CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A day set aside to assist West Virginians who don’t have healthcare insurance in signing up for affordable plans will pick back up on Thursday after Winter Storm Blair caused some interruptions.
WV Navigator Program Director Jeremy Smith said they are working to update the list of over 40 site locations across the state that are hosting Cover WV Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about how to get health coverage and receive enrollment assistance.
He said the event, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, had to be postponed in many locations due to inclement weather and they now plan to hold a make-up day this Thursday for most of the locations.
Jeremy Smith
Smith said they are hopeful people will continue to follow up on the event despite the interruptions the winter storm has caused.
“The storm definitely threw us through a loop, you know, we haven’t really had much snow at all this winter then the one day we were to have this big event it just kind of hit, but we’re really hopeful that all of the marketing and the outreach that we had already done had driven people onto the website and the Facebook page,” Smith said.
Smith said last year’s Cover WV Day went really well bringing in hundreds of West Virginians from around the state to get health coverage assistance.
He said this year, they were able to partner with over 20 organizations offering free healthcare enrollment assistance to participate. The WV Navigator Program, the WV Office of the Insurance Commissioner, and the WV Primary Care Association are the main hosts to the event.
All locations are staffed by certified Assisters who consist of various professionals such as Health Insurance Navigators. They assist with Medicaid, CHIP, and Health Insurance Marketplace enrollments.
Smith said these services are mainly designed for people who can’t get health insurance through a job.
He said there may be many West Virginians who still don’t know about this beneficial opportunity, and they are trying to expand their reach of this as much as they can.
“If you need healthcare and you can’t get it through a job, the Marketplace is a really good option for you, but you have to do it during that open-enrollment period, so we’re really trying to get the word out that this is a really good option for folks that are uninsured,” he said.
The Marketplace has an open enrollment period each year from November 1 to January 15. Smith said Cover WV Day will be about the last opportunity for people to sign up before the Jan. 15th deadline.
Smith said there’s still over 100,000 West Virginians, or about 5.9% who still lack health insurance coverage.
He said they eventually want to see that number of uninsured residents drop to zero.
“We really would love to see that number get down, we’d love to be the first state in the country with a zero-percent uninsured rate,” Smith said.
Smith said pricing for plans on the Marketplace has become more affordable than he’s seen in years with four out of five people currently being able to find a plan for under $10 dollars a month.
He said having health coverage is crucial and is cause for a better life.
“We know that people who have health coverage are healthier, they’re happier, they take care of themselves better,” Smith said. “If you don’t have health insurance, you know, one accident, one car wreck, one surgery can bankrupt you and your family.”
Smith went onto to say that they also know that people who don’t have health coverage put off going to the doctor, and what once started as small problems can often lead to big problems because they didn’t catch it early enough.
He said they really want to help change that narrative.
“We want to make sure people have access to health coverage and they can establish with a primary care and go to the doctor and they don’t have to put that off.”
Each location for Cover WV Day will offer walk-in assistance from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday for anyone who has questions about getting health care coverage.
You can also visit the event’s website for more information and a full list of site locations.