With More Funding For Open Enrollment, Floridians Embrace Obamacare

Miami Herald (FL)

After years of funding cuts reduced their presence in Florida to a skeleton crew, the number of trained enrollment counselors hired to help consumers sign up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act this year has more than tripled in size — giving broader reach to the health law known as Obamacare in a state whose political leaders have been hesitant if not hostile to its full implementation.

More than 2 million people in Florida had an ACA plan in 2021, more than any other state. And more insurance carriers will be providing coverage in Florida for 2022. Consumers are expected to benefit from the increased competition, and from expanded financial help enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act.

They will also have more time to shop and help selecting a plan. This year, the Biden administration extended open enrollment to 10 weeks instead of 6 weeks, and raised funding for nonprofit groups to hire more counselors, known as navigators, and to pay for advertising and other outreach in Florida.

Open enrollment began on Nov. 1, and through Nov. 13 more than 1.6 million Americans had selected a plan, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS, which regulates Obamacare plans. Consumers have until Jan. 15 to enroll or change a plan, but those who sign up by Dec. 15 will have coverage beginning on Jan. 1, 2022.

And while it’s too early to tell how many Floridians have signed up for coverage, enrollment counselors are gearing up for record demand.

The Department of Health and Human Services awarded two Florida groups about $14.5 million in August to help consumers enroll in health insurance coverage, including $2.5 million for the Urban League of Broward County and $11.9 million for Florida Covering Kids & Families, a University of South Florida program that partners with nonprofits statewide, including in Miami-Dade, to help people sign up for Medicaid or Obamacare.

Compared to 2020, when the Trump administration awarded Florida a total of $1.6 million for navigators, the new funding feels like a rebirth to enrollment counselors, said Islara Souto, a Miami-Dade navigator.

“It’s wonderful, and at the same time it’s scary in a way,” she said, “because we’re so used to doing so much with so little that it’s almost like the Renaissance. We’re coming out of the Dark Ages.”

Jodi Ray, director of Florida Covering Kids & Families, which received $11.9 million from the federal government, said the additional resources will help navigators reach more people closer to where they live. There are more insurance carriers offering coverage now, she said, and new tax subsidies funded by the American Rescue Plan will drive down premiums for 2022.

“We’ve more than doubled the amount of navigators that are on the ground, and we’ve got resources to get the word out,” said . “So there’s lots of marketing, which is something we really hadn’t been able to do much of in the last few years.”

Epilepsy Florida, a nonprofit group, provides navigator counseling for Miami-Dade residents in person, over the phone or via video conference. Counseling is free, and navigators are not paid a commission for signing up customers or steering them to specific plans. They are paid a salary through the federal grants.

Souto, who is navigation program director for Epilepsy Florida, said the group has hired nearly 30 counselors to serve consumers in eight counties this open enrollment season — an increase over the team of seven navigators the group had last year. With more resources and a waning pandemic in Florida, Souto said she’s also looking forward to being able to speak with consumers face-to-face once again.

“It’s really important to be present in person and talk to people and educate them,” she said, “and it’s really hard to do that when you’re only talking to people on the phone ... about making an appointment.”

Ray said her group needs navigators year-round to help with special enrollment periods, and to provide consumer education on health insurance coverage and how it works.

“We’re spending a lot of time on the ground and working with organizations to make sure we’re raising the healthcare literacy of Floridians throughout the year,” she said. “There was a real limit on how much of that we could do.”

The health law’s ability to cover people in Florida also has been limited because the Legislature and governors have rejected a provision for expanding the eligibility criteria for Medicaid, a change that would provide coverage to an estimated 425,000 Floridians, according to the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

But Obamacare continues to provide a safety net for many people in the state, helping to offset coverage losses for those who are laid off and lose their insurance benefits as a result. During a special enrollment period from February through August, more than 540,000 Florida residents signed up for an ACA plan.

Obamacare coverage has also helped reduce Florida’s uninsured rate from 20% in 2013 — the year before ACA plans became available — to 13% in 2019.

For 2022, Ray said she wants consumers to know they have choices and where they can go for help, including groups such as Covering Florida and Epilepsy Florida. With more choices and new benefits, she said there’s a lot for consumers to know.

At least 14 companies are providing an Obamacare plan in Florida for 2022, according an analysis by the Office of Insurance Regulation, which estimates that the average monthly premium for an individual consumer will be $642 — a 6% increase over 2021 rates.

However, those rates do not factor the tax credits that many Florida consumers are eligible to receive based on their income and availability of coverage through work or a different source, such as Medicare.

According to the state’s analysis, a Miami-Dade family of four earning $73,000 a year can find a standard plan for about $420 a month after factoring financial tax credits from the government. A comparable family in Broward could find similar coverage for about $405 a month.

Ray urged eligible Floridians to study their options and reach out for help if they need it.

“Our entire job is to make sure the consumer is well informed,” she said.