Philadelphia Church Hosts Dual-Focused Health Event
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - North Philadelphia's Bright Hope Baptist Church hosted a health event Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Day that offered free flu shots as well as help signing up for Obamacare.
Patricia Coulter rolled up her sleeve for her flu shot provided by Walgreen's, but the President and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia also had her eye on sign-ups for Obamacare elsewhere in the room:
"When people are healthy, they are energized," she tells KYW Newsradio. "They can work. They can provide for their families. You can't separate health and well-being from economic and jobs and businesses."
Home health care worker Janice Churchill persevered through Obamacare challenges:
"I signed up in November and I was blocked," she said. "I called again in January, okay, and she said, 'we have all your information, but why haven't you been submitted?' I said, 'because the lady said she couldn't get through.' So she hit it and said, 'you qualify'."
Obamacare navigators provided on-scene help.
Representatives of various population groups sought to address their specific needs, like Levana Layendecker from Equality, Pennsylvania:
"Health insurance companies would often discriminate against LGBT people, charging more, basically treating being a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender person as a pre-existing condition and that is no longer allowed."
Did you miss this one? Not to worry, more events like this are coming next month.