ACA enrollment increases; future uncertain

Dec. 05--The open enrollment deadline for the Affordable Care Act is Dec. 15, and while enrollment has increased, its future remains uncertain.

"Since the Affordable Care Act took full effect, we have seen an overall increase in patients using insurance," said Natalie Parish, director of Public and Community Relations for Medical City Weatherford. "This past year, Medical City Healthcare has documented a significant increase in marketplace insurance utilized for outpatient services."

The uninsured rate in Texas dropped from 22.1 percent in 2013 to 16.6 percent in 2016, while the national average was an estimated 8.8 percent, according to the 2016 Census reports on health insurance coverage.

Texas and Alaska were the only states that had an uninsured rate of 14 percent or more.

Uninsured rates nationally dropped, but the year-to-year changes in uninsured rates varied.

According to the 2016 Census report, that variation may have been affected by whether a state expanded Medicaid as part of the ACA, an optional choice for states, and one Texas has not taken.

Many people in Parker County and the surrounding area are unsure about how the plan is going to work with an uncertain future, said Pecan Valley Centers healthcare navigator Pam Hurst.

Enrollment calls have been roughly the same, but more calls are coming in about what to do with the different amount of plans that are being offered, Hurst said.

Some clients aren't even aware the deadline is Dec. 15, according to statistics by Get America Covered, a nonprofit started by Lori Lodes and Joshua Peck, former communication officers who used to lead government outreach for the ACA under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services.

In the 42 states where the deadline is Dec. 15, 12 percent of insured consumers and 6 percent of uninsured consumers know that Dec. 15 is the deadline, according to Get America Covered statistics.

Hurst has seen an increase in the number of calls from people who are navigating new markets and new plans.

"We're getting a lot of the calls from people we've seen last year, the plans have changed, they want to call us up and make sure they're doing the right thing," she said.

"We're still getting calls, and we have open enrollment events," Hurst said.

Many outreach efforts rely on state or federal grants, but funding for it is drying up, Hurst said.

As a result, outreach efforts planned for the future cannot be expected, Hurst said.

"I'm not sure how that's going to happen," she said.

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