Guest Commentary: #GetCoveredNow and Help Get the Word Out

By: Emily Barson, Get America Covered

The deadline to sign up for health insurance is December 15 in most states—just a month away. With new deadlines and a lot of misinformation out there, we need your help to get the word out about open enrollment. Take Action!

This year, the federal government is not interested in getting that word out, so we started Get America Covered to fill in that gap - to help people get covered and stay covered.

The biggest challenge we’re facing this Open Enrollment period is that people don’t know that it’s time to sign up or think that coverage is too expensive and out of reach for them.

That’s where all of us can help. If we are going to cut through the confusion and get the facts out, we need your help. Everyone can help spread the word about a few key facts about Open Enrollment:

The Open Enrollment period for health coverage is shorter this year - the deadline for enrolling is December 15 in most states. Even people who have coverage need to return to healthcare.gov by the deadline and shop around to see if they can find a better deal for their 2018 coverage.
The good news is that, thanks to financial assistance, most consumers can find cheaper plans this year - in fact, 8 out of 10 people can find plans for less than $75 per month and most can find plans for less than $50. There are a lot of states and counties where there are zero dollar plans available for both individuals and couples.
Free help is available. If you have questions about signing up or want to talk through your options with a trained professional, free help is just a call or click away. Call 1-800-318-2596 or visit http://localhelp.healthcare.gov.

We need your help to spread the word.

Can you use your social media and email lists to share enrollment information? Can you mobilize your community to form a street team and spread the word about Open Enrollment in your community?

Open Enrollment is just half the time as in previous years, so we need to make sure people know it’s time to #GetCovered! Download our Open Enrollment toolkit and Best Practices for State Officials now.

Emily Barson is a former Obama Administration official at the Department of Health and Human Services who helped lead outreach efforts around the Affordable Care Act and is now leading outreach efforts at Get America Covered.

Guest Commentary: Massachusetts’ Bump Stock Ban

By: Representative David P. Linsky, D-Massachusetts

Last week, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to ban bump stock and trigger crank devices after the Las Vegas tragedy. Following the tragedy in Las Vegas, in which bump stocks were used to murder 58 innocent people and wound hundreds more, I reviewed the Massachusetts General Laws and found a glaring loophole that allowed for these deadly devices to be legally owned, sold, and purchased in Massachusetts. So, I took immediate action to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth and filed a bill – which, I later re-filed as an amendment to a supplemental budget bill – to close this loophole in our gun laws, and ensure these deadly devices would not be allowed in our state. With the support of our Democratic House and Senate leadership, and our Republican Governor, it took only one month for Massachusetts to take action to ban these deadly devices. Where is Congress?

In the wake of yet another mass shooting tragedy, I find myself once again wondering when Congress is going to take action. Members of Congress continue to tweet their thoughts and prayers, and yet no action has been taken to address gun violence at the national level. Bipartisan bills were filed in Congress following the Las Vegas tragedy to ban bump stocks, and yet no debate has happened. No action has been taken. How many more mass tragedies need to occur before Congress finally takes meaningful action?

Now more than ever, it is important for states to take the lead. Every day that we allow Congress to get away with its inaction, we allow these tragedies to become normalized in our society. It is up to us – members of state legislatures – to ensure that our constituents are protected from senseless acts of violence. I urge each of you to look at your states’ gun laws, and see what type of legislation you can pass to protect the citizens of your state from senseless gun violence. Maybe then Congress will listen.

Note: On Nov. 1, 2017, SiX Action, the State Innovation Exchange’s 501c4 arm, released a state toolkit on bump stocks in partnership with Giffords, the anti-gun violence group founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Capt. Mark Kelly. The toolkit lays out examples of state-level bump stock bans and can serve as a guidepost for legislators considering taking action in their own states.