Officials Target Rural Residents In Drive To Sign Up For Affordable Care Act

Health insurance plan enrollment on the marketplace created as part of President Barack Obama’s health care law has increased this year in Wisconsin, as state officials focus on boosting enrollment in rural areas.

So far this year, 224,000 Wisconsinites have enrolled in a plan on the health insurance marketplace — almost 49,000 more than those enrolled in September of last year.

State officials are encouraging rural populations in particular to continue to sign up for a marketplace plan.

Stan Gruszynski, director for Wisconsin’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office, said rural communities in Wisconsin have done a lot to improve the availability of health care services.

“But infrastructure is only a part of all of this,” he said. “The other part of it is to ensure that people can afford the health care that’s provided.”

Gruszynski said despite the controversy over the Affordable Care Act, people should embrace the health insurance marketplace.

“It is the law, and the best way to make it work is for as many people to enroll in this as possible, so that the costs to health care can be spread around and so it can work effectively,” Gruszynski said.

Kathleen Falk, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region 5 director, said that during the first two months of open enrollment, 9 out of 10 Wisconsinites were eligible for tax credits to lower their health insurance premiums. Falk said there are plenty of local and online resources for those who haven’t enrolled yet.

“We don’t want anyone Feb. 1 to wake up and face a fine or more even importantly to be without the kind of health coverage that people now can get and sure deserve,” Falk said.

Jan. 31 is the deadline for enrollment in the health insurance marketplace. After that, those who don’t have health insurance will face a fine of $695 or more.