Obamacare enrollment goes live in Michigan Nov. 1 with big changes
But consumers should be aware of several big changes: this year's shortest-ever enrollment period, planned outages to the Healthcare.gov website, and big premium price hikes that will be felt most acutely by those whose incomes disqualify them from receiving the health care law's government subsidies.
Open enrollment on Healthcare.gov launches
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"Every year thus far they've extended the deadline, but this year they changed it intentionally to get people to enroll by
There is also less marketing money for open enrollment and less funding for assistants called "navigators" to help people make coverage decisions. And the Healthcare.gov website will now be offline for maintenance from
Yet the most consequential change could be the higher sticker price for health insurance policies: The average price in
Roughly 300,000 Michiganders are expected to get enrolled in a plan during open enrollment, down from previous years and about 3% of the total population.
To be sure, most people who buy health insurance on the Healthcare.gov exchange are insulated from the full effect of the skyrocketing premiums. That is because the Affordable Care Act's tax credit subsidies increase as the premiums increase in order to keep the plans affordable.
In 2016, about 88% of Michiganders who bought policies through the exchange received some tax credits, according to data from the
Taxpayers ultimately foot the bill for these subsidies.
"In the end, taxpayers overall are paying more as a result" of rising insurance premiums, said
Those individuals and family households that make too much money to qualify for the tax credits must pay the full price of their health insurance plans. If that price feels too high for them, they can opt to go without health insurance and instead pay the health care law's penalty for lacking insurance.
The tax penalty is 2.5% of household income or
There will be eight insurance companies in
Consumers in some parts of the country, typically rural communities, will find only one insurance company serving their area. In
He said he doubts he will qualify for a tax subsidy on Healthcare.gov because his income is too high. Yet he doesn't expect to comfortably afford the full cost of a health insurance plan that, in his opinion, would be worth having.
Dexter noted how many of the cheaper health plans sold on the exchange carry high deductibles that people must spend on their own before the insurance kicks in. For instance, the average deductible this year for a "silver"-tier plan on the exchange was
"I know I'll need it when I get hit by a bus," he said. "But if I pay
Deter, who recently moved to
"I can go see a nurse practitioner for
The year-over-year price hikes for insurance plans is especially high this year, due in part to the Trump administration's announcement this month that it will halt payments to insurance companies for a type of subsidy called cost-sharing reduction payments.
Those payments reimbursed insurers for offering very low deductibles and co-payments on plans to individuals and families with incomes up to 250% of the poverty line.Consumers who chose these plans and qualified for tax credit subsidies won't be priced out of insurance for next year, as their subsidy will grow to cover the higher premium costs.
Still, the loss of cost-sharing payments prompted insurance companies to raise the sticker prices on their 2018 plans even higher to make up for the lost money.
"Now insurers won't be getting these payments from the federal government to help cover the costs," said Friedman, the health care policy analyst. "And so to account for this loss of funding, carriers are essentially raising premiums for the plans that they're offering on the marketplace."
Friedman suggested that everyone shop around on Healthcare.gov this enrollment period rather than simply auto-enroll in their current plan, because prices will have shot up for those "silver"-tier plans that benefited from the now-cancelled cost payments.
"You might be able to get a gold plan for not much more than a silver," she said.
He said he currently qualifies for a
"Let's say I'm apprehensive," said Gutterman, who is self employed. "Right now I have decent insurance coverage that's at a price I can afford. There's no choice but to wait and see" the new prices.
He added, "As far as I'm concerned, the
After vowing for years to "repeal and replace" Obamacare,
"We'll let Obamacare fail and then the
There is currently bipartisan legislation that would restore cost-sharing payments -- what Trump has called a "short-term fix" -- but it's unclear whether that bill has enough support.
The Trump administration has reportedly cut funds for marketing and promoting ACA enrollment to
Two
Enroll
Dizzy Warren, executive director of Enroll Michigan, said her organization has about 80 navigators and helped nearly 50,000 people last year sign up for health insurance.
The number of people needing assistance has gone down, she said, as people have grown more familiar with the health insurance website and how insurance works, she said. But older adults and non-native English speakers often still need some help navigating the many options.
Despite the recent funding cut, Warren said Enroll Michigan doesn't anticipate a shortage of available assistance this year because partner organizations can continue to supply navigators and pay them through other funding sources.
"I don't think consumers will notice any difference as to the availability of navigators in their community," she said.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.
How to sign up:
Those shopping for coverage on the Healthcare.gov marketplace can also apply by mail, over the phone at 800-318-2596, or in person with the help of a local navigator. Anyone who bought a plan last year through the marketplace will be auto-enrolled in the same plan, unless they chose a different plan by
Navigator programs and other assistance includes:
* ACCESS (
* Enroll Michigan: 517-512-3141
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Insurers offering plans on Healthcare.gov:
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* Physicians Health Plan
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