Joining me for the call from President Obama were, from left, Sen. Annette Cleveland; Misha Werschkul of SEIU Healthcare 775 Northwest; Kathryn Kolan of the Washington State Medical Association; Katherine White Tudor representing community health providers; and Teresa Mosqueda representing the Healthy Washington Coalition.

A chat with the president on health care

I enjoyed the company of Sen. Annette Cleveland and representatives of a range of health care stakeholders Monday when I participated in a conference call with President Obama on the Affordable Care Act.

As you know, enrollment has gone very well here for thousands of Washingtonians who had not previously had access to affordable health plans. But in other parts of the country, where governors and state legislatures have tried to sabotage the ACA instead of helping constituents access health care plans, things have not gone quite so well.

The president cited efforts to help a number of lagging states along, and noted that the biggest learning curve has centered on cost. Many eligible citizens, he said, don’t realize how affordable the plans can be or that they may be eligible for subsidies that ensure affordability. It was a good reminder of how effective wahealthplanfinder.org has been as well as the need to get the work out to those who have yet to enroll.

To that end, we also discussed the possibility of hosting a series of “One Week To Go” enrollment events on Saturday, March 15, to help enrollees who have yet to sign up. I’ll share further details on that as things firm up.