Health insurance sign up event set Thursday at Dyess Park

Dec. 14--Even with a likely repeal of the Affordable Care Act, people are still turning out in droves for the insurance, advocates said.

Insure Georgia will host a sign up event Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Dyess Park Community Center, 902 James Brown Blvd., with in-person free help from navigators available. It is the last day to sign up for coverage that will begin Jan. 1.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell tweeted Wednesday that more than 380,000 people signed up Tuesday alone and more than 4 million had enrolled since Open Enrollment began on Nov. 1. Nearly 107,000 signed up in Georgia in the first month, ahead of last year's pace, HHS reported last month.

Insure Georgia, which is helping people enroll in Augusta and elsewhere in Georgia, is seeing similar enthusiastic responses despite the vows of President-elect Donald Trump and leaders in Congress to repeal the program next year, Outreach Coordinator Howard Campbell said.

"More people are interested in signing up, we've had a surplus of people signing up," he said. The group just had an event in Macon this past weekend and had a strong showing, Campbell said.

"I'm hoping we have an even larger turnout (today) in Augusta," he said.

People do know about the threat of repeal but Campbell claimed that the money for 2017 coverage has already been allocated so "they are guaranteed health insurance through 2017," he said. "Even if they move to repeal it, the money has already been allocated."

LaShanda Johnson, community outreach manager for Medical Associates Plus at Belle Terrace, said the threat of repeal hasn't kept people from coming in to enroll.

"People are aware but they also understand that even if the bill was repealed that it would take a while for that to happen," she said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213

or [email protected]

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