Georgia Access, Georgia’s new State-based Exchange, announced today its readiness for the upcoming Open Enrollment period, including a robust roster of over 15,000 new and returning certified agents to date and multiple enrollment options for consumers to shop for and enroll in quality, affordable health coverage.
“Georgia Access is pleased that more than 15,000 licensed and certified agents will be available to help residents find the best coverage options to meet their unique needs and budgets,” said Georgia Access Executive Director Cheryl Gardner. “Agents offer consumers localized help and a personalized customer experience. They are integral in our mission to providing multiple pathways for consumers to enroll in health coverage and to reducing the number of uninsured residents in Georgia.”
Washington Health Benefit Exchange announces key dates and health insurance changes for 2025; enhanced federal premium tax credits and Cascade Care Savings expected to drive record high enrollment in 2025
Today, Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) announced open enrollment through wahealthplanfinder.org for individual health and dental plans for calendar year 2025. In preparation for the launch, Washington Healthplanfinder will be closed on Oct. 31.
Open enrollment: Nov. 1, 2024 – Jan. 15, 2025.
Reminder: Enroll by Dec. 15, 2024, to begin coverage Jan. 1, 2025.
During open enrollment, all Washingtonians who do not get their health insurance through an employer, spouse or government program can visit Washington Healthplanfinder to shop, compare and purchase health and dental plans for next year.
Harrisburg, PA – TOMORROW – Pennie celebrates its fifth Open Enrollment Period starting tomorrow, November 1, 2024, for the 2025 coverage year. Uninsured Pennsylvanians are encouraged to join the over 435,000 customers who have found peace of mind and financial protection by enrolling in health coverage through Pennie.
Open Enrollment is the annual opportunity for Pennsylvanians who need health coverage to find high-quality health plans at the lowest costs at pennie.com. Pennie is Pennsylvania’s official health insurance marketplace, and the exclusive source for financial savings to lower monthly premium payments or out-of-pocket costs.
Nine in 10 people Who Enroll Will Qualify for Savings; Many Will Pay $10 Per Month or Less; Visit GetCovered.NJ.gov to Compare Available Plans, Review Financial Help Eligibility
TRENTON — Open enrollment for Get Covered New Jersey, the state’s Official Health Insurance Marketplace, kicks off on Friday, November 1, Governor Phil Murphy and New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Justin Zimmerman announced today. New Jersey residents and families will continue to benefit from historic levels of financial help to purchase health insurance and lower the cost of monthly premiums.
BALTIMORE (Oct. 31, 2024) – Marylanders can enroll in low cost health plans for 2025 on MarylandHealthConnection.gov, the state’s health insurance marketplace. It’s the only place that offers tax credits to bring down the cost of the monthly premium.
Open enrollment runs from Nov. 1, 2024, through Jan. 15, 2025. Coverage starts Jan. 1, 2025, for plans selected by Dec. 31, and coverage starts on Feb. 1, 2025, for plans selected the first two weeks of January. This open enrollment period is for private plans only. Those who qualify for Medicaid may enroll any time of year.
“More Marylanders than ever are enrolled in health plans through Maryland Health Connection.” said Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. “This past year, people who got private health insurance saved an average of $388 a month on their monthly premium.”
Mainers without health coverage may enroll through CoverME.gov to receive financial savings on high quality health insurance
AUGUSTA-- The Maine Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace (OHIM) announced today that the fourth annual Open Enrollment period for 2025 will begin on Friday, November 1, 2024. Maine people without access to health or dental insurance coverage through their employer, Medicare, or the state's Medicaid plan, known as MaineCare are encouraged to find coverage through Maine's official health insurance marketplace, CoverME.gov.
Open Enrollment runs from November 1, 2024 through January 15th, 2025. Maine people can visit CoverME.gov to compare private plans, apply for financial savings, and enroll in a 2025 health and dental insurance plan.
Connecticut residents can shop, compare and enroll in quality health insurance plans from Nov. 1, 2024 through Jan. 15, 2025
HARTFORD, Conn. (Oct. 31, 2024) — Access Health CT (AHCT) announced the Open Enrollment period begins Nov. 1, 2024 and ends Jan. 15, 2025. Connecticut residents can shop, compare, and enroll in health insurance plans or renew their coverage. Customers may also enroll in dental insurance through AHCT.
When you enroll affects when your coverage starts. If customers enroll on or before Dec. 15, 2024, coverage will start Jan. 1, 2025. If they enroll between Dec. 16, 2024 and Jan. 15, 2025, coverage will start Feb. 1, 2025.
Covered California launched its “Let’s Talk Health” campaign for 2025 open enrollment at the Fresno City College Library today. Open enrollment — which begins on Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 31, 2025 — is when Californians can sign up for, renew or shop for a new health insurance plan.
Over 5.9 million Californians have had health insurance through Covered California since the exchange opened its doors in 2014, including nearly 1.8 million who are currently enrolled.
Every month for years now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) has published a monthly press release with a breakout of total Medicare, Medicaid & CHIP enrollment; the most recent one was posted in late February, and ran through November 2022.
Every month for years now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) has published a monthly press release with a breakout of total Medicare, Medicaid & CHIP enrollment; the most recent one was posted in late February, and ran through November 2022.
In July 2024, 79,560,396 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, a decrease of 403,074 individuals (0.5%) from June 2024.
72,429,055 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid in July 2024, a decrease of 441,475 individuals (0.6%) from June 2024.
7,131,341 individuals were enrolled in CHIP in July 2024, an increase of 38,401 individuals (0.5%) from June 2024.
As of July 2024, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP has decreased by 14,455,287 individuals (15.4%) since March 2023, the final month of the Medicaid continuous enrollment condition under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.
Medicaid enrollment has decreased by 14,440,102 individuals (16.6%).
CHIP enrollment has decreased by 15,185 individuals (0.2%).
Between February 2020 and March 2023, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP increased by 23,109,188 individuals (32.6%) to 94,015,683.
Medicaid enrollment increased by 22,819,861 individuals (35.6%).
CHIP enrollment increased by 289,327 individuals (4.2%).
In June 2024, 79,963,470 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, a decrease of 851,310 individuals (1.1%) from May 2024.
72,870,530 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid in June 2024, a decrease of 838,377 individuals (1.1%) from May 2024.
7,092,940 individuals were enrolled in CHIP in June 2024, a decrease of 12,933 individuals (0.2%) from May 2024.
As of June 2024, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP has decreased by 13,943,010 individuals (14.8%) since March 2023, the final month of the Medicaid continuous enrollment condition under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.
Medicaid enrollment has decreased by 13,860,029 individuals (16.0%).
CHIP enrollment has decreased by 82,981 individuals (1.2%).
Between February 2020 and March 2023, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP increased by 22,999,985 individuals (32.4%) to 93,906,480.
Medicaid enrollment increased by 22,681,263 individuals (35.4%).
CHIP enrollment increased by 318,722 individuals (4.6%).
Ah, at last, another state which includes both the average requested rate changes for 2024 as well as the number of enrollees each carrier has for both the individual and small group markets in clear, transparent language!
Generally, according to NC Insurance laws, health insurance rates must not be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory, and must exhibit a reasonable relationship to the benefits provided in the policy.
Overall, individual market carriers in North Carolina are requesting 7% rate increases in 2025 for unsubsidized policies, while small group market carriers are asking for a 6.5% bump. It's worth noting that one of the three (!) UnitedHealthcare divisions is pulling out of the NC small group market next year for whatever reason.
The 2025 ACA Open Enrollment Period (OEP) officially begins on November 1st.
This is the best OEP ever for the ACA for several reasons:
The expanded/enhanced premium subsidies first introduced in 2021 via the American Rescue Plan, which make premiums more affordable for those who already qualified while expanding eligibility to millions who weren't previously eligible, are continuing through the end of 2025 via the Inflation Reduction Act;
A dozen states are either launching, continuing or expanding their own state-based subsidy programs to make ACA plans even more affordable for their enrollees;
And remember, millions of people will be eligible for zero premium comprehensive major medical policies.
If you've never enrolled in an ACA healthcare policy before, or if you looked into it a few years back but weren't impressed, please give it another shot now. Thanks to these major improvements it's a whole different ballgame.
Here's some important things to know when you #GetCovered for 2025:
In response, a couple of weeks later the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a statement about the actions they're taking to resolve the issue,
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), approved section 1115 demonstration amendments that allow, for the first time ever, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage of traditional health care practices provided by Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities, Tribal facilities, and urban Indian organizations (UIO). Today’s action is expected to improve access to culturally appropriate health care and improve the quality of care and health outcomes for tribal communities in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon, and will support IHS, Tribal, and UIO facilities in serving their patients.
Plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace® must cover contraceptive methods and counseling for all women, as prescribed by a health care provider.
Plans must cover these services without charging a copayment or coinsurance when provided by an in-network provider — even if you haven’t met your deductible
Covered contraceptive methods
FDA-approved contraceptive methods prescribed by a woman’s doctor are covered, including:
Unfortunately, South Carolina is another state where they don't make unredacted rate filings available, either on the state insurance dept website, the federal Rate Review websiteor the SERFF database.
As a result, I'm limited to unweighted averages for both the individual and small group markets:
It's worth noting that Cigna Healthcare is dropping out of the South Carolina individual market next year, while Aetna is pulling out of the small group market (see below).
Back in June, I ran a state-by-state analysis which provided estimates of just how much various households would see their net individual market premiums jump starting in 2026 if the upgraded financial subsidies originally included in the American Rescue Plan Act (and later extended by the Inflation Reduction Act) are allowed to expire at the end of 2025, as is currently scheduled to happen without legislative action.
Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) and Health Care Authority (HCA) are pleased to announce Cascade Select will be available in all 39 Washington counties in 2025, with the addition of the two final counties: Lincoln and Grays Harbor.
“Cascade Select has grown significantly since it launched in 2021, with more than 75,000 Washington Healthplanfinder™ customers enrolled today,” reported Ingrid Ulrey, Chief Executive Officer for the Exchange. “In 2025, Cascade Select will be the lowest premium in 26 counties for silver health plans. Cascade Select has lower premiums compared to other health plans on the market because of the unique health care cost controls that save more money on premiums for consumers.”
Polis-Primavera Administration’s Landmark Reinsurance Effort Will Save Coloradans $493 Million on Healthcare Premiums in 2025, Putting Money Back in the Pockets of Hardworking Coloradans
Even more savings can be found by shopping and switching to a Colorado Option plan during open enrollment
DENVER - Today Governor Polis, Lt. Governor Primavera, and the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), announced that Reinsurance will save Coloradans almost $493 million on approved plans and premiums for 2025, building on the millions in savings available to Coloradans through Colorado Option plans. The figures below on the final, approved health insurance plans and premiums for 2025, highlight the impact of these efforts to save people money on health insurance.
The bad news is that I was only able to acquire effectuated enrollment for 3 of New Mexico's 4 individual market carriers participating in 2025 (a fifth carrier, Western Sky, is dropping out of the market entirely).
The good news is that I'm able to roughly estimate the enrollment of the remaining carrier (BCBS NM) if I look at on-exchange effectuated enrollment as of February and assume that another 10% or so is off-exchange. That gives me an estimated weighted average increase of 10.6%.
Even if that estimate is wrong, it doesn't make much difference since the unweighted average is around 10.1% anyway.
As for the small group market, I only have an unweighted average there of 8.6%.
The good news is that the federal Rate Review database has now posted the preliminary avg. 2025 rate filings for the individual and small group markets for every state. This makes it very easy to plug in the average requested rate changes in 2025 for every carrier participating in both markets.
The bad news is that most of the underlying filing forms are heavily redacted, meaning I can't use the RR database to acquire the other critical data I need in order to run a proper weighted average: The number of people actually enrolled in the policies for each carrier.
This means that in cases where this data isn't available elsewhere (either the state's insurance department website, the SERFF database or otherwise), I'm limited to running an unweighted average. This can make a huge difference...if one carrier is requesting a 10% increase and the other is keeping prices flat, that's a 5.0% unweighted average rate hike...but if the first carrier has 99,000 enrollees and the second only has 1,000, that means the weighted average is actually 9.9%.
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Minnesotans who need health insurance for 2025 can get an early start on health plan shopping through MNsure. Consumers can go to MNsure.org to preview 2025 health plans and get a free and anonymous cost estimate ahead of MNsure’s annual open enrollment period, beginning November 1.
“With just three key pieces of information — where you live, who is in your household, and your total household income — you can get an immediate estimate of how much money you could save in 2025 by enrolling through MNsure,” said MNsure CEO Libby Caulum. “We estimate eligible Minnesota families will save an average of $561 per month (over $6,700/year) on private health plans purchased through MNsure.”
There is no doubt about it—fall is here. Many of us take this time to wind down from the summer’s excitement and start preparing for the upcoming year. While it may not be the most thrilling task, health insurance is one of the most important things you can plan for every year.
Starting October 1, you can visit yourhealthidaho.org to preview 2025 health plans. During this period, you can window shop for health insurance plans without logging in to an account or filling out an application. Previewing plans can give you confidence in your future decision and the freedom to thoroughly review your options.
However, that was actually only for the preliminary rate filings. In addition, at the time I only had access to California's on-exchange individual market enrollment data, so I had to guess at the off-exchange numbers.
The small group market was more frustrating: I only had enrollment data for about 1/3 of the carriers; the rest had redacted their enrollment information. This meant I couldn't even guess at a weighted average rate change.
PID is working with insurers to review proposed changes to ensure rates are adequate and fair.
Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) today announced that 2025 rate changes requested by insurance companies currently operating in Pennsylvania's individual and small group markets are now available online. This initiative upholds the Shapiro Administration's commitment to providing consumers with the information they need when shopping for health insurance.
Rate filings for 2025 health insurance plans were submitted to PID on May 15, 2024. Ever since, PID has been working with insurers to review these insurance companies' proposed rate changes, as rates vary by plan and region and are subject to change by the Department to ensure rates are adequate and fair. Final approved rates will be made public in the fall.
Nevadans can now “window shop” online to view and compare health insurance plans ahead of Open Enrollment starting November 1
CARSON CITY, Nev. (Oct. 1, 2024) – In preparation of Nevada’s 2025 Plan Year Open Enrollment Period, Nevadans can now explore and compare health insurance plans on NevadaHealthLink.com. The Open Enrollment Period begins on Nov. 1, 2024, and continues through Jan. 15, 2025. Throughout October, Nevadans can check plan rates and assess eligibility for federal assistance to help reduce the cost of monthly premiums; nearly 9 out of 10 Nevada Health Link enrollees qualify for financial help on their premiums. All plan options and rates can be viewed using the “window shopping” feature on enroll.NevadaHealthLink.com.
BALTIMORE (Oct. 1, 2024) – Marylanders can now preview 2025 health plans and prices on MarylandHealthConnection.gov, the state’s online health insurance marketplace. Use the “Get an Estimate” tool to compare health plans and savings.
Open enrollment to sign up for a 2025 health plan runs from Nov. 1, 2024 through Jan. 15, 2025. New this year, Marylanders can enroll in plans from Wellpoint Maryland, Inc. Other insurance companies include: Aetna, CareFirst, Kaiser Permanente, and UnitedHealthcare. Vision and dental plans also are available.
“Health insurance makes an impactful difference in the lives of Marylanders every day," said Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. “With savings through Maryland Health Connection, health care is within reach. In fact, 9 out of 10 Marylanders who enroll get financial help with their health coverage.”
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Tuesday proposed a major new initiative: expanding Medicare to cover the cost of long-term care at home.
Such a plan could mean the option of staying at home, rather than in a nursing facility, for the millions of seniors and people with disabilities who need help with the daily tasks of life.
It could also mean physical and financial relief ― and new opportunities for school or work outside the home ― for the millions of working-age Americans who today provide so much of that care on their own without much in the way of outside assistance.
If the proposed legislation is enacted, such a program would represent a substantial boost in federal support for caregiving and, by any measure, one of the largest one-time increases in American history.
Mississippi is one of the 10 states which still hasn't expanded Medicaid to all residents earning up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) under the Affordable Care Act. If they did so, up to 123,000 uninsured residents would gain healthcare coverage, while up to another 180,000 who are currently enrolled in zero-premium ACA exchange plans would be transferred over to Medicaid instead.
However, it turns out that the Magnolia State does at least have a much smaller Medicaid expansion program called "Healthier Mississippi:"
Vice President Harris announces actions to protect consumers and reduce hurdles that prevent individuals from receiving relief from medical bills
White House hosts roundtable with Americans impacted by medical debt, including those who received medical debt relief through Biden-Harris Administration actions
Statement from President Joe Biden on Lower Prescription Drug Prices
For too long, millions of Americans have faced the impossible choice of paying for their prescription drugs or being able to afford other basic needs. While Big Pharma made record profits, Americans footed the bill for the industry’s price hikes. Not anymore. Thanks to my Inflation Reduction Act, companies that increase the price of prescription drugs faster than inflation now must provide a rebate to Medicare.
First, they went live on April 1st with expanding their wildly popular Basic Health Plan program (called the Essential Plan), which was already providing comprehensive, affordable healthcare coverage to 1.4 million New Yorkers, up the income scale from maxing out at 200% of the Federal Poverty Level up to 250% FPL. This increased enrollment in the program to 1.5 million people.
Nevadans Get a Preview of 2025 Proposed Health Insurance Rate Changes for Upcoming Open Enrollment
Starting today, Nevada consumers who shop for their health insurance on the individual health insurance market can view and provide comments on proposed rate changes for Plan Year 2025.
The Nevada Division of Insurance (Division) has received and made public on its website the 2025 proposed rate changes from health insurers intending to sell plans on and off the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (the "Exchange"). The Exchange is the state agency that assists eligible Nevada residents to purchase affordable health and dental plans.
Each year, the Idaho Department of Insurance posts rate changes of individual and small group health insurance products so consumers can review and provide comments on the proposed increases. Insurance companies submit proposed rates for the upcoming calendar year to the Department, along with descriptions and justifications for why the rates are reasonable and not excessive. The Department of Insurance is seeking public input for rate changes of individual and small group health insurance products to improve insurer accountability and transparency. By following the links below, the public can access a summary of the increase amounts and the carrier justifications for the rates. Please submit any comments to the Department for consideration.
