Last week, Healthcare.gov relaunched its website with a new look and a new focus on providing information related to eligibility and enrollment in the new state health benefit exchanges (or “marketplaces”).
The site now allows you to put in basic information about yourself to find out what types of health insurance programs or savings you may be eligible for come this fall. There is even a live chat function to allow you to ask basic questions about how the Exchange will work and get them answered in real time.
The purpose for this face lift is to get information out to the masses to prepare them for the changes that are coming this fall, and the decisions they will need to make around health insurance starting October 1st.
You can check out the new site at the same URL: www.healthcare.gov (or in Spanish at www.cuidadodesalud.gov). To learn more about the changes made, click here to check out the press release issued by HHS.
There is an article out in the Associated Press that seems to be raising a lot of eyebrows across the internet this morning. Titled, “Like your insurance? You may be losing it,” it explains how a lot of folks who currently have limited benefit health coverage may have to upgrade this coming fall.
This information may seem to fly in the face of what many folks have been told about Obamacare: “If you like your coverage, you can keep it.” While this may still hold true for a lot of folks, the devil – as always – is in the details.
Most health plans that existed before the ACA was signed in March of 2010 were eligible for grandfathered status. This means that they are exempt from having to provide most (but not all) of the comprehensive benefits and consumer protections that the ACA requires. But, if in the past three years or so, the insurer or the employer have made significant changes to a plan’s benefits or how much members have to pay, then the plan would have lost its grandfathered status.
So, there you go.
This should not be cause for panic. Chances are, if your current health plan is a good one, then it probably meets the requirements set forth in the ACA (or has already changed to do so), in which case you are fine. Those who may have to get a new health plan are the folks with non-grandfathered plans that have not changed to meet the new requirements.
This is not a bad thing. Yes, folks might be confused about it at first. Yes, some folks will end up having to pay more. But the new benefits and consumer protections will mean better health insurance and greater financial protections for you when you get sick. And you will get sick.*
The important thing to keep in mind here is that people need to be vigilant of their health insurance. Talk to your HR department and find out if your plan is changing (which may or may not be due to Obamacare). If you buy coverage on your own, just keep an eye out in the mailbox for a notice from your insurer or the Department of Financial Services. If your insurance is being discontinued, and you need help figuring out your options, you can always get free help from Community Health Advocates by calling (888) 614-5400.
*I use the term “sick” catch-all term for any illness or injury (even good ones like childbirth) – physical, mental or dental – or even just plain growing old.
We all know that this health reform business is complicated. Even for policy wonks and advocates like me who live and breathe this stuff, it can still be really confusing at times.
With the launch of the health insurance exchange set for October 1, the advocacy community is buzzing with questions on how to quickly and effectively improve the public’s understanding around what are currently considered to be very mysterious topics for most: “insurance exchanges,” “premium tax credits,” and let us not forget the big one, “Obamacare.”
The good folk’s at Consumer’s Union recently decided to tackle one of the big ones – premium tax credits. They have released a report with findings from three rounds of consumer testing in three states (Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah) on how to help consumers understand this topic.
The report is great at pinpointing the information that regular folks respond to and explaining how to break down what is essentially complicated IRS information in a way that is understandable to most. Best of all, they have created some really great templates for brochures, a worksheet, and a timeline graphic that folks can tweak and distribute themselves. Very cool.
From left: Carrie Tracy, Community Service Society, Jaime Torres, Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Lois Uttley, or Raising Women’s Voices.
There are 269,000 uninsured people in the Bronx, and most have no idea there are affordable health insurance options coming in October through the NYS Health Benefit Exchange. To help get the word out, HCFANY steering committee members gave two informational workshop sessions this past Saturday at the Bronx Health Summit, held on the Fordham University campus.
One session, conducted in English, was given by HCFANY steering committee members Lois Uttley, Carrie Tracy of the Community Service Society, and Erin Hoben of the Children’s Defense Fund-NY. They were joined by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Regional Director Jaime Torres. A second session, conducted in Spanish, was given by Rebecca Telzak of Make the Road NY and Flor Ramirez of the Children’s Aid Society.
Wish you could have attended these presentations? Click here to see the PowerPoint in English. Click here to view the PowerPoint in Spanish.
Would you like HCFANY representatives to give a talk at your organization or in your community about the new health insurance options coming this fall? Presentation requests can be emailed to info@raisingwomensvoices.net.