Because some 48 percent of eligible South Carolina residents signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act during the 2015 open enrollment period, the Palmetto State has the nation’s 10th best percentage ranking among states for people participating in plans, the Palmetto Project said Saturday.
“This is a big, fat shot in the arm for our state’s workforce,” said Executive Director Steve Skardon. “Healthy workers equal a healthy economy. The ACA really helps states like South Carolina where so much of the workforce is in agriculture, tourism, small businesses, self-employment or multiple part-time jobs. We also have relatively high numbers of older workers under 65 who are trying to get by in second and third careers. These are the kinds of people the law is supposed to help. Until now, they were just out of luck if they got sick.”
According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, some 209,773 eligible South Carolinians — just under half of the 441,000 people who could — enrolled in one of the dozens of plans offered by private insurers at HealthCare.gov during the 2015 open enrollment period, which started in November. Last year, the Palmetto Project was chosen by the federal government to lead statewide navigation and enrollment efforts.
Special enrollment open through April 30
Now the organization’s challenge is to continue to reach out during a new special enrollment period from March 15 to April 30 for South Carolinians who didn’t have health insurance in 2014 and didn’t sign up by Feb. 15, 2015. The special enrollment period will allow people who didn’t have the coverage to sign up and not pay a $95 penalty for every uninsured adult on 2014 tax returns.
“They were just not aware of the tax penalty until now, and next year they could be paying as much as $325 per adult for failing to sign up,” said the Palmetto Project’s Shelli Quenga. “The government is saying it would rather have people get insured than pay tax penalties,” she explained.
The Palmetto Project says it will continue to operate its statewide outreach and enrollment initiatives during the special enrollment period. Any South Carolina resident can find in-person assistance locally or over the phone at 1-888-998-4646 or visit the organization online at PalmettoProject.org or at its SignupSC website.
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