Deadline to sign up for health insurance on federal exchange is Friday. Here’s how.

Friday is the last day Kentuckians can buy health insurance on the federal health care exchange.

Despite attempts by Congress to roll back or repeal the Affordable Care Act, the landmark legislation is still in effect. Open enrollment began Nov. 1 and closes Friday.

More than 76,000 Kentuckians purchased private insurance on the exchange last year, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. About 80 percent of those qualified for tax credits or subsidies that help pay for the cost of insurance policies.

Those who are already enrolled in a health insurance plan via the exchange will have their benefits rolled over. But those who want to change their coverage plan or sign up for a new plan must visit healthcare.gov.

As of late last week, approximately 50,000 people had signed up, said Doug Hogan, a spokesman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In addition, about 30,000 people will be automatically re-enrolled into a health plan in 2018, he said.

Some health care advocates said they are concerned that too few people realize the deadline is Friday. And because of the well-publicized attempts by Congress to roll back the Affordable Care Act, some people don’t realize it’s still in effect.

“We have heard that they don’t know its open enrollment,” said Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, a nonprofit. “There are also people that don’t think it’s going to be around much longer and they don’t want to buy a plan because there is no confidence that it will be around.”

Marketing to encourage enrollment has also been slashed. In addition, the enrollment period is now just six weeks instead of 12, Beauregard said.

Beauregard encourages people that have previously purchased plans through the exchange to get online and continue to shop.

“Not all plans are the same from year to year. It’s probably more common that they change. Even if your insurer stays the same, sometimes the plan changes,” Beauregard said. “If you don’t get online and shop, you could end up with a plan that does not work for you.”

Hogan said state officials have tried to get people to sign up.

“We have been extremely active spreading the word on social media and have in fact engaged traditional media in this outreach,” Hogan said.

Kentucky’s uninsured rate plummeted to 6 percent in 2015 after then-Gov. Steve Beshear opted to expand Medicaid to cover more people and set up the state’s own health care exchange, formerly known as Kynect.com.

Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration dismantled Kentucky’s health care exchange in 2016, saying it was too expensive, and moved the state to the federal health care exchange.

There are people in every county in Kentucky to help people sign up, the cabinet said in an Oct. 27 news release. To find out more about where those staff are located to get free in-person help go to https://healthbenefitexchange.ky.gov. In Fayette County, those free assistants are at the Community Action Council and HealthFirst Bluegrass.

Beauregard recommended people start at the https://healthbenefitexchange.ky.gov website first. That site will tell people if they qualify for subsidies, tax credits or Medicaid. If someone qualifies for Medicaid, that’s a different application process, Beauregard said.

Beauregard also said that if an insurance plan that was offered in a certain county is no longer available, people can get an extension or a special enrollment period. People who have technical problems signing up at healthcare.gov and can’t sign up before Friday should document those problems and apply for an extension.

The Kentucky-based call center to help people sign up for health insurance is 855-459-6328. The federal hotline for questions is 1-800-318-2596.

Those who do not have health insurance face fines. For a single person, that fine is $695, or 2.5 percent of a person’s income. For a family, the fine is $2,085 or 2.5 percent of the family’s income.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Deadline to sign up for health insurance on federal exchange is Friday. Here’s how.."