Religious Groups Step Up Obamacare Enrollment Drive

With the March 31 deadline for Obamacare enrollment looming, faith organizations across the spectrum of belief are taking a major role in efforts to get uninsured Americans to sign up for health coverage, Religion News Service reports.

Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Hindu organizations and houses of worship have hosted or participated in hundreds of outreach and sign-up events, distributed literature, and preached sermons on the issue, many working in concert with Enroll America, a nonprofit advocacy group promoting the Affordable Care Act. Many faith charities work closely with minority and low-income communities where rates of the uninsured run high.

Some evangelical and Catholic groups that oppose aspects of the law, such as the contraceptive mandate, are still backing the enrollment push. “My position is I’m a pro-life person so I don’t want anybody dying of preventable diseases if they can get health care,” said the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.