Enrollment 101 taking place at downtown library

The downtown library will have 15 laptops available at Sunday's enrollment event. People can use them to apply for health insurance. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
The downtown library will have 15 laptops available at Sunday’s enrollment event. People can use them to apply for health insurance. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)

If you still aren’t enrolled for health insurance, United Way navigator Crystal Bourland will walk you through the process step-by-step at Sunday’s enrollment event at Juneau’s downtown library.

“If you’re uninsured right now, underinsured, or you purchase your own plan and that’s either changing or it’s been cancelled or you want to see if you can find some more affordable options, then this is really specifically for those people to kind of get plugged in and hopefully get some help,” Bourland says about Sunday’s event.

Fifteen laptops will be available for people who are ready to start the application process or may have begun but haven’t completed enrollment. “It really just depends on where people are at and if they have the correct information on them. It could be that maybe they just set up an account that day, and hopefully some people can go all the way through the process,” Bourland says. “There are a few stages of it and some of it will depend on how prepared people are coming into it.”

For Sunday’s Enrollment Event, bring or know the following:

  • Date of birth
  • Social security number
  • Income verification (pay stubs, W-2 forms, 2012 taxes)
  • Birth certificate, U.S. Resident Card, passport (or anything to verify qualifying immigration status)
  • Policy numbers of those in household who have insurance
  • Your email and password

Bourland says for Sunday’s event, it’s important to know dates of birth and social security numbers for everyone in your household; bring income verification, like a 2012 tax return or a pay stub; policy numbers of individuals in the household who do have health insurance; and some sort of photo identification.

Monday is the final day to enroll for coverage to start Jan. 1. Otherwise, the open enrollment period goes through March 31. “People have that amount of time to sign up and enroll in a health care plan and not face a penalty for not having insurance,” says Bourland.

People who don’t have medical insurance in 2014 will face a tax penalty of $95, which goes up each year.

Sunday’s health insurance enrollment event is from 2 to 4 p.m. at the downtown library.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications