Berks Encore, community center bustle as Obamacare deadline looms

March 24--If you're interested in shopping for health insurance on Healthcare.gov, time is running out.

The deadline to enroll for a plan on the site is next Monday, and many in Berks County and elsewhere are still scoping out their options.

"It's kind of funny, but it's human nature," said Helen Wooten, community outreach coordinator for the Berks Community Health Center. "We have a tendency to procrastinate and wait to the last minute. We're seeing a lot of people."

In March, officials from Berks Encore and the community health center have been helping hundreds of people a week understand their options on the federal website.

Both organizations are booked with appointments through the end of the enrollment period.

"I would say it has picked up," said Dot Hartman, Berks Encore's vice president of community-based aging services. She said a mix of ages, the unemployed, the self-employed and part-time employees are seeking help.

From October through February, nearly 160,000 signed up for insurance in Pennsylvania. The federal government said this month that 5 million Americans had already signed up and estimates another 1 million will sign up before the end of the month.

Those who don't have insurance by the end of month and don't qualify for an exemption will face a fee equivalent to 1 percent of their yearly household income or a $95 per person fine, whichever is greater.

The marketplace is a critical component of the federal health care law, which is designed to provide health insurance to more Americans while mandating a series of changes in health care.

At the start of the enrollment period, the Congressional Budget Office projected 7 million people would sign up, but technical glitches and recurring problems during the rollout derailed that projection.

Hartman said the site improved after the October rollout, but the technical problems did not go away completely.

"It went down a couple times," Hartman said. "You'd be working along with someone and then it would go down for a couple hours."

Hartman and Wooten said the people they are helping are finding affordable coverage on the website.

"I would say 90 percent of people we see are getting financial assistance," Hartman said. "They are getting a break in the costs."

After the deadline, the next chance for people to buy insurance on the federal marketplace will come in November. It's possible, though, that the enrollment period will be extended for some who experienced technical glitches on Healthcare.gov that prevented them from completing the application by the deadline.

While federal officials have stressed next Monday as the deadline, Wooten said she would favor keeping the marketplace open for a few more months.

"If you think about the rocky start, I think they should have given us more time, maybe expand it until the end of June," she said.

Contact Matthew Nojiri: 610-371-5062 or [email protected].

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