More than 10000 here got Obamacare health insurance

By JEFF HAWKES | Staff Writer

A total of 10,306 Lancaster County individuals and families enrolled in health plans through HealthCare.gov during the rollout of the Affordable Care Act last October through March, the government said.

Lancaster County enrollments ranked seventh in the state. The statewide total of 318,077 enrollments represented 24.9 percent of the potential market for Obamacare-eligible consumers, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Open enrollment begins again Nov. 15 and will run to Feb. 15, 2015.

Pennsylvania will have 15 insurers offering plans, one more than last year, the government said Tuesday.

SouthEast Lancaster Health Services and Welsh Mountain Medical & Dental Center will once again employ outreach specialists to help those without workplace insurance understand how to shop online for a health plan.

However, Project Access Lancaster County, known as PALCO, did not have its grant renewed for the new enrollment period.

'There's still a whole lot of uninsured out there,' said Helen Jones, who oversees enrollment efforts at SouthEast Lancaster. She said estimates of the uninsured in Lancaster County range from 40,000 to 45,000.

Many of the uninsured may find they qualify for Pennsylvania's new Healthy PA program, which extends Medicaid coverage to individuals and families with higher incomes. The new income limits are about $16,000 for a single person and $32,000 for a family of four. Healthy PA is scheduled to begin Jan. 1.

PALCO's enrollment specialists signed up 1,844 people last October through March. SouthEast signed up 1,508 and Welsh Mountain enrolled 409.

'The first part of the enrollment period was very low because the website wasn't working,' Jones said. 'But that turned around. By the end of March it was going crazy with people enrolling.'

Jones said SouthEast in a few weeks will begin scheduling enrollment appointments.

'I encourage people to contact us or Welsh Mountain,' she said. 'There's really no reason for most people to be uninsured.'

For more information, call SouthEast Lancaster at 299-6371 or Welsh Mountain at 354-4711.

Jeff Hawkes writes about social policy and the well-being of Lancaster County and its people for Lancaster Newspapers. He can be reached at jhawkes@lnpnews.com  or (717) 481-6141.