A “Day of Action” to enroll Brownsville residents in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, takes place today.

The main site will be Valley Baptist Medical Center, where trained ACA counselors and “navigators” will be helping people sign up for insurance in during the hospital’s “Path to Health” event.

The deadline to sign up for health insurance is March 31.

The website issues that plagued ACA’s rollout late last year have been resolved and the system is now working at capacity.

That’s according to Jose Medrano, a community educator with Enroll America, a national, nonprofit organization whose mission is to get people signed up with insurance under ACA by the deadline.

The group’s “Get Covered America” campaign is partnering with the Rio Grande Valley Healthcare Marketplace Network and the local effort — dubbed “Browns-ville Enrolls” — to “educate, engage and enroll the community,” he said.

Medrano said roughly 25 ACA “navigators” — people certified to actually enroll consumers in insurance plans under ACA — assistants and counselors will be scattered among the four sites.

Most of the action, however, takes place at Valley Baptist, which has already hosted four successful ACA enrollment events, he said.

“It’s important and incumbent upon us as community educators to let the community know what is happening, what is out there and what their insurance coverage could be, though ultimately the consumer will make the decision,” Medrano said.

The March 31 deadline only applies to those without insurance, not to those already covered by private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare or CHIP, he said.

Additionally, people who get insurance through their employer may have the option to buy insurance on the ACA marketplace in cases when adding children or a spouse to an existing policy winds up costing more than 9.25 percent of the family’s income being spent on health insurance, Medrano said.

A range of health plans are available, from low-cost to more expensive options, depending on a family’s needs, he said. Medrano said counselors can explain the different options and also advise consumers on the various exemptions, subsidies and extensions ACA provides, Medrano said.

“Everything is based on income,” he said.

Signing up for insurance under ACA is required by law for those who are eligible. For residents who fail to do so, a penalty is tallied on IRS individual tax forms. Medrano said the penalty for 2014 and 2015 is $95 per uninsured eligible adult and $47.50 per uninsured eligible child.

“That will increase in 2016 substantially,” he said. “What I know today is that in 2016 the fine that was $95 will be $695. That is a fact as we know it today.”

ACA excludes undocumented residents from buying insurance on the health care marketplace. However, children born in the U.S. could be covered by the law, even if the family breadwinner is undocumented.

Medrano said undocumented residents should have no fear of approaching ACA counselors in order to sign up eligible children or other documented family members. That’s because ACA databases are not cross-referenced with immigration databases, he said.

“We know that we have a lot of mixed families in our region, and a lot of children who have not completed the documentation process,” Medrano said.

Naturalized citizens and legal permanent residents who have lived in the United States more than five years are eligible to enroll in an insurance plan under ACA. Legal permanent residents who’ve lived in the country less than five years may be eligible for the program if their income falls below a certain level.

An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, provided by the IRS to foreign nationals working in the United States, does not provide eligibility to enroll in an insurance plan under ACA, Medrano said.

Enroll America has been pushing education, engagement and enrollment at small meetings and larger gatherings around the Valley and South Texas in the districts of state Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, with the support of those legislators.

Today, it’s Brownsville’s turn. Medrano acknowledged that rampant confusion and ignorance about ACA presented challenges, but noted that residents are becoming more aware of the law and better engaged.

“In the beginning, the first couple of months it was me going out and trying to hustle folks to listen,” he said “Some were receptive and some folks weren’t so receptive. Now people are receptive.”