Enrollment for healthcare through the Affordable Care Act (or ACA) ends on January 15th. Congress member Kathy Castor urged Tampa families to sign up. Castor says families need to access resources to navigate the many, many, healthcare plans. She spoke Wednesday at the Children’s Board Family Resource center in Tampa. Castor says local help is available for lower-cost healthcare.
“There are health insurance options that are very affordable thanks to new tax credits,” Castor said. “People all across America are signing up for affordable health insurance.”
No Surprises Act to combat unexpected costs
Even with tax credits, families struggle to find affordable deductibles. Castor said there’s a new “No Surprises Act,” that took effect January 1st, to prevent unexpected and expensive out-of-network expenses.
“Folks would go into the ER, there might be a provider there that wasn’t on their health plan,” Castor said. “The person would end up with an outrageous out-of-network bill. Now, we passed a new, very important consumer protection law that will prevent patients from being surprised with those outrageous bills.”
Other options for affordable care
Katie Roders Turner, Executive Director with the Family Healthcare Foundation also said options like Medicaid and Florida Kidcare might be available to ease financial burdens for Tampa families.
“All of the navigators are trained on other programming like Florida KidCare, which can offer incredibly low out of pocket expenses for families if they’re considering adding that for their children,” Roders Turner said. “So that can be a really nice way that families are able to combine some of the Affordable Care Act plans through the Health Insurance Marketplace and then also the state of Florida’s Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The Children’s Board Family Resources Center is hosting an open enrollment signup event on Friday from 1 to 5 in the afternoon, with free help from healthcare navigators, bilingual aide is available. For more information, visit familysupporthc.org.
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