Deadline to sign up for health insurance is Sunday

$950 Estimated average tax penalty for being uninsured in 2016. Those who don’t have insurance face steep fines this time.

Health insurance open enrollment for 2016 closes at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, but Bailey Campbell with State Farm Brian Schoch Agency said people should not wait until the last minute to apply for health insurance. Navigators are available to assist consumers from 8:30 a.m.to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Also, TTY/TDD: 1-855-627-9604.

—By email: customersupport@wahbexchange.org.

“Our message has been ‘Get enrolled”.

– Community Health Systems’s participating hospitals: Lake Wales Medical Center and Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center in Haines City, 863-419-2438 or 863-678-2734.

She and her staff have spent months sending emails, posting fliers and urging drivers in several languages to show up at Showalter Middle School in Tukwila on Saturday to make sure they’re insured.

“There needs to be a lot more education on the tax penalty”, she said. “How do we build on this for next year?”

“We are urging anyone who is uninsured to enroll in the Marketplace before the January 31st deadline”, said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi.

Federal officials caution consumers that failing to buy insurance will prompt a heftier penalty this year, rising to $695 for individual which is more than double from 2015.

On the other end, 41 percent overestimated their income, and thus were owed more federal subsidy dollars when they filed.

“In our experience, those who could sign up are scared away by the complexity”, he said. “As this deadline approaches, it’s more important than ever to reach out to customers without coverage and educate them about signing up”.

Early glitches in the process have mostly been ironed out. People still ran into technical problems on the website, with passwords and software issues. “Access to affordable healthcare is available but you must sign up now”. While still a small fraction of its more than 1.4 million total members, the numbers for the company’s private insurance business continue to grow.

According to a Wednesday release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to date 575,374 North Carolina residents got covered or re-enrolled in their plan from previous year.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that they have retired certain qualifying life events for consumers searching for coverage outside of the Affordable Care Act’s nationwide open enrollment period.