Groups call on public to enroll for Affordable Care Act

By Neil Schulman
Long Branch — New Jersey residents who want to find an insurance policy through the Affordable Care Act this year have until the end of this month to sign up.

Officials from Monmouth Medical Center and the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office with Congressman Frank Pallone. Jean Kelahan, a Captain with the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, Pallone, Frank J. Vozos, MD, FACS, President and Chief Executive Officer at Monmouth Medical Center; Bill Arnold, Chief Operating Officer, Monmouth Medical Center and Superintendent of LB Schools Michael Salvatore.

On Monday, a community forum, “What coverage under the Affordable Care Act means to you,” was held at the Gregory School.

Visitors could learn about various elements of the Affordable Care Act, and several organizations were on hand to help people with the sign up process.

Speakers, including Congressman Frank Pallone, and Jean Kelahan, a Captain with the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, said that the purpose of the ACA was to get quality health insurance to more people.

“The main thing we’re here to do is get people enrolled,” said Pallone, the ranking member of the Health Subcommittee in Congress which helped draft the legislation.
While the legislation is sometimes known as Obamacare, Pallone says he doesn’t like to use that term himself.

“A lot of people use it in a pejorative sense – although the President uses ‘Obamacare,’” he said.

Pallone said that before the ACA passed, roughly 50 million Americans lacked insurance. When they did need medical help, those people were more likely to take costly visits to the emergency room, when many of these problems would have been simpler to address if they had been treated earlier.

There were also many policies that Pallone said were “lousy.” One woman from Florida told him that she was only paying $50 a month for health insurance with her policy.

“But it didn’t include hospitalization,” he said, one of the key reasons people need insurance.
Other people found it hard to get insurance for many reasons, such as a pre-existing condition.

The Affordable Care Act takes several steps to address these problems, speakers said. People can no longer be denied because of an existing condition, and women cannot be charged more than men.
“With the ACA, we try to cover people who don’t have insurance,” Pallone said.

For those whose incomes are low enough, there are Medicaid programs. In New Jersey, the program is known as New Jersey Family Care.

For those who are earning more money, subsidies are available to help make insurance affordable.

“One of the many pieces of the Affordable Care Act is the health insurance marketplace,” said Capt. Kelahan. It can be found on the healthcare.gov website, showcasing the different insurance policies people can apply for.

In New Jersey, there are 26 plans offered by three different companies, she said. All the policies must provide certain standards.
While a person’s age can be taken into account to determine the rate they pay, their sex, pre-existing conditions and other factors cannot be considered.

The Affordable Care Act is open to everyone except undocumented immigrants.
Kelahan said that making health insurance easily available, they hope to not only reduce emergency room bills, but make people healthier. With insurance, people are more likely to get preventative medicines, counseling, immunizations and other treatments that can make them healthier.

While people can apply for the New Jersey Family Care throughout the year, the deadline to sign up through the marketplace is quickly approaching. Open enrollment will end on March 31.

Visitors to the forum were encourage to go to healthcare.gov, or call 1-800-318-2596 if they don’t like using computers. Many local organizations also help people navigate the system to sign up for a policy.

The forum was presented by numerous groups, including Monmouth Medical Center, the Long Branch School System, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NJ Citizen Action, Food Bank of Ocean and Monmouth County, Monmouth Family Health Center, and the VNA of Central Jersey.