Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa (VNS of Iowa) will host three enrollment events in December in order to help people enrolling in the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace, also known as Obamacare.
Professionally trained and licensed health insurance marketplace navigators will visit the Dallas County Hospital Thursday, Dec. 8, Thursday, Dec. 15 and Thursday, Dec. 29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Dallas County Hospital is located at 610 10th St. in Perry.
VNS offers the in-person help sessions for Iowans in need of assistance with the enrollment process.
Appointments are strongly encouraged and may be made by calling 515-288-1516. Walk-ins will be accepted but due to high demand, walk-ins will likely be rescheduled for a later date.
The VNS navigators estimate the enrollment process will take about 90 minutes, but it is important that you bring the necessary documentation, which includes:
- Social Security Number(s) or document numbers for legal immigrants
- Birth date(s)
- Employer and income information for every member of household needing coverage, such as pay stubs or W-2 forms—Wage and Tax Statements
- Policy numbers for any current health insurance plans covering household members of your household (if applicable)
- Information about any health insurance available from employer(s) (if applicable)
If you are eligible for Medicaid and hawk-i, you may apply at any time of the year and are not restricted to qualifying events outside of the open enrollment period.
VNS of Iowa also offers in-person application assistance for these programs, and in-person interpreters may be available as well.
In Iowa, children up to age 19 are eligible for free or low-cost health insurance through hawk-i. Children in a family of four earning up to $73,000 a year may qualify. Regular check-ups, immunizations, doctor and dentist visits, hospital care, mental health services, prescription drugs and other services are covered.
Appointments for help enrolling in hawk-i may be made by calling 515-558-6243.
While the uninsured rate has fallen to the lowest level on record since passage of the Affordable Care act, popularly known as Obamacare, there are still many Americans who remain uninsured and experience health and financial hardships resulting from lack of coverage.
A key reason people remain uninsured is that they don’t know about the options that exist to help them obtain coverage. Experts continue to find that nearly half of uninsured adults are unaware of the financial assistance available to help pay for health insurance, even though about 85 percent of Marketplace-eligible uninsured Americans could qualify for financial help.
Additional VNS events will be posted as they are scheduled at www.vnsia.org and in ThePerryNews.com.
