The United States Health and Human Services Secretary visited the University of South Florida Monday to talk about the Affordable Care Act.
Chris Villatte, a USF student, now has something he said took years to finally get, health insurance.
"Something might happen to us but life has to go on, life doesn’t stop because you’re injured, so I think health insurance can help us move on," he said.
On Monday, Villatte signed up for health care under the Affordable Care Act at the University of South Florida’s Marshall Student Center.
USF set up a space for anyone interested in signing up for health care. Their navigators worked one on one, enrolling people like Villatte.
"I love to play basketball, but what if I get injured one day? And having health insurance is something that provides a security blanket for you," he said.
USF recently received a $5.3 million navigator grant to help people enroll in the health insurance marketplace. It was the largest grant in the country.
On Monday USF showed off its work to United States Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
“Last year in one year for the nation there were 10.3 million fewer adults that were uninsured,” said Secretary Sylvia Burwell, United States Health and Human Services.
The Affordable Care Act and its website healthcare.gov had its share of problems last time around.
Burwell said so far so good this time. She said in the first days of open enrollment more than 100,000 people have already signed up online.
“The vast majority of users are having a good experience where there are things and when we see things we’re tracking them down quickly we put in place mechanisms because there will be problems,” said Secretary Burwell.
The deadline this time to enroll for coverage under the Affordable Care Act is February 15, 2015.
People who signed up last year also have to re-enroll.