Westside Family Healthcare, art league urge healthcare enrollment

In 2020, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware will decrease its Affordable Care Act marketplace rates by 19 percent. This will be the first drop in insurance prices after the average cost of a monthly marketplace premium doubled from 2014 to 2018.  

“It would be a shame if the ACA went away,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Carper. “We’re finally starting to see it work.”

On Dec. 6. Carper, along with Westside Family Healthcare and Rehoboth Art League spoke of the importance of enrolling in the ACA marketplace prior to the Dec. 15. deadline. 

“I don’t know what I’d do without the ACA,” said G.W. Thompson, a local artist who pays for his family’s insurance through the marketplace. “My wife and I had our first child this year, and we were able to adjust our plans accordingly. Without the insurance coverage we had, we’d be in bad shape.”

This year, Thompson said, his family is seeing a reduction in rates. “It’s a couple hundred a month less for us, and that’s fantastic. It’s easy to sign up and keeps improving,” he said.

Westside Family Health Care has a team of enrollment specialists working to help Delawareans figure out which plans would work for them and how to get the best deal possible. These navigators are available for free at all of Westside Delaware locations and over the phone. 

People may have been discourage by the rising cost of insurance plans over the past few years, but Westside officials said it’s critical that even people who are not currently ill seek insurance, because prevention is vital.

Westside Family Healthcare navigator Sarah Cruz said people without insurance often don’t get the preventative care they need. She said one woman who earlier had no insurance was enrolled and came in for a screening. “They found three lumps in her breast,” Cruz said. “Thankfully it was benign, but the point still stands. That preventative screening can save people’s lives.”

But had she not enrolled in insurance, Cruz said, the woman would not have had the screening.

Cruz explained that speaking to a navigator doesn’t mean you’ll be locked into a plan. Their goal is to provide free assistance so that people can see what options are available. If one doesn’t understand the insurance jargon and numbers, it’s worth a call to at least discuss the possibilities. 

“A lot of people thought they could never afford a plan, but they can. We as navigators are not here to pressure you into taking a plan, but we just want to help,” Cruz said.

For more information about Westside Family Healthcare, visit westsidehealth.org or call 302-678-2205.