welcome to "beyond the headlines." today we're talking about the affordable care act, also called obama care by some. and the big changes it brings to the health care plans over many californians, effective march 31st, 2014, all americans will

be required to have health insurance or will have to pay a fee if the choose not to participate. the affordable care act has now begun nation-wide enrollment surrounded by a lot of problems, multiple problems and a lot of confusion. but many still have hope it will lead to a healthier california and a healthier country. today we're going to talk to some experts who better understand these complicated changes and provide you with local resources to find out what the right health care choices are for you and your family. the current enrollment process for the affordable care act has been plagued with major problems as you probably have heard. recently the president announced a new plan to try to fix this problem. and he did so while taking the blame over and over again. abc news reporter jim oliver filed this report from washington. >> reporter: 52 minutes of contrition. how many ways can the president apologize for the obama care rollout? we counted 29. >> i do make apologies for not having executed better. >> that's on me.

that's something i deeply regret. >> we did fumble the ball on it. i feel deeply responsible. >> reporter: white house aide tell abc news the president told his staff in a series of meetings, this is no ordinary problem. these mitstakes undercut his credibility, the web site and cancellation notices have a real impact on people's lives. while he didn't dress down his staff, it's not his style, everyone got the message. >> up multimately i'm the president of the united states. >> reporter: after two years of promising if you like your plan you can keep your plan then watching policies canceled by the hundreds of thousands, today he unilaterally changed t rules, now proposing that anyone who received a cancellation letter be allowed to keep their current plan another year. insurance companies may not cooperate, but the white house doesn't want the blame. >> the affordable care act is not going to be the reason why insurers have to cancel your plan.

>> reporter: as for the web site, the president second guessed himself publicly, admitting the federal government does not do web sites well. and he should have known it. >> how we purchase technology in the federal government is cumbersome, complicated and outdated. >> reporter: for the first time, president obama said no one told him in advance the web site he based his signature program on was likely to crash so spectacularly. >> i don't think i'm stupid enough to go around is going tos is going to be like shopping on amazon or travel ocity if i thought it wasn't going to work. >> reporter: aides tell abc news the president suffered a surprise wound from his own staff leading to this final promise. >> tees are two fumbles on something -- on a big game. with -- but the game's not over. >> joining me in the studio right now to help clear up some of our confusion is kenwood, senior adviser with covered california. ken, thank you for being here.

>> pleasure to be here. >> cover california is very different than what the federal government is doing. >> absolutely. >> so let's start with that. >> sure. the federal government has had challenges with their web site and starting enrollment. we have a separate organization, covering california which was established by a californian, an independent governmental organization, and coveredca.com is where you go in california to enroll. >> what are the essential elements that are required? >> when someone comes, the need to have information that helps them enroll to see if they're eligible for tax credits. the need to purchase a product that complies that has the essential health benefits, including maternity care, drug care, everyone now h has eligibility for what the need for the guidelines at no cost. it's a wonderful expansion of coverage. >> when you were talking about the specifics, i think thate be there have been criticism by people who are single who say why should a single male have maternity coverage and that sort of thing. >> why should a woman pay for

prose prostate cancer. most people will need it at some point. this is a long-term notion of being a culture of coverage is what we think california has to embrace. >> how has it been going so far? do the states agency have problems like the federal government? >> no. we opened on october 1st, the call center was up. we've had our own set of glitches but we're standing up an organization of 1,000 people. and literally a 12-month period of time we've enrolled 60,000 people all the way through to planned selection. there's at least 100,000 people in the pipeline who have completed a portion of the process and are still shopping and deciding. >> we've got some deadlines we have to think about. >> if you want coverage for january you have to have all your application complete by december 15th. and pay any premium by the 26th of december. if you want to get covered without a penalty as you said in the opening, march 31st is the last day to enroll. after that you will have to pay a 12-month penalty and wait until next year to enroll so yo

>> could the apply that penalty to coverage perhaps? >> unfortunately if you miss the deadline you are obligated to pay the penalty unless you have some change in your life. you get married, divorced, something that would allow you to buy coverage in the middle of the year. >> so i have to ask this question. a lot of confusion about all the variety of options. so how do you, your organization, how does your organthese le make these decisions? >> we have trained by the end of december 36,000 people in california to be experts to help you enroll. >> oh, my goodness. >> from county eligibility workers to insurance agents to certified eligibility, we'll have our staff of 900 people on the phones, at the he'll plans about 900 people. we have come up with a no wrong door policy. you've got people, we've got multiple cultures and languages to support, we've got technology. and frankly for the person who wants to the paper we've got a paper application, too. >> so people can go online, by phone. walk me through all that.

>> online coverageca.com. you can find someone who is near you. >> come to your phone? >> if you'd like. we want to make sure we help you get this incredibly important decision made and to do it in a private constructive way. go to war home, someone's office, go to a group meeting, the paper option. but we do find it's going to take several interactions. this is what people have to get information and think about. we really encourage people to get online and start asking those questions today so that by december 15th the can be finished. >> just a range of premiums give an example. >> range of premiums, it varies by age. younger people in their 20s, might expect 180 to $250 retail. if the were eligible for a tax credit that could come down. as low as $1 for buying bronze coverage per month. when you get yo in your 40s, 50s and 60s it's up in the 3 and $400. >> it's something the have to definitely go and think about.

ken, thank you so much for all your information. appreciate it. >> a pleasure to be here. >> we do have to take a break. when we come back we're going to learn how one medical center is navigating the changes from the affordable care act. stay with us. we'll be right back. just unroll, fill... top, bake... and... wow. this is your best ever. thank you. [ female announcer ] pillsbury pie crust. make the holidays pop.

he loves me. he loves me not. he loves me. he loves me not. ♪ he loves me! that's right. [ mom ] warm and flaky in 15, everyone loves pillsbury grands! [ girl ] make dinner pop!

welcome back to "beyond the headlines." today we're talking about the many changes to health insurance brought about by the affordable care act. with me is dr. william walker, director of contra kosta health services. thank you for being here today. >> thank you. >> i've heard nothing but praise about your organization and how it's helping people to get enrolled. >> that's great to hear. >> let'sed with the new involved with the new act. >> contra kosta health services is a county run health organization that has a public hospital, contra kosta regional medical center with 166 beds. it publicly sponsored health plan, contra kosta health plan with 120,000 members as well as

public health, behavioral health, environmental heaemerge other entities that make up a local public health department. we're heavily involved in the implications of the affordable care act. >> so you have everything coordinated already. how much of a push was it to get this thing started. >> it's a big push and it has major significance. our hospital and our health system is actually one of 19 such health systems around the state, in 15 counties. those counties cover 81% of the poprnia. california. our hospitals are 6% of the hospitals in california. we do 50% of the uninsured care. >> oh, my goodness. >> what's not being talked about with the affordable care act is the big impact on those who are uninsured and those who will be newly eligible for medi-cal. we anticipate that by june of next year there will be 1 million new medi-cal enrollees,

600 thousands of those are being cared for now in our system and the other 19 hospitals and will roll over automatically on january 1st, 2014 to become medi-cal eligible. that's a big number. 100% federal dollars. a huge help to the state and to local governments like ours trying to provide care to the uninsured. >> doctor, just for folks who might not know what medi-cal is could you explain that, please? >> it's part of the federal program called medicaid, california's version of medicaid. that basically provides insurance to folks who are poor. what's different in becoming affordable care act implementation is that a whole new category of folks will be eligible for medi-cal. not just those related to medi-cal by nature of disability or having had babies or are mothers but a new population who are basically poor and uninsured. meaning the make less than about $15,600 a year. >> tough to live on that.

>> that's big. >> yeah. so what is the resistance among people who are at that level of income for not enrolling? >> actually there's no resistance. >> there's no resistance. >> those folks are getting enrolled now as we speak. the can enroll into the low income health plans that exist now. those will expire on december 31st, and the will automatically roll over into medi-cal on january 1st. the also can enroll anytime during the year. there's no deadline for them to enroll. when the come into a hospital now or come into a clinic or emergency room the can get enrolled immediately. >> that makes it so easy. >> it's huge. >> do you have like mr. wood was talking about the multilanguage access for these folks? >> we do. actually, we run along with many other public hospitals a health care interpreter network, we have bank of interpreters who do video interpretation, both in our clinics, in our ten health centers around contra kosta county, in our hospital and also in interfacing with those who are helping them sign up for insurance. >> i keep hearing people go well

i don't want to be involved. it's going to cost me too much. what are you hearing from your folks? >> because we primarily see folks who are low income, wondering what's going to happen to them january 1st given all the media controversy about the affordable care act. our issue has been to e assure them the won't lose coverage or contact with their doctor. if they're not eligible for medi-cal by making more than $15,000 a year the can sign up for the contra kosta health plan, our health plan on the exchange and maintain continuity with their provider. >> and for people who refuse to be insured? do we even have that possibility in your mind? >> we have it in mind. that probably will remain the so-called uninsured who remain after the affordability of the health care act. we'll have to deal with that. >> let's hope that the sign up. >> i do, too. >> thank you, dr. walker. appreciate it. and we do have to take a short break. when we come back we're going to be hearing from a leading

patient advocacy group just on how to better understand our changing health care system. we'll be right back. stay with us. step two, baconated cheese for awesome. step three, get ready to wow. step four... mmmmm. ♪ [ male announcer ] pillsbury crescents. make the holidays pop. with grands mini pot pies. only four ingredients. and a few easy steps.

weeknight dinner in a flash. and my family devours them. pillsbury grands biscuits. make dinner pop. . welcome back. many people have questions a lot of questions about the changing world of health care as deadlines are approaching quickly. here to answer some questions is

ms. guiterrez. thanks for being here in san francisco. >> thank you for having me. >> all i'm hearing are complaints from people about this. i'm just wondering if that's because they're >> ther confuseded. >> there is still a great deal of confusion about this law. it's relatively new. given the environment under which we're operating as the earlier package that you ran talking about all the problems with it there's a high sensitivity to the issues. there are however a lot of people who are very happy about it. these are the people who are now able, number one, to get previous they've previously been shut out. people with pre-existing conditions. and people now who are getting federal subsidies and financial support to purchase a health plan? that's a big deal. they're very happy about it. and yet the people whose policies have been canceled understandably they're upset. >> i can certainly see that. there are five things that californians sho little graph we have a little graph we want to put up on the screen. if we can sort of walk people through that as we go through this put those up on the screen.

financial government aid to buy health insurance. >> we've put together this guide to help people clear up confusion about the newaw. care law. number one, there are about 2.6 million people here in california who will qualify for federal aid to help purchase a plan. that's very good news. >> all right. and our next one, pay at least part of your health care this is >> right. this is new for people who never had health insurance. we want to make sure they're prepared and understand on a monthly basis they'll have monthly premiums. then when the receive a service, a medical service such as lab or physician's office they'll be expected to pay a co-pay or part of their wantle. we want to prepare people to understand that. >> coverage california? >> covered california is a place to learn about health plans and which ones are best for you and your family. the have a lot of plans ready to help people and there are plans for every budget. we want people to take their time, go ahead and investigate and see what the need to do. then the third thing that we've already discussed there is a tax penalty for people who don't

carry coverage beginning in april of 2014. but also we also want to understand that certain people can qualify for exclusions if there's financial hardships, native americans, people who are incarcerated don't have to carry insurance. so there are nuances there. however, one of the most important things we want people to be prepare about if you choose not to have health insurance your children also will get penalized in your tax returns at half the rate of an adult. >> i don't think anybody's talked about that yet. >> yeah. >> so some tips that you would recommend for people to keep in mind when deciding which health care plan is right for them. >> first of all, know your monthly budget, what you can afford on a monthly basis. when you go to coveredca.com you can find out if you're eligible for medi-cal or any federal subsidies. the second thing understand your own health needs. do you have a special chronic condition? diabetes or asthma or unfortunately cancer something even worse that you're going to need to see a specialist? do you have special medications

that you need? those are very important things to examine when you're looking at a network of the health plans so you understand what providers are available to you and if your special needs are there. we want people to be cognizant in the bay area, public transportation. if you have to take public transportation to and from a physician or a lab or pharmacy, make sure that your provider network is along your route. we really want you to get the health care you need. so the more prepared you are we think the better off you'll see. >> about 30 second left. my healthcareresource.org. >> sure, it's our baby. it's our database of the largest database in the state of fro or low-cost free sources for people who remain uninsured can understand where the can get free or lo-cost care throughout the state. that's that easy. >> will people come to your home, too, and talk to you on the phone? not just the computer? >> the best way to do it is through online because there's capacity. we open have limited capacity to help everybody. we try and do our best but we

recommend myhealthcareresource.org. >> so great to see you then. thank you. >> we have to take another break. coming up we'll talk about how bay area seniors are being affected by all these health care changes. stay with us. we'll be right back. hey, that's the last crescent! oh, did you want it? yeah. we'll split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light, buttery and flakey. that's half. that's not half! guys, i have more. thanks, mom. [ female announcer ] do you have enough pillsbury crescents?

so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop.

welcome back. the new affordable care act affects all of us. let's take a deeper look at how seniors fit into the equation. joining me is the manager of the health insurance counselling and advocacy program at legal assistance for seniors in alameda county. thank you for being here today. appreciate it. >> you're welcome. my pleasure. >> the question i get from a lot of seniors is, how does theare t affordable care act affect me if i have medicare. how does that work? >> that's right. a lot of people on medicare are asking that question. essentially people on medicare have medicare and option for supplementing their medicare, so the don't need to access covered

california, the health insurance marketplace. because it would duplicate their coverage and cost more. >> we don't want to do that, especially with reduced income. so what about time lines for seniors? the say the have dead lives the have to meet. >> that's true. so similarly we're in what's called the medicare annual enrollment period, otherwise or often referred to as the open enrollment period for medicare. it's a different timeline than the covered california open enrollment period even though it overlaps. it began october 15th and it ends december 7th. >> and for people who don't know about medicare, and the should, at what age do they apply for that? >> for most people apply or sign up for medicare when the turn 65. medicare is also available to people under the age of 65 who are disabled and have been receiving social security disability income for two years. but most people do take medicare

when the turn 65, or maybe later if they're still work and covered by their employer plan. >> is it a good idea to sign up? is there spenalty? penalty? do the premiums change if you don't sign up on time? >> if a person is not working and covered by their employer group plan, then it is a good idea to sign up at age 65. medicare is the main game in town at that point. the main health insurance program for older people. and there is a penalty for late enrollment if the choose not to sign up at that point. >> there's a phrase that we talked about in the break, high cap. tell me what it is and how that works. >> high cap has a long name. the acronym is high cap but it stands for health insurance counselling and advocacy this i. this is a state-wide program that receives state and federal funds to provide medicare information to people on medicare, to people who are about to be on medicare. their families and their caregivers as well. we're like consumer advocates. we provide help to people so

that the can understand their coverage, their rights and their options. and there are a lot of options suppleht want to supplement how that medicare. and that's what this open enrollment or annual enrollment period is about right now. >> so is that online and also through phone calls? >> yes. we actually use highly trained volunteers who give their time to be medicare counselors and to meet with people individually throughout all different kind of locations, community-based organizations, host us so we can meet in person with people near their homes. >> that is fantastic. i want to ask you before we run out of time. health insurance scams against seniors right now who have medicare and they're hearing about the affordable care act and might get moved into something. >> that's possible. this is the time of year when the schemers and scammers tend to take advantage of some of the confusion that's out there, perhaps by calling people on medicare using the affordable care act as a lead in perhaps to

say we're from medicare and we need to issue you a new medicare card. that will never happen. medicare doesn't make those kind of phone calls. but those people are looking for medicare numbers, bank account numbers, and other personal information which you shouldn't give out of course. >> of course that's because it's their social security number, right? >> oftentimes it's the social security number is one's medicare number as well. >> so what is the best advice in the last ten seconds you can give for seniors worried about health care? >> that they need not look at covered california as an option, but that they should take this time until december 7th for most people to evaluate the options the have for supplementing their medicare. that includes the prescription drug plan. >> thank you so much. appreciate your expertise. nice to know we have all these people out there who will come to our houses to help us. that is all the time we have for today. big thank you to all my wonderful guests. for more information about today's program just go to our

web site, abc7.com/community. i'm cheryl jennings. have a great week. we'll see you next time. bye bye for now. we all have our little tricks. mom swaps one of my snacks for a yoplait. i don't mind, i mean it's orange crème. and when mom said bobby was too edgy... 'sup girl. i just swapped him out for tyler. 'sup girl. mom never questioned bobby again. two can play at this game. [ female announcer ] swap one snack a week for a yoplait. and everybody wins. yoplait. it is so good.

just unroll, fill... top, bake... and... wow. this is your best ever. thank you. [ female announcer ] pillsbury pie crust. make the holidays pop. he loves me. he loves me not. he loves me. he loves me not. ♪ he loves me! that's right. [ mom ] warm and flaky in 15, everyone loves pillsbury grands! [ girl ] make dinner pop!

>> announcer: the following is a paid presentation for the nutribullet brought to you by nutribullet, llc. [♪...] >> my muscle aches, my backaches really started to decrease significantly in one week. >> the first night that i actually used the nutribullet, i actually slept really well. that was exciting. that was phenomenal. >> the bad cholesterol, which was 290, went down to 190. >> the changes that i saw in myself and my family were just amazing. >> announcer: join these people and thousands just like them and discover a machine that finally has the power to take years off the way you look and feel. learn from nutrition expert and bestselling author david wolfe, who speaks to sold-out audiences around the world, why he calls this the most significant discovery of his lifetime. introducing the nutribullet, the superfood nutrition extractor. the nutribullet is not a blender, it's not a juicer.