County extends health insurance bridge program, Obamacare enrollment kicks in.

Before her husband retired from a 20-year career as a farm worker, Connie Macias stocked up on a year’s worth of high blood pressure medication.

They moved to Salinas from Stockton a year ago to babysit for their two grandchildren so their daughter could work full-time as a county social worker, and while her husband is old enough to qualify for Medicare, 62-year-old Macias found herself uninsured after losing her job at a glass factory.

“I’ve been lucky to be healthy,” she says, then trails off. “But as soon as I run out of medication… ”

Macias learned about ViaCare, the county’s bridge plan to expanded Medi-Cal coverage under Obamacare, at church.

“I was hesitant to go and sign up,” she says. “You don’t feel so good going in and saying, ‘I’m low-income.’ But I figured I had nothing to lose.”

Macias got health insurance in November, just two months before ViaCare, a temporary fix goes away. But after the county delayed for months on launching its low-income health plan, the enrollment figures have far exceeded original projections, and the enrollment deadline has been extended to Dec. 31, as Obamacare kicks into full gear.

Of more than 3,300 applications received, the county had approved and enrolled more than 2,500 patients. The county’s original plan would’ve covered no more than 1,500 people.

“We’re very pleased to have implemented the program,” says Nancy Majewski, operations manager for ViaCare. “ViaCare was an outlet that allowed people to receive services not only at Natividad, but other facilities.”

Covered California, the new health insurance exchange established in keeping with the Affordable Care Act, reports nearly 16,000 Central Coast residents had enrolled in plans as of Nov. 30. The deadline to enroll in a health plan was Dec. 23, but low-income individuals who qualify for Medi-Cal can sign up any time.

Medi-Cal will no longer require an “asset test” beginning Jan. 1, meaningmore people will qualify for the subsidized health plans based only on income.

ViaCare enrollment boomed after September, when Blue Shield awarded $9,000 outreach grants to each of nine local groups, including the Food Bank for Monterey County which stuffed 20,000 food bags with ViaCare fliers, and CHISPA Housing, which trained tenants to knock on doors and encourage neighbors to enroll in health plans.

Another 16 groups, including CSU Monterey Bay, are recipients of $480,000 in grants from Covered California to Santa Cruz and Monterey counties for outreach. The county Department of Social Services has hired temp workers just to answer questions about health plans and help people enroll.

Mario Torres has been seeing a doctor every three months since enrolling in ViaCare the day it opened in March, getting regular check-ups for diabetes. He’s lost 60 pounds, at the advice of his doctor, who tells him he’s just 10 pounds away from not needing to take daily pills.

“I thank the Board of Supervisors for listening,” he says. “If it wasn’t for them, I would be visiting the ER every now and then, and that’s expensive.”