Pike County officials urge newly eligible residents to sign up for health insurance before Dec. 15
That’s what Pike County officials are calling their efforts to encourage citizens to sign up for health care insurance, as called for by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, reports Russ Cassady of the Appalachian News-Express in Pikeville.
The act and the state’s expansion of Medicaid under the law have made an estimated 9,915 people in the state’s easternmost and geographically largest county eligible to receive health insurance, county Social Services Commissioner Carol Napier said at a Fiscal Court meeting last week.
“Of that number, 5,127 are now eligible for Medicaid,” she said, adding that 3,984 others are eligible to get subsidies for private health insurance.
The call to action also reminds people to apply before Dec. 15 to assure that their coverage will begin Jan. 1, Cassady reports. “There’s still yet those individuals that are under the impression that they don’t qualify,” Napier said.
Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford, at the same meeting, reminded Pike County residents who apply through the state insurance exchange that they will not have to go through the national system, Cassady reports.
Kentucky’s online health insurance exchange, Kynect, hailed by some as the best Obamacare website, is available to all Kentucky residents to explore their options, find out if they qualify for subsidies, and sign up for health insurance.
Cassady’s story gives a list of local Kynect assistance sgencies, where people can call to ask questions or request help:
• Pike County Health Department, (606) 437-5500
• Mountain Comprehensive Care Center, (606) 432-3143
• Big Sandy Area Development District, (606) 886-2374
• Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, (606) 886-3876
Citizens of Pike County can also call the county Social Services office at (606) 432-6246 with questions about their eligibility for health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (Read more; subscription may be required)