Agencies Ramp Up For Health Insurance Opener
Open enrollment in the federal marketplace starts Saturday, although potential patrons can go to Healthcare.gov now to check out plans and get estimates of premiums and possible tax credits. The site and estimator have been working efficiently, unlike the inaugural period last year, when the site crashed repeatedly and froze up in the middle of enrollments.
"We've had more interest this year," said
"We're anticipating that there won't be a huge rush because so many signed up last year, but there still are people out there without insurance," she said.
Counselors will help patients navigate the marketplace during the mission's open hours Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and it has a full schedule of appointments during daytime hours next week for patients and nonpatients alike, Brekke said.
Education remains one of the main needs for people who never have been insured before and may not understand premiums, deductibles and co-pays, she said.
Many don't know that the insurance is available despite widespread efforts to inform people about Obamacare, she said.
A Kaiser Health Tracking Poll last month bore that out, finding that 89 percent of uninsured people did not know that open enrollment begins again this week, 66 percent said they knew just a little or nothing about the Affordable Care Act and 53 percent didn't know they could get tax credits to offset premium costs.
Also gearing up for the
People who have insurance coverage through their workplaces and those on
Those who are happy with their present plans can stand pat and be re-enrolled automatically, but representatives of Mayo's Health Tradition and the Gundersen Health Plan -- two of the major vendors in
Inaccurate information could affect premium subsidies and tax credits, they said.
"We're advising all consumers to go out and look because they need to check their subsidy amount," said
Most enrollees at the federal marketplace, also available through many private insurance agents, qualify for tax credits in the hundreds of dollars to offset premiums.
"About 80 percent of the business we have are getting subsidies," said
Health Tradition's premiums increased an average of 2.5 percent over last year's, Eckstein said, and
Health Tradition and Gundersen were the only two companies with state approval to sell in
There is no average premium, because the plans pivot so much on household income, the number of people covered and the plan chosen.
"The gist of it is very complex, depending on the number of people and income, so people really need to check the plans to see what meets their needs," Eckstein said.
The plans have the metallic labels of bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Bronze is the least expensive -- costing nothing in some cases after subsidies -- but deductibles and out-of-pocket ceilings are much higher. Premiums increase and deductibles decrease as policies move up the chain.
Those who don't obtain insurance also should be aware that the penalty for not doing so will rise from 1 percent of household income this year to 2 percent next year, or
The opening of the
Such businesses are not required to offer coverage under the Affordable Care Act, but those who do can choose one of the color levels in SHOP and allow employees to pick their own plans in that level, he said.
"It's good that our community can offer choice," he said.
That choice is available in only 14 states, including
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