Local Residents Hit Road Bump While Enrolling in New Health Insurance Exchange

More than a dozen Fulton residents listened to a presentation given by Enroll America, a nonprofit group seeking to educate Americans on the new exchanges. Dante McKay is state director of the organization.

“Everybody’s situation is going to be a little different. That’s why we encourage you to go ahead and enroll, so you can figure out what the rates are and then you can compare them to what you have now.”

After the presentation and a brief question and answer period, residents were encouraged to speak with two navigators who could actually help residents sign up.

That was the case with Tran Ngyen. She sat down with navigator Marcus Jordan. Wen is in her 30s, works at a coffee shop at the airport and says she and mother and her currently have private coverage, but are hoping to find a cheaper option. Right now, she says they spend $1700 dollars a month.

“I pay it, so it is stressful…and our family, too, and I have other siblings that do not have insurance, so we’re kind of running the risks out here. Anything can happen to us, so that’s where the stress lies as well. And since she’s getting older, in her older years, if something happens to her I want her to be able to get proper healthcare.”

But within minutes Ngyen hits a road block. Jordan told Wen, “It says your account couldn’t be created at this time. The system is unavailable.”

Navigator Marcus Jordan believes it’s because many across the nation were trying to sign up at the same time. But he says those wishing to enroll should not be concerned because there’s plenty of time to sign up.

“That’s like with anything, anything new you’re going to have glitches. You buy that new car, something is going to go wrong. Just give it time, and we have time. It’s day one.”

Ngyen took Jordan’s information and says she plans to give him a call in the near future to try the process again.