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HHS’ Sebelius Touts Affordable Care Act In Atlanta

March 10th, 2014

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Monday raised awareness in Atlanta about the Affordable Care Act, as two controversial bills about the federal law make their way through the Georgia legislature.As heard on the radio

Speaking at the Center for Black Women’s Wellness on the city’s southwest side, Sebelius stressed March 31 will be the final deadline to enroll this year in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. She said despite previous extensions, this year’s open enrollment period will not continue past that date.

“That’s the end of a six month open enrollment period, and we really need to just get people to pay attention to the fact that they’ve got three more weeks,” Sebelius said.

Sebelius appeared with two Democrats – Fulton County Chairman John Eaves and Georgia U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson – to raise awareness about the law and the approaching enrollment deadline.

Eaves said 139,000 metro-Atlantans have signed up for coverage out of an estimated 800,000 eligible residents in the 5-county area (Fulton, Decatur, Cobb, Clayton and Gwinnett). Neither he nor Sebeilus had an estimate on the number of locals they expected to sign up under the law this year.

“We are very happy with the amount of people who are coming forward, but still about 19 percent of the folks in the state of Georgia as well as the metro area are uninsured, so we still have a ways to go,” Eaves said.

The event comes days after two controversial state bills regarding the Affordable Care Act passed the House and headed to the Senate.

One bill would prohibit state and local governments and agencies from spending funds attached to the health law. The other would give final say on expanding Medicaid to the state legislature rather than Gov. Nathan Deal.

Sebelius said the state is losing $9.2 million in federal funding every day by not expanding Medicaid.

“It’s not free to do nothing because people are still coming through the doors of emergency rooms,” Sebelius said. “People are still missing days on their worksites, not able to take care of their kids, living sicker and dying younger. In the meantime, tax payers are picking up that cost.”

Deal has said the state can’t afford to expand Medicaid, even though the federal government will cover the majority of the costs.