The open enrollment period for health insurance starts Saturday, Nov. 15, and United Spinal is working with the White House to educate Americans with disabilities about the Affordable Care Act and to help get them enrolled. Since the Act went into effect last year over 7 million Americans have now enrolled in the healthcare marketplaces across the country and approximately 8 million people have enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program since last fall.

The number of uninsured Americans has been reduced by 26 percent. United Spinal wants to help reduce the number of uninsured as much as possible and make sure the SCI/D community takes full advantage of the law’s provisions.

“There are lots of ways the ACA has been great for the SCI community, the number one reason is that there is no discrimination of coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Also, health plans can no longer limit or deny benefits to children under 19 due to a pre-existing condition,” says Alex Bennnewith, United Spinal’s vice president of government relations. “But according to President Obama, nine out of 10 people still don’t know about open enrollment.”

Other benefits of the Affordable Care Act include the following: individuals under age 26 may be eligible to be covered under their parent’s health plan; no lifetime limits on coverage on most benefits and changes to Medicare prescription drug coverage which reduce the out-of pocket cost impacts of the “doughnut hole” coverage gap. 

Bennewith emphasized that the enrollment period this year, Nov. 15, 2014-Feb. 15, 2015, is half as long the period last year, meaning time is of the essence.

Click here for more details on coverage rights and protections and here for more on the ACA and enrollment.