Floridians still have time to sign up for Obamacare or change their plans

While the enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act has already ended nationwide, most Floridians qualify for an extension granted until Dec. 31.

Manatee County is advising that any resident who is eligible for benefits should apply, or make any necessary last minute changes to their plans based on their expected needs.

“Counties provide funding for health care to those who don’t have insurance,” said Joshua Barnett, health care services manager for Manatee County. “The more people who don’t have insurance, they could be subjected to having high bills attributed to their care and most often that means they don’t seek care.”

For the next budget cycle, Manatee County commissioners approved an allocation of nearly $5.3 million specifically to help cover some of the costs to indigent healthcare providers at Manatee Memorial Hospital, Blake Medical Center and Manatee County Rural Health Services.

“When people don’t enroll with a health insurance program, that means hospitals account for the uncompensated care and provide that bill to the county government, at which we are unable to pay the full balance,” Barnett said.

For example, a 27-year-old man in Manatee County who doesn’t smoke, makes $22,500 a year and doesn’t think he’ll have many health care visits can pay $32.50 every two weeks for a Bronze Plan, but it will have a high deductible, Barnett said. A man with the same age and income who smokes and expects to seek health care more can pay $102.74 every two weeks with a $700 deductible for a Silver Plan, paying a maximum $2,450 annually for insurance.

Even before the Dec. 15 deadline, Florida was the state with the largest enrollment on HealthCare.gov at more than 1.7 million plan selections. This was about 600,000 more than Texas’ enrollment count.

Those seeking enrollment before the year is over need to request the extension by calling 800-318-2596. Anyone can visit HealthCare.gov to search what plans they qualify for in their area.

“The fewer people that go without health insurance, the more money the county can afford to pay hospitals but also can use for other health promoting events,” Barnett said

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Floridians still have time to sign up for Obamacare or change their plans."