Enrollment up at Access Health CT despite uncertain future

The state of Access Health CT, Connecticut's health insurance exchange, is uncertain - but that doesn't mean it's necessarily in trouble.

As the Business Journal previously reported, Lt.Gov. Nancy Wyman, who also serves as chairperson of the Access Health CT board, released a statement assuring consumers that the exchange was still in business and would continue to operate until further notice. The statement came in the wake of the election of Presidentelect Donald Trump, who during the campaign repeatedly said he would "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the massive legislation under which the exchange was created.

Speaking to the Business Journal more recently, Wyman doubled down on her earlier declaration, adding: "We honestly don't know what the federal government might do. We're all sitting on needles and pins."

"If there's any future change, we will adapt and evolve with the best interest of our customers at the core of every decision we make," said Access Health CT CEO James Wadleigh. "As for right now, it's business as usual."

One potentially bright spot has been Trump's apparent backing off from his plans to completely get rid of Obamacare; since his election, he has indicated that he may keep the law's provisions that allow children up to age 26 to remain on their parents' plan and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

"That's a good sign," Wyman said.

Access Health is seeing unparalleled activity with its fourth annual enrollment period, which began Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 31, 2017. "What we have produced in the first three weeks this year we produced in five weeks last year," Access Health CT Outreach Director Emanuela Cebert said at the organization's board of directors meeting in Hartford on Nov. 17.

From Nov. 1 to Nov. 15, Access Health CT received 8,800 new applications, 70,000 current application updates and 61,700 phone calls asking for information about health insurance coverage.

"Enrollment has been much quicker than we'd expected," Wyman said, "which means there will be fewer people trying to get in under the wire. We're really excited about that."

She noted that customers need to enroll by Dec. 15 to make sure there is no gap in their coverage.

The lieutenant governor cited a number of factors for the quicker-than-expected pace of enrollment. "We've done a better job of getting the word out," she said, noting that AHCT has invested in advertising both in print and online. "We've also worked through some of the problems we had in the past, so that there are very few complaints. During the first year people had a hard time understanding how to navigate our systems, but now they know what to do and how to choose among the different plans that are available."

"And people know now that they can go straight to one of our physical locations, our call center or online and can get any questions they might have answered quickly," she added. Access Health operates enrollment centers at Stamford's Ferguson Library at 1 Public Library Plaza, as well as in New Britain, New Haven, East Hartford and Norwich.

"The need for insurance (under the Affordable Care Act has been pretty well publicized by this point, and having access to affordable, high-quality health care for a change is something that's been very well received."

She said that all the talk about the future of the Affordable Care Act during the presidential campaign probably helped as well.

From the Nov. 1 start of open enrollment through Nov. 17, Access Health had recorded 119,283 unique website visitors, answered 72,536 phone inquiries and added a total of7,043 new customers. Since its inception four years ago, the insurance exchange enrolled more than 850,000 Connecticut residents, Wyman said.

The exchange also partners with the Connecticut Department of Social Services for eligibility and enrollment in the state's Medicaid program. A total of 101,239 residents have enrolled in Medicaid through Access Health for coverage in 2016 and 2017, according to Wadleigh.

Wyman noted that Trump has also indicated he may distribute Medicaid and Medicare dollars to states as block grants to help balance the federal budget, which would otherwise balloon if his proposed tax cuts - estimated at between $3.7 trillion and $5.9 trillion over the next 10 years - go into effect. Replacing Medicare guaranteed coverage for senior citizens with a voucher system in which seniors would shop for private insurance, is also apparently on the table.

Yet the president-elect also said during the campaign: "Abolishing Medicare, I don't think you'll get away with that one. It's actually a program that's worked. It's a program that some people love, actually."

Block grants for Medicaid and Medicare "would hurt states like ours," Wyman said, "and it would not be helping people out."

Although Access Health CT this year lost both United Healthcare and HealthyCT as insurers offering plans on the exchange and ConnectiCare also threatened to - Wyman said that ConnectiCare and Anthem "are on the exchange and are happy, and customers are happy with them." Asked if there were any active efforts to add a third insurer to AHCT, Wyman said there were not, given the still-cloudy future of Obamacare and Connecticut's health plan exchange.