On March 31, the first open enrollment for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act ends. Before then, people have the opportunity to enroll for private health insurance through the government marketplace at healthcare.gov.
In an effort to share information and assist with enrollment, Nebraska Appleseed, Nebraska AIDs Project and Hear Nebraska are hosting Rock Enroll on Thursday at the Slowdown in Omaha, a free concert and outreach event, featuring performances by Conchance and Rock Paper Dynamite. From 7 to 9 p.m., assisters will be available to answer questions about insurance under the Affordable Care Act and to help people enroll. Attendees will also be able to set up in-person appointments for a later date. Live music will begin at 9 p.m.
For Rachel Gehringer-Wiar, program associate for health care access at Nebraska Appleseed, a social advocacy non-profit organization, and one of the principal coordinators for Rock Enroll, the event marks a critical attempt at educating and assisting 18- to 35-year-olds, a demographic she says has had among the lowest enrollment numbers so far.
“There has been a lot of outreach in Nebraska to the Latino community, the African American community, the Native American community, outreach specifically to women, but there hasn’t been a lot of outreach specifically to young people,” she says.
While members of many communities congregate at churches, community centers and other social hubs, Gehringer-Wiar says young adults are often scattered among these places, that there aren’t a lot of places where the younger population can be found en masse.
“That’s why we decided to have a concert,” she says. “We figured, what better way to get young people to come to us than a free concert and drink specials?”
Gehringer-Wiar says they’ve also been doing outreach at local community colleges. Under the Affordable Care Act, children and young people can be covered under their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26. Gehringer-Wiar says community colleges often host more non-traditional students than University of Nebraska-Lincoln or University of Nebraska at Omaha, where many 18- to 22-year-old students would find the information inapplicable, as they'll likely receive insurance through their parents.
The uninsured that don’t register for health insurance by March 31, excepting extenuating circumstances, will face a penalty that will be paid as part of 2014’s taxes.
While private health insurance will now be required for all people, Gehringer-Wiar notes that it doesn’t necessarily mean expensive monthly premiums. She says that for most people who aren’t already offered insurance through their workplace, it will be cheaper than otherwise paying for insurance would have been.
People whose income places them at the federal poverty level, $11,490 for an individual, to four times that amount, qualify for tax credits to help pay for that insurance.
Gehringer-Wiar, who has recently been collecting stories of positive experiences with the Affordable Care Act and enrolling for insurance, says she knows of one person, for example, who pays $1.50 per month for insurance based on income level.
“Not because that’s the actual monthly premium, but because of her income, she gets 'X' amount of money toward that each month from the government to help pay for it. That’s the biggest thing that has made it so much more affordable for people who don’t have insurance.”
Gehringer-Wiar says the Affordable Care Act has faced resistance from opponents in largely conservative states.
“That’s one of the reasons we want to promote these positive stories,” she says. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there, a lot of negative information. People are often only getting that, and not good, clear-cut information, or just facts about the Affordable Care Act.”
Education is a primary goal at Rock Enroll and other outreach events, which, so far, Gehringer-Wiar says have been successful.
As of March 1, 25,582 Nebraskans have enrolled, which meets 80 percent of the goal set by the Department of Health and Human Services. 27 percent of that number are in the 18-35 demographic that Rock Enroll hopes to attract.
Looking to the future, Gehringer-Wiar says there is a hope that enrollment periods will be consistent. In the same way that April 15 is widely known as the day by which taxes should be filed, she would like to see the same awareness of insurance enrollment dates. But that takes time.
“They’ve changed the dates for next year already, so it will take similar outreach efforts next year,” she says. “There’s also going to be a lot of education on how to file your taxes to show that you either do or do not have health insurance. There are a lot of new things coming up.”
Jacob Zlomke is Hear Nebraska's staff writer. Reach him at jacobz@hearnebraska.org.