By Remy McCool/south news editor

Students learned from a number of people, including a member of the president’s Cabinet, what the Affordable Care Act means for them March 20 and 22 on South Campus.

The events provided students and members of the community a place to receive information, ask questions and sign up for health insurance through the healthcare marketplace.

“There are a lot of people in Texas who I think still are not quite sure if the law applies to them or if it is really going to be in effect in Texas,” U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said March 20.

With the March 31 deadline approaching, she along with U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, State Rep. Nicole Collier, Tarrant County Commissioner Roy C. Brooks and TCC Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley urged students to sign up.

“Each and every day, there are some negative comments about the law, about the act, so we’ve been really working hard to get the word out,” Sebelius said.

Texas has a high volume of people who still remain uninsured, many of whom reside in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

“There are over 2.6 million people in Texas without insurance,” Collier said March 22.

The events were aimed to inform and encourage those uninsured to become insured by the deadline.

“We have so many different plans, and that’s what I like about this because we have the opportunity to make a choice about the plan we want,” Collier said.

Navigators were on site to assist with the process of signing up and choosing a plan.

Although the deadline is March 31, a variety of exemptions exist.

“Now there are exemptions for applying for the health insurance, and then there are also hardship exemptions,” Collier said.

Homelessness, eviction and unemployment are among the many exemptions available.