NC likely to exceed 1 million residents in health insurance exchange

Individual plans are offered under the federal Affordable Care Act, commonly known as "Obamacare."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported there have been 996,250 enrollees from Nov. 1 through Dec. 28. The enrollment deadline is Tuesday at www.healthcare.gov.

For the federal health exchange, coverage began on Jan. 1 for those enrolled before Dec. 15. Individuals who enroll by Tuesday will have coverage start on Feb. 1.

Individual rates vary based on location, age, subsidy amount and plan. Subsidies are available for customers with household incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level.

The current enrollment places North Carolina fifth among the 32 states using the federal exchange with 15.54 million enrollees, including 3.14 million new enrollees.

Nationwide, there were 20.35 million participants nationwide through the federal exchange and the 18 state-based exchanges. That is including 3.73 million new enrollees.

The Biden administration is encourage people with current coverage through HealthCare.gov to shop to see if another plan better meets their needs at a lower cost.

"A record number of people in the United States have health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act's Marketplace - more than at any point in history," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

"More people with access to preventive care means a healthier country and lower health care costs across the board."

Medicaid expansion update

Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday that more than 311,000 North Carolinians have signed up for Medicaid expansion coverage since the eligibility period began Dec. 1. About 600,000 North Carolinians are projected to be eligible.

Anyone with health coverage through HealthCare.gov will need to cancel their plan once they are enrolled in NC Medicaid.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services debuted Dec. 1 a dashboard that will provide monthly enrollment updates. The enrollment count has not been updated as of Friday.

A total of 10,523 Forsyth County residents, 14,567 Guilford County residents and 48,760 in the Triad and Northwest N.C. were enrolled in the initial wave.

The initial Forsyth enrollment total represents 4.5% of the ages 19 to 64 population.

By comparison, there were 14,567 initial enrollees in Guilford County representing 4.4% of the 19-to-64 population.

Most of those individuals were among a potential 300,000 automatically enrolled through their participation in the state Medicaid's limited Family Planning program.

"We encourage everyone to check to see if they qualify for Medicaid or marketplace insurance under the Affordable Care Act to make sure they have the health care coverage they need," Cooper said Wednesday.

According to state health officials, Medicaid expansion would provide medical coverage to people making under about $20,120 a year. Likewise, a family of three earning under about $34,000 would be eligible, as well as a family of six earning under $55,586.

"Hundreds of people each day are gaining health care coverage and getting the care they need," state Health Secretary Kody Kinsley said in a statement.

"We're working to make sure with massive outreach efforts for months because this is a marathon, and not a sprint."

Health care services include:

primary care;inpatient and outpatient hospital care;maternity and postpartum;vision and hearing;prescription drug benefits;behavioral health;preventive and wellness; andmedical equipment, devices and therapies.

There has been a fairly even divide among the six major standard Medicaid health plans with Healthy Blue first at 22.2%, followed by Wellcare at 20.2%, UnitedHealthcare at 19.7%, Amerihealth at 17.3%, Carolina Complete at 10.5% and Medicaid Direct at 9.9%.

The four counties with the highest portion of adults enrolled are Anson, Edgecombe, Richmond and Robeson.

For more information about the expanded eligibility, go to https://medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/, county Department of Social Services or through community support initiatives.

[email protected]@rcraverWSJ