SEATTLE -- It was a day full of whispered conversations all daylong at the King County Public Health walk-in and call-in help center in the county's Chinook Building at the corner of 5th and Jefferson downtown.
Conversations about highly personal stories surrounding medical procedures, income, and health care coverage were taking place in this first-floor conference room transformed into a one-day center to get people insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
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LAST DAY TO SIGN UP FOR HEALTH CARE
LAST DAY TO SIGN UP FOR HEALTH CARE
For some, like Heidi Johnson, it took a lot of effort to make it down here to get this help to sign up for insurance. She came all the way down from the Lynnwood area with piles of paperwork to help her sort out the application process.
"It's exhausting," said the 47-year-old. "I've been trying to focus on recovering from double hip replacements."
King Co. Public Health phone bank and walk-in assistance center is open until 9 p.m. to help people enroll in insurance plans.
Heidi may be one of the last people ever to sign up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act. With a pre-existing condition and living on disability, Johnson is concerned that the law, often called Obamacare, is being dismantled by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans with nothing yet concrete to replace it.
"There's a lot of things lately that I'd like to do something about."
But, with the buzzing phone lines, the focus at this walk-in and phone-in office Tuesday was getting people signed up for insurance now, before the deadline at midnight.
"What we do know," said Daphne Pie with King County Public Health, "is that are going to have coverage for this year."
Pie has been helping people find health care solutions for more than 20 years with the county. She said that before the Affordable Care Act, which took effect in 2010, people who couldn't afford insurance took a gamble and just went without.
"For a majority of folks they'd not get treatment, until it got too bad. Then they'd end up in the emergency room and then apply for hospital charity care."
Pie said that without minor medical problems as simple as a flu shot, the development of flu could then blossom into expensive emergencies like bronchitis or pneumonia -- emergencies that could have dire financial consequences if the sick person had to miss a lot of work, too.
Washington State's Health Department says that in 2016, 1.7 million people received insurance through Washington Healthplanfinder. It's the state's insurance market created by the Affordable Care Act. And what will happen to these people and their families is anyone's guess -- which can be scary for people like Heidi.
"It's just a matter of I really don't have the personal energy to look beyond my immediate situation."
For Daphne, she doesn't think the progress in getting our uninsured rate down so low will be completely undone by things in D.C., because she says people in this Washington really care about one another.
"We don't want to go backwards and so whatever the changes may be, we're going to find a way to take care of the most vulnerable in King County," Daphne said. "We're going to find a way to make it work."
If you're looking for help enrolling in an insurance plan, the clock is ticking toward that midnight deadline. But, you're not alone. Teams of "enrollment navigators" are available Tuesday evening in two physical walk-in places in King County.
Until 9 p.m., you can check out the Federal Way Commons (1928 S. Commons; Federal Way, 98003) and the Chinook Building in Downtown Seattle (401 5th Avenue; Seattle 98104). A third place in on the phone. The phone lines will be open at the King County Public Health phone bank until 9 p.m. as well. You can reach them by calling 1-800-756-5437.