The Washington Post reports that Healthcare.gov is likely to open up for a new open enrollment period in the next couple of weeks:
Under one order, HealthCare.gov, the online insurance marketplace for Americans who cannot get affordable coverage through their jobs, will swiftly reopen for at least a few months, according to several individuals inside and outside the administration familiar with the plans. Ordinarily, signing up for such coverage is tightly restricted outside a six-week period late each year.
I think that this will be helpful in enrollment as there are some number of individuals and households that selected a plan in December but failed to complete the entire activation chain by mid-January. They had indicated a strong preference for insurance but got tripped up in the administrative burden. These folks are likely to take advantage of an extended Open Enrollment Period.
I think that a late winter/early spring OEP will be interesting from an attention span dynamic as well. We have strong evidence that people are financially stressed and cognitively overwhelmed around Christmas. Choosing insurance is a cognitively complex task. People with few attention reserves or resources are likely to rage quit even if they were unlikely to rage quit when they were not operating with no attention reserves. We are also entering the primary income tax and EITC return period where people are highly likely to get a big cash infusion. Big cash infusions are likely to lower stress and increase the ability of people to make better cognitively complex choices.
I also think that without increased advertising, outreach, elite messaging and support that a spring time OEP won’t do much. The Department of Health and Human Services has, to use a technical term, a big honking pile of money available for these purposes:
New analysis: If the Biden Administration reopens ACA enrollment, success likely depends on reversing Trump Administration cuts to outreach and consumer assistance. There appears to be over $1 billion in unspent HHS marketplace funds available to do so.https://t.co/ShR0pqPJKC
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) January 25, 2021
Executing those contracts and staffing up while coming up with a plan will take some time but there are resources for outreach.
Ramalama
OUTRAGEOUS.
Looks like I’ve got my anger muscle working again.
OzarkHillbilly
Good things happen when good people are in the WH. Who’da thunk it?
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
Will this apply only to those states that use the ACA marketplace? I have a niece in NJ who has had a really hard time since her family lost COBRA last winter. Her employment hours fluctuate, so she’s on the cusp between Medicaid and subsidized ACA. (Her husband had just started a business servicing restaurants before COVID so his income is nil) She has to get a ruling from someone in the state on her Medicaid eligibility before she’s allowed to even apply for ACA through NJ’s ACA portal. I know she hadn’t been able to get an answer before Thanksgiving, and she works as a personal shopper at a grocery store so I know she was entering her busiest, most exhausting time. I haven’t had the heart to ask about her insurance status (or whether she ever went to get that flu shot). Her kids are covered under CHIP, but it would be such a relief if she and her husband could finally get coverage too.
David Anderson
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): I think that the State Based Marketplaces will follow HC.gov lead but I am not guaranteeing that at the moment.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@David Anderson: Thanks. I’ll let her know to watch for it. It’s a relief that they might get covered. She watches out for their health, makes sure they eat right & all, but she’s 50, with a replaced hip, & works with a lot of folks who think masks are a commie plot so…
David Anderson
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): I’ve reached out to my Jersey HC expert, and he’ll get back to us.
Can I send my guy your e-mail address as he thinks there is a path forward.
Brachiator
I have been hearing radio spots saying that the enrollment deadline for Covered California is January 31.
cain
I never understood this tight 6 week strictness. My mom ended up getting kicked out of her insurance but not her husband (it is his insurance) by some weird reason. My dad works for Purdue as a very senior person prof and by luck was able to get someone from some office in the vice president to put her back on the insurance – otherwise she was going to get stuck with COBRA.
Our healthcare system is just moronic.
Tdjr
Can someone explain why there are restrictions on the time for enrollment?
David Anderson
@Tdjr: Good question — i will write a response later this week on it.
The short version is adverse selection control.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@David Anderson: Yes, thank you!
xpostfactoid
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): Hello Kay: I am a Certified Application Counselor (volunteer) in NJ. A couple of points:
1. enrollment for marketplace in the state exchange, GetCoveredNJ, is open until Jan. 31, with coverage starting Feb. 1. nj.gov/getcoverednj/
2. If she has a Medicaid application pending, she can get a status check on the NJ FamilyCare (that’s Medicaid) call line, 800-701-0710, by entering SS# and birth date. Also, they do pick up the phone during biz hours if you ask to speak to a rep, after wading through lots of voice message stuff.
3. If she is rejected by NJ FamilyCare (Medicaid) after Jan 31., she can get a Special Enrollment Period for private coverage in the marketplace, but that might require a phone call/human intervention — could be frustrating but should work.
4. The monthly income eligibility thresholds for NJ FamilyCare are listed here — adults in far left column nj.gov/getcoverednj/getstarted/family/index.shtml
5. She is welcome to contact me – adsprung at gmail.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tdjr: Because otherwise folks would wait until they got sick to sign up for insurance.
eta or what <a href=”#comment-8057571″>@David Anderson</a>: said.
Barbara
@Tdjr: To avoid people waiting until they deem it necessary to be covered before enrolling. There are other ways of trying to address the problem of adverse selection, but in a nutshell, that’s why.
rikyrah
lowdown muthaphuckas.
rikyrah
The Biden Administration IS going to go back to those folks who were in the community helping people to get Obamacare, right?
They were fired by Dolt45 in order to further sabotage Obamacare.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@xpostfactoid: Thank you! I’ll send this to her. I know she spent a lot of time on the phone last spring, but that was when everyone was just entering lockdown and dealing with changed insurance status. Hopefully phone lines aren’t as jammed now.
Tdjr
@Barbara: I don’t think like that, so I’d never have guessed. I was always bad at computer security because I’d always ask why someone would do things like that? ?
Barbara
@Tdjr: There are a lot of people who think along the lines that if they don’t have health expenses during a given month the premium they paid to the insurer is just a waste of money. I think it’s easier to internalize the concept of insurance with life insurance because nobody would rather be dead than have their money back.