Indianapolis — Out-of-pocket medical costs can run into the thousands without insurance.
the average cost of a three-day hospital stay is about $30,000. health.gov.
Alisha Callicott is on the job of making sure all her money stays out of her pocket when she returns home after recovering.
Callicott is the Coordinator for Covering Kids and Families, part of the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County.
Each month, this nonprofit helps connect hundreds of people to programs like Medicaid, Affordable Care Act Marketplace, Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), Hoosier Healthwise, and more.
“Everyone deserves access to health insurance, education, resources and financial resources that can help improve their lives,” said MDwise supervisor Rachel Maxsey.
Cost, shipping, confusion, or missing documents can be barriers to Hoosiers signing up.
Callicot says immigrants and non-native English speakers may face even more barriers.
“That’s a lot of information. It can be very overwhelming,” said Callicot.
To help with that, Covering Kids and Families has Spanish-speaking navigators.
“We use Language Line. There are hundreds of dialects and we can have translators online or over the phone to talk to our clients,” says Callicot.
Here’s what you need to cover your child and family if you need to register:
- Birth certificate or identification card.
- Certificate of employment, if employed.
- Letter of recommendation if unemployed.
- An email to verify your address for the last 30 days.
“If they may be homeless or living on the streets, they can sign up as long as they have ID, but if they also have other documents such as social security cards or birth certificates, the application will It’s a little smoother,” Callicot said.
Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act Marketplace insurance is now open until January 15, 2023.
you can find more information here.
