White House pushes for more healthcare participants in Seattle

While Washingtonians scurry about from shop-to-shop to meet the holiday gift-giving deadline, there is another deadline looming this December &#8212 a rather healthy one.

Washingtonians without insurance have until Dec. 23 to sign up for healthcare coverage if they want to be covered by January 2016. The deadline to sign up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, is Jan. 31, 2016.

“You all are very, very fortunate. You not only have 12 insurance companies in the marketplace through Washington, you are also one of those states that the increase of monthly premium across the board is only going up about 3-3.5 percent,” said Jerry Abramson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Abramson spoke with KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross about the White House’s current effort to increase participants through the Affordable Care Act.

The White House is holding a competition aimed at getting uninsured citizens to hop online, or on the phone, and sign up for coverage. There are a few communities around the country that have lagged in sign ups &#8212 Seattle and King County is among them. The city that gets the most people insured this round of sign ups, will win a visit from President Obama.

Related: Dave Ross interviews President Obama about the Affordable Care Act

“We’ve got cities from all over the country from Dallas, Atlanta, Kansas City, Phoenix…Chicago, Seattle, Long Beach, Richmond, Las Vegas, Denver,” Abramson said. “Great Falls out in Montana is probably the smallest community.”

So far, 11,000 new people have signed up for healthcare through the ACA this year. And more than 112,000 Washingtonians have renewed their coverage. That’s good news for them &#8212 in 2016, higher fines go into effect for citizens without any health insurance. A fine could go as high as $685 per year, per person &#8212 or 2.5 percent of annual income, whichever is greater. Those fines are assessed when filing taxes in 2016.

Despite Washington’s lower turnout over the past three years, those that have signed up for healthcare coverage have benefited, Abramson said.

“About 78 percent of the marketplace enrollees this past year, that’s about 130,000 throughout Washington, received a tax credit…your consumers saved an average of about $260 a month in their coverage payments for insurance they purchased,” he said.

“So many people are confused in terms of thinking that the healthcare approach under ACA is strictly for poor folks,” Abramson said, noting that a range of families in Washington are getting tax credits.

“A family of four making up to $90,000 a year gets tax credits to decrease their monthly payment,” he said.

Washingtonians can go to Healthcare.org, or Healthcarefinder.org to find information about insurance plans. People can even type in hypothetical incomes, dependents, etc. to see what they will likely pay for a plan. And for those avoiding computers, assistance is provided through 1-855-923-4633.

Information from the Associated Press contributed to this article