Underinsured in Scioto County down

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As the deadline for enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Marketplace nears, Enroll Ohio State Director, Trey Daly tells the Daily Times that 874 Scioto County residents selected plans in the second quarter of 2015.

“We know that 6,232 Scioto County residents have enrolled in Expanded Medicaid through November 2015,” Daly said. “We estimate that there were 11,191 uninsured Scioto Country residents prior to the January 2014 when the Marketplace and Expanded Medicaid coverage first became available and that there are 4,085 remaining Scioto County uninsured residents, a 63 percent reduction in just two years.”

After Friday, the next deadline to sign up is Jan. 31.

“If you enroll between the 15th and the 31st you’ll get a March 1 effective date,” Gary Duzan of Portsmouth Insurance Agency, said. “That’s the latest you can enroll is January 31. After that, open enrollment is closed until next year.”

Kenisha Sanders Ohio Communications Director for Enroll America said the law has been successful in helping everyone access quality, affordable health coverage. More than 225,000 Ohioans have enrolled through the Marketplace. Additionally over 565,000 Ohioans have secured coverage through Medicaid expansion. But thousands more remain uninsured and unaware of their options.

According to Gail Myers, Public Relations for Interact for Health, the 2015 Ohio Health Issues Poll (OHIP) has found that 1 in 10 Ohio adults reported that their lack of or type of insurance was a barrier to finding a health care provider they trusted. OHIP also asked about race or ethnicity as a barrier, and only about 4 percent reported race or ethnicity as a barrier to finding a trusted provider. There was no significant difference between White and African American respondents on the question. However, adults in poverty were more likely to report race or ethnicity as a barrier than those with higher incomes.

By Frank Lewis

[email protected]

Reach Frank Lewis at 740-353-3101, ext. 1928, or on Twitter @franklewis.

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