PORT TOWNSEND — The implementation of the Affordable Care Act is causing confusion in parts of the nation, but Jefferson County is further along in the process, the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce was told Monday.
“As of Friday, Jefferson County has reached 32 percent of our goal to enroll people in the program,” said Jefferson Healthcare CEO Mike Glenn during a question-and-answer period at Monday’s chamber luncheon meeting attended by about 50 at the Elks Lodge.
“These are people who likely didn’t have insurance before and now do, and on Jan. 1 when it goes into effect, it will make a huge difference.”
Glenn credited the luncheon keynote speakers, Jefferson County Public Health Supervisor Julia Danskin and Jefferson Healthcare Compliance Officer Erin Brown, for the county’s success in getting the message out to the target audience.
“The goal of the [Affordable Care Act] is to decrease the cost of health care and what our prices are to the consumer.” Brown said.
“As more people become insured, the cost will come down.”
Brown said many health care customers are caught in a “vicious circle” where they cancel or delay needed health procedures because they can’t afford them.
When the problem becomes life-threatening, they go to the emergency room, which costs more and has a greater bad effect on patient health.
Brown said the substance of the act, aka “Obamacare,” is nothing new and was first proposed in 1912 by President Theodore Roosevelt.
“A huge part of this is how the act covers pre-existing conditions,” Brown said.
“Previously, insurance companies were allowed to deny or delay your coverage and still make you pay for the plan.
“That’s all going away, which is excellent.”
Danskin said website problems to enroll the uninsured are not as much an issue in Washington state as in other parts of the nation.
“It is working a lot better than it was two weeks ago, and 100 percent better than on Oct. 1. A lot of issues have been resolved in the last few days,” Danskin said.
“Before going on the site, I heard how user friendly it was and everyone can just sign up easily, but it turned out that just getting a user name and a password and answering the first three questions is a challenge.”
{The Washington Healthplanfinder is online at www.wahealthplanfinder.org. Or applicants can phone 855-923-4633 weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.]
The health care act requires that all legal residents have health care by Jan. 1.
Those who already have health care through their employer or an independent insurance agency and are satisfied with that coverage don’t need to do anything.
Brown said that about 4,000 people in Jefferson County do not have health insurance, according to the latest available figures.
The high risk groups for being uninsured are single males, rural residents and those between ages 21 to 30, she said.
Those who don’t sign up for health care can be penalized with an amount to be assessed on their 2014 income tax form.
The penalties are $95 per adult and $47.50 per child with a $285 per-family maximum or 1 percent of the total family income, whichever is greater.
A lot of issues are yet to be resolved with answers provided over the next few months, and the consumer cost could decrease, Glenn said.
“The invisible hand of the free market will bring costs down because it’s a hard sell to force people to buy health care that isn’t as good as what they have today,” Glenn said.
“The charity care and bad debt is way higher [at Jefferson Healthcare] than other hospitals in the area,” Brown said.
“People are having emergent conditions because they aren’t getting health care [coverage]. This is why we need to get more people involved.
“We need to have a healthier community. Otherwise, we aren’t going to have a community.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
