Local insurance agent helps over 100 families sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act

SOUTH PARIS, Maine - Dec. 13, 2013 - PRLog -- Michael Newsom, President at W.J.Wheeler Insurance is certified to help individuals, families and small businesses enroll in an insurance plan through the Federal Insurance Marketplace. While there are navigators in the area helping people enroll in plans, they are not licensed insurance agents and cannot legally give insurance guidance or explain the coverages offered by health insurance plans.

“The Affordable Care Act is a very complex law and yet individuals are expected to visit healthcare.gov and just do it themselves or get help from a navigator who can’t actually talk to them about the insurance product they are buying. We’re proud to offer consumers an alternative: local, professional, in-person insurance help at no additional cost to consumers. We’ve met with many individuals who had wasted hours of time on healthcare.gov trying to do it themselves. We were able to quickly solve the issues and get them enrolled in am affordable plan.”

While the deadline to enroll in a plan effective January 1^st is Monday December 23^rd, in fact consumers have until March 31^st to enroll in a plan. If they miss that deadline, they face paying the “Individual Shared Responsibility Payment” which is 1% of household income. This penalty is paid as part of the 2014 income tax filing.

“The penalty is only 1% this year,” says Newsom, “but it grows to 2.5% of income in 2016. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there truly are affordable health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act.”

Affordability is achieved via a tax credit available to households earning as much as 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. That means an individual earning as much as $46,000 per year might qualify for a discount on their insurance plan.

“We’ve signed up over 100 families in the last month”, says Newsom, “and hope to sign up another 100 this month. It’s good work, we’re proud to do it, and we know those families will benefit.”