Educating Mississippi on affordable healthcare act

HATTIESBURG, Miss - Health advocates and associates with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) gathered at the Hattiesburg Convention Center to find an effective way to educate people on their insurance plans.

There are 108,000 Mississippians enrolled in the ACA, about 8,000 of those people get lost in their insurance plans with the first 3 months.

Roy Mitchell of the Health Advocacy program says, "Part of this is due to a lack of education on part of the consumers. Health insurance is very complicated and for families that are nearly insured, it is important that they get as much education as possible on how health insurance works."

Deric Gilliard of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mentins that many of the people that are enrolled have never had health insurance before.

"They do not know what a copay is, they do not know how to select a provider, they do not know necessarily about scheduling for a doctor in network or out of network" Gilliard says.

The Health Advocacy program has consumer guides available in order for enrollees to understand their insurance plans.

The current attrition rate in Mississippi is at 8%, Michell says the goal this year is to get it down to 2%.