Biden urges Americans to get medical insurance quickly

Washington, Jan 4 (IANS/EFE) US Vice President Joe Biden Saturday urged Americans to sign up for medical insurance under the Affordable Care Act so they'll be covered during 2015, when Republicans can be expected to launch another attempt to repeal the law promoted by President Barack Obama.

Biden took Obama's place in delivering the traditional Saturday presidential message - the president was on vacation in Hawaii - and reminded Americans that the time for obtaining medical coverage for 2015 under Obamacare will soon expire.

"If you don't sign up by Feb 15th of this year - with only a very few exceptions - if you don't sign up by the 15th of this year, you're going to have to wait until 2016 to get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act," Biden said.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that more than 4 million people signed up for medical insurance under Obamacare before Jan 1, something that the department's secretary, Sylvia Burwell, called a promising start.

The number of Americans without medical insurance fell to a historic low of 11.3 percent in the second four-month period of 2014, after remaining at around 14.4 percent during 2013, according to figures published in December by the US National Center for Health Statistics.

--IANS/EFE

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