Affordable Care Act rolls out quietly in York County

Source: York Daily Record, Pa.儲存Oct. 02--There was no obvious scramble for help in York County Tuesday, as enrollment opened in the online marketplace of health care offered through the controversial Affordable Care Act.During a speech from the White House Tuesday afternoon, President Barack Obama said more than 1 million people visited healthcare.gov before 7 a.m. That website is where people enroll in health care coverage through the act."To put that in context, there were five times more users in the marketplace this morning than have ever been on Medicare.gov at one time," Obama said. "That gives you a sense of how important this is to millions of Americans."Obama said 85 percent of Americans have health insurance, but "for the 15 percent of Americans who don't have health insurance, this opportunity is life-changing."Jess Ensminger, executive communications coordinator for Family First Health, said no one came into their York location to enroll on Tuesday. But that was expected."We've been scheduling people for the rest of the week," Ensminger said, explaining that Family First Health planned to avoid the first-day glitches in the enrollment process.Some people took to social media to express frustration about the enrollment website, which gave some the message that there were too many visitors on the site.Others who went through the process to create an account were met with a message indicating their account could not be created because the "system is unavailable."Obama conceded there were some glitches but attributed them to high volume on the website. He said work is being done to remedy the issues.Ensminger said she's hopeful the glitches will be worked out by the time people come in to enroll. She said it will take about one to two hours to enroll online. Family First Health is doing what it can to streamline the process.Deb Sullivan, community relations director for York County Libraries, said no one was asking for help with enrolself storagement at York County libraries on Tuesday. She said the library plans to direct people to healthcare.gov to enroll, or to go in person to Family First Health if they have specific questions.Ensminger said Family First Health can help anyone go through the enrollment process but suggested they call ahead to schedule an appointment.Potential scamsOn Tuesday, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's office issued a warning of scams and fraud that may crop up with the start of enrollment in the Affordable Care Act.Kane's office will "monitor the rollout to look for patterns in consumer complaints and issue consumer alerts accordingly," she said in a news release.Consumers are also urged to "be wary illusory government and company names claiming to help with enrollment."Consumers will also want to look out for phone calls or emails asking to verify personal information for government health insurance plans or Medicare."You will not be contacted and Medicare is not part of the marketplace," the release states. Also, there is no fee to submit an application to enroll in a plan in the Affordable Care Act marketplace.Anyone who thinks they may be the victim of a roll-out related scam is asked to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office by calling 1-877-888-4877, or online at .attorneygeneral.govWhere to go for helpPresident Barack Obama advised calling 1-800-318-2596 to get help with enrollment in insurance through the Affordable Care Act.Local residents in York and Adams counties may also reach out to Family First Health by calling one of the following locations:--George Street Center, York: 717-845-8617--Hannah Penn Center, York: 717-843-5174--Lewisberry Center, Lewisberry: 717-938-6695--Gettysburg Center, Gettysburg: 717-337-9400--Hanover Center, Hanover: 717-632-9052Or visit Family First Health.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 York Daily Record (York, Pa.) Visit York Daily Record (York, Pa.) at .ydr.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷利倉