Open enrollment begins for Affordable Care Act plans

The open enrollment period to choose an Affordable Care Act health-insurance plan for 2022 on the federal Health Insurance Marketplace began this week.

This year's enrollment period will run a month longer than it has for the last several years, ending on Jan. 15. Consumers must enroll by Dec. 15 if they wish to have coverage beginning Jan. 1.

Greenville-based nonprofit Access East's Certified Marketplace Navigators program will again provide free enrollment assistance to consumers to help them select the best, most cost-effective health-insurance plan themselves and their families, and to determine if financial assistance is available to help pay for coverage.

Due to continuing COVID-19 safety measures, there will be no walk-ins for navigator enrollment assistance.

"Everything will again be appointment-only for this open enrollment," said Shantell Cheek, Access East director for uninsured programs. "We have to make sure that people stay safe."

Consumers will have several options when scheduling one-on-one Navigator enrollment help: in person, by phone, or by WebEx or Zoom. Masks will be required both for navigators and consumers for all in-person enrollment assistance.

Consumers who chose a plan last year need to choose one again during this enrollment period, or risk being automatically enrolled in a new plan that may not meet their needs.

Access East coordinates patient-focused, provider-driven health care for Medicaid and uninsured populations across 27 eastern North Carolina counties.

Navigators are grant-funded and provide impartial, free assistance, receiving no commissions regardless of which insurance plan a consumer chooses.