Help with health insurance enrollment

Jee Kim, (left), ICHS outreach and enrollment coordinator, and Trang Le, ICHS in-person assister, review materials

In response to a call for help from the White House to reach more members of the Asian and Pacific Islander community, International Community Health Services (ICHS) will hold a special enrollment event on Thursday, Jan. 29, for people to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The special enrollment event will be held from 9 a.m to 3 p.m. at St. Andrew Kim Catholic Church, 11700 1st Ave. NE, Seattle, Washington 98125.

The White House recently asked the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community to hold a second ACA AAPI Enrollment Week of Action during the last week of January, to draw attention to the Affordable Care Act and encourage AAPI families to go online, call, or visit organizations to help them get enrolled in a health insurance plan before the Feb. 15 deadline.

Prior to enactment of ACA, many members of the Asian and Pacific Islander community had little or no health insurance, with members of the Korean population having among the lowest rates of insurance coverage, with more than 22 percent having no insurance coverage at all, according to the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum.

At the event, ICHS community advocates and in-person assisters will answer questions and assist people in signing up for a health insurance plan.

“We are very excited to again be part of this outreach to get more members of the community to enroll in a health insurance plan,” said Abbie Zahler, ICHS health advocacy manager. “We had a very successful event last year, signing up about 49 people to receive health insurance, and we hope to duplicate, if not surpass, the numbers this year.”

The ICHS special enrollment event at St. Andrew Kim Catholic Church will be part of events that will occur throughout the United States in the last week of January specifically targeting members of the Asian-American, Pacific Islander, and immigrant communities for health insurance enrollment. (end)

 For more information about ICHS, please visit: www.ichs.com.