment for Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act marketplace plans begins tomorrow, but many people--especially in rural areas--may face confusion about how to sign up. That could lead to fewer people being covered by much-needed health insurance, Virginia Anderson reports for Kaiser Health News. Part of the confusion stems from a lack of information: the Department of Health and Human Services slashed the ACA advertising budget by 90 percent, which means there is often no advertising to tell people when open enrollment is, or if they qualify. HHS also cut by 40 percent grants to pay navigators, which are regular citizens trained to help people sign up for ACA plans.

The Trump administration has also decreased overall access to the plans, trimming open enrollment from three months down to six weeks. The enrollment website, Healthcare.gov, is also being taken offline for maintenance for 12 hours almost every Sunday during open enrollment, even though weekends are generally a convenient time for people to apply. 

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2A5fytE Rural areas face confusion as ACA enrollment begins - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet