Obamacare enrollment up 14 percent in Washington state

Jan. 20--Statewide, enrollment in health care plans on the Obamacare exchange is up about 14 percent over last year, including a 15 percent increase in the sought-

after "Young Invincibles" 18- to 34-year-old age group.

In Yakima and Kittitas counties, Yakima Neighborhood Health Services reports that specialized workers, also called navigators, at health centers throughout the area have helped sign up 1,115 people for qualified health plans, aiming for a target of 1,300 signups by the end of open enrollment on Jan. 31.

However, many people meet with navigators and go through the entire selection process before ultimately declining to sign up because the plans are still too expensive, Neighborhood Health communications manager Leah Ward said. Affordability also is the main reason people cite for dropping coverage in the last year.

"They're looking at premiums of $300-$400 a month, and then a $6,000-$7,000 deductible," she said. "There's just not enough choice."

For 2017, the penalty for not being insured will stay the same as in 2016: $695 or 2.5 percent of income for an individual -- whichever is higher -- and $2,095 or 2.5 percent of income for a family.

Despite Congressional Republicans' plans to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act as soon as they can, "Anyone who signs up for a plan for 2017 is guaranteed coverage for the rest of the year," said Michael Marchand, Health Benefit Exchange communications director. "Anyone who hasn't should sign up before the end of January."

As of Jan. 9, 200,612 people statewide had selected a plan on the exchange, compared with 176,722 people at the same time last year. About 66,000 of those were new customers this year.

The Health Benefit Exchange, which runs the online HealthPlanFinder marketplace, no longer handles billing for those plans, so it won't know how many people have actually paid for health coverage until several months down the road, after receiving that information from the health insurers themselves.

Washington is seeing a growing number of people buying insurance plans without receiving any kind of subsidy, an indication that HealthPlanFinder is becoming the go-to place for anyone buying insurance on the individual market, Marchand said.

"The shopping experience is better on the exchange than on the outside, because of the tools that are available," Marchand said this week. "Word's getting out that it's a great tool, just from an ease-of-use thing."

The people whose income falls between 138 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level represent a finite pool, Marchand said, and most of the people in that category who want or need insurance have already come into the exchange since the first open enrollment in 2013. In that first year, about 82 percent of people buying plans on the exchange received subsidies; this year, about 60 percent received subsidies and 40 percent did not.

That "Young Invincibles" increase is good news for insurers, Marchand said.

"That's a highly sought-after demographic because of their health status," he said. "Insurance companies want to make sure that they have a good risk pool, and that means having people who are healthy, as well as having people who they can serve who have needs."

This also is the first year the Washington exchange offered dental plans, which may have helped drive up enrollment numbers, Marchand said. Dental plans can only be bought in conjunction with health plans, not as standalone products.

As for what may happen with Obamacare and what that means for Washington's exchange, Marchand says they're in "wait-and-see" mode.

"In our state, the Affordable Care Act has made a big difference and it's helped a large number of our population get health coverage that hadn't in the past," he said. "I think we can all agree that affordability is an issue, across the board, and it will be interesting to see, if steps are taken to address affordability at a federal level, what impact that might have on the state."

-- Molly Rosbach can be reached at 509-577-7728 or mrosbach@yakimaherald.com.

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