With one month remaining for the second open enrollment period of the Federally Facilitated Marketplace and State-Based Marketplaces mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), efforts are underway to encourage the Latino community to enroll for health insurance.

The eighth week of the second open enrollment period, between Jan. 3 and Jan. 9, saw 163,050 plans selected, which represents the "preliminary total of those who have submitted an application and selected the plan that best fits their needs." Since the second open enrollment period began on Nov. 15, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) received 6,756,438 plan selections.

The latest statistics are only for the Federally Facilitated Marketplace, also known as Healthcare.gov, as well as the Spanish-language equivalent CuidadoDeSalud.gov.

"Nearly 6.8 million Americans have access to quality, affordable health coverage for 2015 through the Federally Facilitated Health Insurance Marketplace," HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said.

"There are just over four weeks before the Feb. 15 deadline and the end of Open Enrollment. For those who are thinking about getting health coverage, take a look at your options on HealthCare.gov or contact the call center. If you don't enroll by Feb. 15, then you may have to wait until next year to sign up for affordable coverage," Burwell added.

According to the HHS secretary, the first month of the second open enrollment period saw 87 percent of consumers receiving financial assistance to help lower the cost of premiums.

Based on the latest HHS data, nearly 2.2 million users visited Healthcare.gov while 82,005 users visited CuidadoDeSalud.gov. Since Nov. 15, HealthCare.gov encountered 18.1 million users while CuidadoDeSalud.gov attracted 643,172 during the same timeframe.

On Wednesday afternoon, Enroll America, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization aimed to increase the number of Americans receiving health coverage, hosted back-to-back press calls on how to further outreach the Latino community ahead of the second open enrollment period's deadline of Feb. 15. As part of Enroll America and its partners' National Latino Week of Action, Enroll American President Anne Filipic and Burwell commented on Latinos and the work to receive health insurance.

Filipic stated, "Latinos have faced unique barriers" from receiving health insurance but since the implementation of the ACA, there have been great gains. Despite the great gains, Latinos remain largely uninsured since they were also heavily uninsured before the ACA. She acknowledged that many communities waited till the last minute to apply for healthcare, and the same will remain true for Latinos.

Filipic said, "Because we know deadlines are motivators, we know many will wait until the last day to apply for insurance." The Enroll America president recognized there's a lot of work to engage Latino communities in the next month but with a strong coalition of organization and on-the-ground efforts, it can help.

"The Affordable Care Act is working," said Burwell, adding that families and taxpayers are better off since the implementation of the law.

With regard to affordability, Burwell said 85 percent of consumers in the marketplace are receiving financial assistance. She noted 2.6 million Latinos between the ages of 18 and 64 years old gained health insurance since October 2013, and 8.8 million Latinos with private insurance now have more access but "still more needs to be done."

"Latinos' help is vital for the country," said Burwell. She said 10 percent of the HHS' paid media coverage was toward the Latino community last year, and this year it's "nearly a third."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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