SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Health care leaders gathered in Springfield on Wednesday to warn that thousands of people could start the new year without health coverage if they don’t act within six days.

The Massachusetts Health Connector and Caring Health Center officials met at the health center to urge residents to enroll in health insurance by December 23 to ensure coverage begins January 1. “Folks are nervous. People are worried, concerned, and confused by all of the different changes that are going,” said Cristina Huebner Torres, chief executive vice president at Caring Health Center.

While open enrollment runs until January 23, officials stressed the December 23 deadline for those wanting coverage to start at the beginning of the year. People who miss that deadline can still enroll until January 23, but their coverage would not begin until February 1. “We have grown to the point where we have very low, uninsured, or underinsured rates. We want to maintain that and sustain that, keep folks insured and covered having access to quality healthcare and the services that they need,” Huebner Torres added.

Audrey Gasteier, executive director of Massachusetts Health Connector, highlighted the role of navigators in helping people through the enrollment process. “We wanted to highlight the role that navigators, like those who work here at Caring Health Center, play in helping people make their way through an application process that might be new to them or feel intimidating or overwhelming. They are here, they speak dozens of languages, and they can support people with that process,” she explained.

Officials also raised concerns about premium increases based on federal changes. Those changes include the removal of subsidies from a number of people through legislation signed by President Trump earlier this year. Congress has not extended enhanced premium tax credits, which help bring health coverage costs down. “Do not Google around for cheap health insurance. You will find yourself being marketed a junk insurance plan that will not be there for you when you need it and you could end up with big medical bills,” Gasteier added.

The Massachusetts Health Connector said the main targets for the December 23 deadline are people not covered by job-based insurance, those who recently moved to Massachusetts, people who work in the gig economy, and anyone else without insurance.

Huebner Torres advised people to contact Caring Health Center’s navigator team or Massachusetts Health Connector within the next six days. “The navigator is going to sit one-on-one, elbow-to-elbow with the person or their family and have that conversation and be able to go through all of your information, so that you can actually anticipate if it were this, it would be this much. If it were that date, it would be this much,” she said.

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