Published: Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 4:55 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, November 17, 2014 at 6:04 a.m. <\/p>\n
DAYTONA BEACH Scott Stephan has been uninsured his entire life, but the 34-year-old Daytona Beach native finally changed that Sunday morning. <\/p>\n
More than 100 other people also enrolled in health insurance plans Sunday many for the first time. A coalition of groups including the nonprofit Enroll America, Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach and the Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida held one of the first enrollment events in the area for the second year of the Affordable Care Act. <\/p>\n
This is my first year (having insurance), said Stephan. I just needed it. Ive got cancer and Im trying to get it all taken care of. Its just skin cancer, its nothing big, but like, to get the surgery, no one will help unless you have insurance. <\/p>\n
The second annual open enrollment window for people to get health insurance under the presidents health care law opened Saturday. <\/p>\n
The wonderful thing is Halifax hospital has opened up its doors and were going to staff the hospital from now until the end of enrollment, said Mincy Pollock, of the First Coast Multi-Lines Agency, a Jacksonville-based insurance brokerage and one of the partners in Sundays event. <\/p>\n
The hospital was more than happy to join the effort, said Bob Williams, executive director of business development with Halifax, especially because having more people covered reduces the amount of uncompensated care the hospital off Clyde Morris Boulevard has to provide. <\/p>\n
Many people who dont have coverage dont get the preventative care they need, so they show up in our emergency department already having a serious illness that could have, frankly, been prevented. That becomes a burden on the community, he said. We will, this year, get about $8 million in tax money, but we will see over $43 million of uncompensated treatment having to be delivered. <\/p>\n
The governments online health care marketplace, Healthcare.gov, is now apparently running much smoother than it did in the laws inaugural year. <\/p>\n
Its been phenomenal. Last year, the first time I (enrolled somebody) it took about four hours, said Gabriel Timmons Sr. of Jacksonville, a navigator at the event. Now, normally ... its going to take maybe 30 to 45 minutes to process somebody. <\/p>\n
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Health care insurance enrollent running smoothly at Halifax<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Published: Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 4:55 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, November 17, 2014 at 6:04 a.m. DAYTONA BEACH Scott Stephan has been uninsured his entire life, but the 34-year-old Daytona Beach native finally changed that Sunday morning. Continue reading