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Last day for Delawareans to sign up for ACA plans nears

Department of Health and Human Services

With just days to go until open enrollment ends, fewer Delawareans are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year.

The ACA open enrollment period plans ends Saturday.

Westside Family Healthcare is the only group that received federal funding this year to help Delawareans sign up for coverage. The Trump administration made cuts to funding for advertising and navigators for the second year in a row.

Maggie Norris-Bent with Westside says funding cuts also left Westside as the only place in Delaware people can sit down with navigators to choose plans this year. She says that’s restricted the availability of navigators.

“Access to appointments is more limited than has been in the past," she said. "And being the only navigator entity makes it more challenging for folks because they’ve built relationships with other groups and now they’re coming over to work with us.”

So far nearly 10,380 Delawareans have signed up for 2019 coverage, a drop of about 10 percent compared to last year.

Maggie Norris-Bent with Westside said interest is picking up in the final days. She reports many people they’re seeing are renewing coverage, but that doesn’t mean new people aren’t also signing up online at Healthcare.gov.

“A lot of people that come to us for help have more complicated and complex situations," she said. "So they might get income from a variety of different sources. They may have certain health care needs that are more complex.”

Westside is open for drop-ins on Thursday and Friday evening running from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at its Bear location. Westside offices in Bear and Wilmington will also be open Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon.

Westside locations:

In Bear: 404 Fox Hunt Drive, Bear DE 19701

In Wilmington: 1802 West 4th Street, Wilmington DE 19805

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