Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Health Workers Help Clients Understand Affordable Care Act

Two Ob/GYN doctors review test results.
Mercy Health

Health workers who target low-income communities across the state are working to make sure their clients know they can receive health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Rebecca Whitaker is with the North Carolina Community Health Center Association. Community Health Centers are neighborhood practices in what are known as medically underserved areas. She says health care workers have been pairing up with organizations from utilities to elder care agencies who employ uninsured caregivers to get the word out.

"I can think of one example in rural western North Carolina and one example in rural eastern North Carolina, where a consumer was ecstatic, because they were able to enroll in a plan that had a premium of 6 dollars a month after the application of premiums, tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies," said Whitaker.

Whitaker says despite some of the I-T problems associated with enrolling online, health center workers are helping potential customers navigate the website and fill out paper forms.

She says it will be some time before state officials know how many North Carolinians have actually signed up.

Jessica Jones covers both the legislature in Raleigh and politics across the state. Before her current assignment, Jessica was given the responsibility to open up WUNC's first Greensboro Bureau at the Triad Stage in 2009. She's a seasoned public radio reporter who's covered everything from education to immigration, and she's a regular contributor to NPR's news programs. Jessica started her career in journalism in Egypt, where she freelanced for international print and radio outlets. After stints in Washington, D.C. with Voice of America and NPR, Jessica joined the staff of WUNC in 1999. She is a graduate of Yale University.
Related Stories
More Stories