News

Obama Care will be accepted in Bottineau County

By Scott Wagar

02/11/2014

With the affordable Health Care Act (ACA) up and running local health care facilities in the county will accept Obama Care insurance from the patients they will see which hold the ACA plans.

In Bottineau, St. Andrew’s Health Center will receive Obama Care, but Jodi Atkinson stated the hospital is still on a learning curve with the ACA.

“As of now we will be accepting Obama Care plans. I know that at various meetings I have attended, questions being asked haven’t been answered.  Many of us are playing the let’s see what it looks like. The plans themselves are varying in coverage and out of pocket cost,” Atkinson said. “As St. Andrew’s, we would not be making any changes to our practice standards as a catholic lead network.”

Trinity Health in Minot owns and operates St. Andrew’s Clinic and Westhope Clinic. According to Randy Schwan, vice president of Trinity Health, he stated that Trinity will also accept Obama Care in their clinics in Bottineau County.

“In North Dakota, the expanded Medicaid plan eligibility brought about through the ACA is offered through a Sanford Health Plan. We accept patients using that plan, which actually goes through a secondary mechanism known as MultiPlan. So, yes, we do (accept ACA),” Schwan said. “If other facilities have a contract with Sanford Health, or can connect to that through MultiPlan, they’d be accepted there, too. 

According to healthcare.gov, the next enrollment’s deadline is Feb. 15 for coverage which will start on March 1, 2014.