 Let me tell you right up front, because everybody in the whole world is on the Internet today. If it's not, if it doesn't look like we wanted it to look like, just bear with us because you know that the teaching online and the children are online with games and toys and whatnot. So just stay with us. Now, my guest is a dear friend and we all know about me and dear friends. I only talk to dear friends. This is today's Martha. Martha Copeland. And yes, I am the S and she's the T. And the S and the T are, the S is for short. And the T is tall. Martha, you got that? Okay. But as we said, today is urgent. Today, unlike any other day in our history, is urgent. Because Hawaii is a pre-state healthcare state. And for all of those people who were working with firms and companies that ended business last month, month of February and March, for all of those people, they're out of business and they are out of healthcare as of yesterday. So I've asked Martha who is a genius when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid and all those kind of wonderful things. Martha, we guide us through this maze and it is a maze of what to do, how to do, and especially, and most of us don't even think about it. And the people that lost it didn't think about it. But if your grandma or anybody for that matter had prepaid healthcare and they're getting prescription drugs every month, think about what is going to happen to them as of today, the first, if they don't have a prepaid medical plan. So Martha, again, is the genius. So it was Martha that I went to and Martha showed me the letters and the people that are upset and I cried honestly just reading and feeling what these people must be going through. So Martha. I'm here. Okay. Aloha. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us and explain to us exactly what happened, what is happening, and where they can, where do we go from here? Okay. Thank you, Martha. I just want to thank you so much. I pray that you and your family are doing well and our community is taking care of each other. But I want to thank you so much for inviting me to be a guest on today's show because my purpose today is to share resources for Hawaii's furloughed workers who may need to replace their health coverage. When you think about it, if you're told that you are being furloughed off and you won't have a job, probably the last thing you're thinking about is that you'll lose your insurance. But Hawaii's laid off workers are losing health insurance and they need help right now. As of today, I understand that it's close to 97,000 workers who have files for unemployment. Yes, many of them are going to need affordable coverage options to avoid insurance gap and costly medical bills. And like you said, Marcia, many people delayed retirement at 65. They're working beyond that age. So they have their employer coverage. If they lose that employer coverage, now they have to figure out how to get Medicare insurance. And it's not an overnight thing. So it can take a month or two months to get Medicare when you are over 65 and you lost your job. So I've been hearing from 20, 30 people a day, Marcia. And what I'm hearing is while our unions are working hard to maintain insurance benefits for their workers, many non-unions, single-parent households, working parents, the working agents, young adults, and teens in Hawaii have lost jobs and already have, or may suffer, the double blow of the loss of their health coverage. So again, over the last 72 hours, I have assisted about 60 people. And when you say you just cry over it, believe me, I've been crying because it was one person and they're losing their coverage. They lost it yesterday. And I called Social Security Administration with them and Social Security had to say, I'm so sorry, but in order to get your Medicare part need to start as early as April 1, which is today, we needed to have some signed forms from you in the month of March. So I said, this is that your needs. Is it anything that can be done? And the Social Security representative said to the gentlemen, I'm so sorry I've continued the forms. And if you get them into us this month, we will really work hard and get your Medicare set up for May 1. So this gentleman will not have coverage in the month of April. This is what's going on. Yeah. So I'm concerned about the, anybody like this gentleman, let's assume that somebody in his family needs medication for high blood pressure or diabetes or health care. I mean, heart. Right. And they've been getting it from lungs or ball green. And now that automatic payment has stopped. What happened? What happened to them? Well, I pray that the person has maybe a 90 day supply to get them through, but if that person were to run out of medication this month and now they don't have insurance to be able to go to the doctor and have the doctor order a refill, that person would actually be without coverage. And you know what can happen if you're not keeping your blood pressure under control, if you're not keeping your glucose under control, it can be very, very dangerous. So this is very, very important that we help people understand how to get insurance if they have lost it as it was of these furloughs. And I'm hearing some people, they know that their jobs won't be returning. They've been discriminated. And I want to mention, Marsha, a few of the people have limited English proficiency. So they are a big loss of how to figure out this whole health care thing. And when they find out, you know, some of them called me on a Saturday. They said, I opened the mail. I found out that my insurance was ending March 31st. And I have no idea what to do, who to call, nothing. And with the mandatory, think about it, Marsha, with the mandatory shutdown of all of these local businesses, the usual resources are just unavailable. You know, that's what's left so many workers in Limbaugh. If you call your former employer, well, they're all staying at home. So you cannot reach them at the normal numbers. So those calls go in answer. And the in-person appointments at social agencies, local government offices have also been discontinued until further notice. So a lot of folks are pushing people to be internet. But I'm talking about people, you know, again, limited English proficiency. And they just don't have computers, even the smart phones, they don't know how to navigate the website in order to apply for programs that might be available to them. Some, Marsha, have to tell you, they have even told me that they are thinking of risking going without coverage with the hope that they will be called back to work by May 1st. And for some of these individuals, as you mentioned, Marsha, with chronic conditions, a month without coverage. A month is too much. So if they need these refills and things and they no longer have coverage and the doctor can't see them without coverage, that's a problem that's brewing. So what I've done, I have put some slides together. I don't know if you can, can you bring those slides up? I know you're having some issues. I hope we can. So what I did in the first slide is I just had just a picture of all of our little businesses, you know, the movie theater, you know, the pet shop, the place where you take your pet for supplies or the doggy daycare. All of these places are, you know, not allowed, if they're not an essential, they're not allowed to have their employees show up at work. So we have all of these small businesses that have been impacted. And if there's no one coming in, of course, they may have to furlough or lay off a worker and that can mean that their health insurance goes away. So I wanted to take a look at how many people in our community might get impacted. So on my next slide, Marsha, and I think you gave me some information on this too. But on our next slide, this goes back to something that was done in 2016. There were 126,000 people employed by small businesses. 126,000. So the numbers I hear are that today, 97,000 have applied for unemployment. So it sounds right. You know, we probably have many more people than this 126,000. But if we're at 97,000 who've applied for unemployment, we're going to have an issue here if people do not know how to access their insurance. Does that make sense? Well, and yes, because of the 97,000, there are still some people who may or may not qualify for unemployment. If you own a business like the person that does my nails, I haven't seen her in six weeks, I guess, because she has a salon, but it's in a larger building and the building is shut down. So she has no choice. That's right. Well, it's interesting. I don't have that information today, but I have been listening to reports from the government's office, the lieutenant governor at Case, Brian Schatz, and they have put together some programs that they mention may help people who are the gig workers and you know, salon owners. So hopefully people are able to access that information and someone like the person who takes care of you and the salon, maybe there is something available that normally wouldn't be available, but I understand they're being very, very flexible because they recognize that these people need income in order to pay their bills. So if you cannot go and see your salon person, how will she pay her bills? Right. That's interesting. That is interesting. But when we think about those people, what about a landlord? Let's assume that you have a house, a large house, and you have rumors, people that, you know, pay you monthly as a rumor. What about the landlord who now is not getting that income from those people that live in that house? Let's assume there's eight or ten people in this large house and they are laid off. Now that landlord does not get that income and the landlord still has to pay the mortgage on the house. So what happens to the landlord is where I'm going with that? Well, exactly. So again, what I've been seeing on the websites from the governor's office and the congressman and the independent governor and even the local news stations, that's my point about wanting to talk about these furloughed employees. It seems like there's plenty of information about, you know, wash your hands for 20 seconds and shop certain hours if you're in a certain age group and grab and go meals for the Kiki and Milama meals is reporting that they've delivered 25,000 meals to the elderly and the small business administration supposedly has a program for people who rent, renters and people who own property and rent to others, but who's taking care of the people who may have lost jobs and as a result have lost the insurance. Now the union folks, I know that the union leaders are really working hard to take care of their folks, but what about people who don't belong to unions? Like you said, what about the person at your salon? You know, she may be a business owner, but now if she cannot keep up with her insurance, then what are her options? Or she has employees that have coverage through the company. So I wanted to talk about Cobra and I think I have a slide up first that shows the health insurance. So just the slide that kind of shows yeah, when you have health insurance you can see a doctor, you can take medication, you can have test run. If you think you have respiratory illness, you definitely need to be able to reach a doctor, but you need to keep that health insurance going. So on the slide after that, I showed Cobra is expensive. Now Cobra is generally offered by companies with at least 20 or more employees and so that allows your insurance to continue for yourself or yourself and your family if you have a separation from employment that you no longer have insurance. But Marsha, take a look at the average annual premium for a single person in 2019 was $7,188 for the year or $599 per month. Six hundred a month for a single person and $1,715 for a family. And this report was done by the Kaiser Family Foundation and they are very good with doing these reports and these are 2019 figures. So if our folks are, you know, people can say, oh, you know, the company will send them a letter and tell them how to access their health insurance. But can you imagine after being told that you no longer have a job and your insurance just went away and you find out to keep your insurance going is $600 per month if you're an individual and $1,700 for a family. Oh, and you don't have a job. And you don't have a job. So that's why I'm so thankful that you allowed me to come on to talk about this. Now what I've been doing, I, you know, I talked to a lot of people. So I said, I say to people, so what are you going to do? So they said, well, we don't know what to do, Marsha. So I said, well, you've heard about the Affordable Care Act plans and these are great plans for folks in this situation because they can cost under individuals and families, you know, it's based on their income and other eligibility and they are offered by a two largest health plans. So these are health plans that people will know about. However, wait times to get to the health care.gov site are quite lengthy. So most people give up after, you know, an hour. They don't hear anything, you know, just wait. They just hang up the phone. And then when you call them they can give you the same rates that align with the Cobra, but those reps are not allowed to give you the rates that can get under a hundred if you qualify because they're not allowed to help with those. You have to go to healthcare.gov and do it through a website to be able to pick up the subsidies or the credit to make that instance lower. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. And so you're going to tell us how to do that, right? Sure. I'll try to do that in a few minutes I have left. But I wanted to also mention that a lot of people are being told that Medicaid, you know, is available. You can go online and apply for Medicaid. But what people need to know is you still need to meet requirements for Medicaid. So it's not like I lost my job. I automatically qualify for Medicaid. You still have to go through the application process. So if you lost your job in April 1st and you do not have coverage from an employer, then April 1st, if you're applying for Medicaid, even if you qualify, it doesn't become available the next day. There is a process. So that's what people need to really be aware of. Also, I think because, Marcia, when most people are working, they get their insurance through work. If they change jobs, they get another insurance through work, they never have to really go through healthcare insurance. So I think that's why there's a disconnect and people don't really know who to call and what to do. And as a result of this, I believe that the people who have been laid off and remember my number, 97,000. Now, we don't know how many are union workers, but even if we just take 10 or 20,000 of that number, if they do not have coverage, they're going to end up in our emergency rooms. They're going to get stuff with uncovered bills, bills that people pay. And that's terribly expensive. Right. And then I'm already hearing, Marcia, that our Medicaid population, which is currently over 300,000, we know that we're going to find more and more people on the Medicaid roles, but if we can help them understand how to get the Affordable Care Act, that would be, in my opinion, very, very important. Okay. So now you tell us exactly how to reach you and how to call you and how you can get them connected to where they need to be. Yep. First, around slide number seven, I have the healthcare.gov site that people can go to, but it is can be a little bit difficult to navigate. So I have a site, it's gettoinsurance.com, get the number two insurance.com, and I have a screenshot of it where you can actually go to my site, and at least you can call if you have a problem getting through. So if you go to my site, you can hit individual and family health insurance, get a quote. So very simple, individual and family health insurance, get a quote. And then the next page that you should see is the same site, I have a direct link to the healthcare.gov affordable care app plan. So you can just fill out, all you got to fill out is really really simple. Just fill out the information there. You can fill out your zip code. You can fill out just your zip code and hit fee plans and prices. Then you can see what the plans and pricing might be in your area. Then you just fill out your name, who wants insurance, the name of the app. And then again, if a person needs assistance, I can study. You can talk to them because that would make, you know, even for me, and I don't mind filling in our forms online, but I even feel better when I talk to somebody on the other end. So again, you like I told everybody, you are the genius, the Medicare genius. So fine. But this is not just for me. This was really unique about what I can do. I speak to the Affordable Care Act plans. I've been doing that for over seven years, and that's for people less than 65, but if someone in the household is over 65 and also just lost their coverage, I can help them as well. So I can help with, you know, insurance, you know, from folks from our, you know, our newborns, you know, all the time. Everybody needs to make sure their insurance is intact, and that's what I want to help people with. And, you know, all they got to do is call me. So I have a toll-free number set up just for this. So if I'm on the phone, they can leave a message or my life person will answer, but it's 1-800-226-3660. That's 1-800-226-3660. And I'm really hoping, Marsha, that you can, you know, get the word out to people that I'm really here to help. I love my community. I love what I do. I want everybody to be safe. And the way that this program that I have access to, there's no face-to-face needed. I can help people over the phone, but I definitely, I've helped already 60 people. And they all say, Marsha, thank you, because I was completely lost. And I would, this one person, he was on home, and he had two hours in her husband's call. And then I was able to, you know, help them navigate and get taken care of in 20 minutes. So she didn't laugh that she still never got the person on phone. So I wanted to thank you. I wanted to just say that real quick, but thank you to Marsha for allowing me on the show today. No, after I read that letter, I just cried and I thought, what can we do? And so that's why I asked you if you would be so kind as even though you are in Kauai, you are quarantine in Kauai. Yes, ma'am. You know, of course, that's the Garden of Eden. So if you must be quarantined, why not Kauai? Kauai. Yes. Well, Marsha, again, thank you so much for spending this time with me and with us. And for anybody that's watching, and if you think you need, just send the link to anybody that you think needs help. Just down at the bottom here, there is a link and it says to share and just send it to anyone you know that you think might need Marsha's help. Thank you again, Marsha. It's been a pleasure and we'll see you next time. Aloha.