Arizona medical institutions ready for Health Care Act

PHOENIX — Most large organizations and hospitals, including Saint Joseph’s, are ready for the first phase of the Affordable Health Care Act to kick in, according to Saundra Johnson, Executive Director of the Keough Health Connection.

The organization connects people to programs and services that help with health care and nutrition. They have also played an integral part in training medical staff across the state on the new health care law.

“It’s a continuous process. They (the staff) are prepared,” she said. “I don’t know if everyone is up to speed…[but] what I can say is that if we don’t have the right answers, we know how to get the right answers for people.”

Johnson anticipates an onslaught of questions and she says people can do their part by becoming informed.

“[Health care is] not a race that has to be won this week. There is time to become enrolled,” Johnson said. “Go to websites that are both in Spanish and English and think about what type of health care your family needs,” she adds.