Covered California Makes Push For Health Care Enrollment Before Deadline

OAKLAND (KCBS) — Enrollment fairs will be held across the Bay Area this upcoming weekend as Covered California makes an all-out push to get as many people as possible signed up for health insurance before the March 31 deadline.

The state health insurance exchange is recovering from a website glitch that forced nearly 15,000 people who had already applied to resubmit their information. That sort of blunder hasn't helped Covered California reach its goal to maximize enrollment by the end of the month.

At his La Loma Medical Centers in Oakland and Stockton, Dr. Esteban Lovato said his campaign to get more Latinos to enroll is finally paying off.

"It's a slow process but the message is getting out. We're having more and more people who are coming in who have already signed up. More people are coming in and asking questions who are in the middle of signing up; so we do see some increase in the numbers of people signing up in our practice," he said.

The state's Latinos remain underrepresented even though, overall, the exchange is hitting its target numbers. County health departments and the healthcare workers union are reminding people that if they don't enroll under Obamacare by the end of the month, they'll be shut out, until next year.

"In many ways it is a matter of life and death—very literally," Locato said.