11 States Allowing Uninsured Enroll in Obamacare

[mary2029]

www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/upshot/coronavirus-obamacare-marketplaces-reopen.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

Not behind a paywall. 

"Eleven states and the District of Columbia have opened enrollment under the Affordable Care Act to allow laid-off workers to get subsidized health insurance, and the Trump administration, which has been gunning to repeal the law, is considering opening the federal exchange to new customers.



The new enrollment periods will ease insurance sign-ups for people who have recently lost health coverage along with their jobs. And they will provide an opportunity for people who didn’t buy insurance for the year to reconsider that choice."

[teen persuasion]

Thanks for this - letting my kids know the window has reopened.

[Miss Tequila]

From the article:


Under the Affordable Care Act, people who lose insurance coverage when they lose their job are already allowed to buy their own insurance. But the creation of a broad special enrollment period would mean that anyone without comprehensive insurance could simply sign up for a health plan, without having to prove such special conditions. Early reports from states suggest that a recent wave of layoffs will leave millions of Americans in need of new health coverage.



Thank you for posting this.  Clearly someone is reading this as no one can get insurance outside of the enrollment period, not just the people who didn't sign up for it and didn't lose health insurance they already had.

[bean29]

The cynic in me wonders how much difference this will make. The issue is, that the policies are pretty unaffordable. DS's policy is about $340/month and it has a very high deductible - I want to say it is $8,000.

I guess if you are getting enhanced UC, you should be able to afford it, but otherwise - it did not suddenly become affordable.

[pooks]

Stepson in CO used this to enroll, he works in a grocery store.  He will have insurance starting May 1st.  We were shocked that he and his wife didn't have any health insurance.  

[buystoys]

I can't get to the article without a NYT sign in popping up so I can't answer my question.  If I'm correct, people signing up for insurance at this time wouldn't get the federal subsidies?  They should get a tax credit when filing 2020 taxes but I think you have to have a full year to receive a subsidy.

I hope I'm wrong and people can get help now.  If they qualify, that is.

[bean29]

Apr 22, 2020 12:29:43 GMT -5 buystoys said:

I can't get to the article without a NYT sign in popping up so I can't answer my question.  If I'm correct, people signing up for insurance at this time wouldn't get the federal subsidies?  They should get a tax credit when filing 2020 taxes but I think you have to have a full year to receive a subsidy.

I hope I'm wrong and people can get help now.  If they qualify, that is.

for a single person if you make about 42,000 you don't get much of a subsidy anyways. So it all depends on how much they would earn for the year in the end anyways.

[Miss Tequila]

Apr 22, 2020 12:29:43 GMT -5 buystoys said:

I can't get to the article without a NYT sign in popping up so I can't answer my question.  If I'm correct, people signing up for insurance at this time wouldn't get the federal subsidies?  They should get a tax credit when filing 2020 taxes but I think you have to have a full year to receive a subsidy.

I hope I'm wrong and people can get help now.  If they qualify, that is.

www.healthinsurance.org/special-enrollment-guide/a-change-in-subsidy-eligibility-changes-your-options/

This special enrollment period was previously only available for people who were already enrolled in a plan through the exchange. But as of 2020 (in states that use HealthCare.gov and in other states at the option of the state-run exchanges), people who have off-exchange coverage and who experience a change in income that makes them newly eligible for premium subsidies have a special enrollment period during which they can switch to a plan in the exchange. This gives these individuals the ability to take advantage of the premium subsidies — and cost-sharing subsidies, if applicable — for which they are newly eligible, since the subsidies are only available through the exchange.

I only scanned the article so I might have missed important details.  But from the above, it looks like they would be eligible for subsidies as long as they had coverage. 

[deminmaine]

Apr 22, 2020 12:18:03 GMT -5 bean29 said:

The cynic in me wonders how much difference this will make. The issue is, that the policies are pretty unaffordable. DS's policy is about $340/month and it has a very high deductible - I want to say it is $8,000.

I guess if you are getting enhanced UC, you should be able to afford it, but otherwise - it did not suddenly become affordable.

My insurance was over $1,500.00/ month for my wife and I, with a $6,500.00 deductible.  I recently dropped her as she picked up Medicare on her 65th.  Now my insurance is $755.00/ month for just myself.  

I am looking forward to joining on the exchange when we close next month.  

All of which is to say- yeah, the hole shebang is pretty out there for anyone of modest means.  

[teen persuasion]

I believe the reason some states reopened their exchanges was to simplify the sign up process.

Yes, if you lost coverage due to job loss, you are eligible to sign up thru ACA. But apparently the open enrollment sign up process is quicker then the special enrollment process - no idea how or why, that's just what I read several weeks ago (so no idea now where I'd heard it).

Also, with a major health pandemic that's a threat to literally everyone immediately, they wanted to give those who'd previously decided to gamble (and skip insurance this year) another chance to sign-up. They could have simply said -too bad, you're out of luck - but thought it was the humane thing to do to make an exception in these exceptional times.

Unfortunately, Trump DID decide to say - too bad, you're out of luck. I'm NOT reopening the federal run website.