A new Covered California analysis describes the potential impact to consumers if the increased health insurance subsidies that were part of the American Rescue Plan are allowed to expire at the end of 2022.
In California, all consumers would face premium increases, including 1 million lower-income consumers (individuals earning less than $32,200 per year), who would see their premiums more than double.
In addition, middle-income individuals and families (for individuals, those earning more than $51,520 per year), would no longer be eligible for any financial help and would face higher monthly premium costs that for many will mean annual cost increases in the thousands of dollars.
The increase in costs could force more than 150,000 people in California and more than 1.7 million nationally to drop their health insurance.
However, I deliberately left out a section because I wanted to discuss it separately. If you scroll down to pages 31 & 32, you'll see a summary of two important pieces of ACA-related legislation which have been introduced in the California state legislature.
One of these is SB 967, introduced by CA State Senator Robert Hertzberg, which would do the following:
Hmmmm...a few weeks ago I posted a press release from Covered California which seemed to indicate that total 2022 Open Enrollment Period (OEP) plan selections had broken 1.8 million people.
Today I was directed to Covered CA's official 2022 OEP Executive Summary report, and it turns out the final numbers were a bit lower than that...but still record-breaking and impressive:
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN LEADS TO HISTORIC OPEN ENROLLMENT
Covered California Names Jessica Altman as Its New Chief Executive Officer
Jessica Altman comes to Covered California from Pennsylvania, where she currently serves as the Commonwealth’s insurance commissioner, regulating the fifth-largest insurance market in the nation.
Altman brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from serving as chair of the Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority and having led the establishment of Pennie, Pennsylvania’s state-based marketplace under the Affordable Care Act.
Altman will step into this new role following the planned departure of Peter V. Lee, Covered California’s founding executive director, who has led the organization since its inception more than a decade ago.
Covered California’s first open-enrollment deadline is this week: People need to sign up by Dec. 31 in order to have their coverage start on Jan. 1.
The deadline comes as the omicron variant is spreading across California, with the average cost of COVID-related hospitalizations and ICU care at $127,000, underscoring the importance of having insurance to avoid medical debt.
Having health care coverage, staying COVID-safe and getting vaccines and booster shots are critical to protecting your health and the health of your family and community.
An estimated 1.1 million Californians are uninsured and eligible for financial help from Covered California or Medi-Cal, and the majority could get comprehensive coverage at no cost.
The virtual tour will reach into media markets across California to promote open enrollment and the increased financial help that is now available, which is lowering the cost of coverage for more people than ever before.
An estimated 1.1 million Californians are uninsured and eligible for financial help, including 83,000 in San Diego County, with the vast majority able to get coverage at no cost through either Covered California or Medi-Cal.
New data from Covered California shows how much protection and peace of mind insurance provides, with the uninsured facing staggering out-of-pocket costs if they visit an emergency room or are admitted into a hospital.
People who want their coverage to start on Jan. 1, 2022, must sign up by Dec. 31, 2021. Covered California’s open-enrollment period runs through Jan. 31, 2022.
Insurance Agents Get Big Compensation Boost to Help Enroll and Renew Millions of Californians, Who Are Benefiting From More Financial Help Than Ever
Agents enroll about half of Covered California’s consumers and have directly helped more than 2.3 million people sign up for coverage free of charge since the exchange first opened its doors in 2014.
The move will bolster independent agents across the state, who provide support to consumers free of charge, as more financial help is available than ever before as open enrollment is underway.
The increased payments will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, and will benefit the more than 10,000 Licensed Insurance Agents who are certified by Covered California and work in every part of the state.
As I noted last night, thanks to the federal Rate Review website finally being updated to include the final, approved 2022 rates for both the individual and small group markets in all 50 states (+DC), I've been able to fill in the missing data for my annual ACA Rate Change Project.
As I note there, the overall weighted average looks like it'll be roughly +3.5% nationally.
Normally I write up a separate entry for both the preliminary and approved rate changes in each individual state, but it seems like overkill to create 14 separate entries at once. Besides, in many of these states there's been few if any changes between the preliminary and approved rate changes.
