District of Columbia

District of Columbia

As I've reported before, the DC Health Link exchange is one of a dozen state-based ACA exchanges which is currently offering a COVID-19-specific Special Enrollment Period during which uninsured residents can #GetCovered. The deadline is June 15th.

A few days ago, however, they announced an interesting expansion on the COVID SEP...one specifically intended for employees of small businesses which offer ACA SHOP plans to their employees which these employees haven't enrolled in as of yet:

DC Health Link Expands Opportunities to Get Covered During Public Health Emergency

Monday, April 6, 2020

Responding to COVID-19 pandemic, DC Health Link permits uninsured employees of DC small businesses that offer health insurance through DC Health Link to get covered now

SUMMARY OF #COVID-19 SPECIAL ENROLLMENT PERIODS:

ALL OTHER STATES: You may qualify for a 60-day Special Enrollment Period (SEP) if you've recently lost (or will soon lose) your employer-based healthcare coverage, or if you've experienced other Qualifying Life Events (QLE) such as getting marrinew yorked/divorced, moving, giving birth/adopting a child, getting out of prison, turning 26 etc. For these SEPs you may have to provide documentation to verify your QLE. Visit HealthCare.Gov or your state's ACA exchange website for details on the process.

Back in early January I noted that the DC Health Link had reported having 18,611 people enrolled in ACA individual market policies as of January 5th. DC's official deadline wasn't until January 31st, however, and even then they bumped it out by an additional five days (thru January 5th).

Unfortunately, they haven't issued an official final enrollment report yet, but I've been able to get the top-line numbers from an audio recording of their monthly executive board meeting on February 12th:

If you read through the transcript carefully, it boils down to this:

This just in from DC Health Link:

DC Health Link to Offer Even More Opportunities for Residents to Get Covered 

  • DCHBX Executive Board Votes to Allow Pre-Natal Special Enrollment Period and Four Other New Opportunities

Washington, DC – With Open Enrollment recently concluded, District residents and small businesses have new opportunities to sign up for health insurance coverage through DC Health Link. The DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority (DCHBX) Executive Board recently adopted recommendations from its Standing Advisory Board to create four Special Enrollment Periods (SEP) and an extended open enrollment period for DC small businesses.

This is very interesting. ACA Open Enrollment deadline extensions have become kind of a running joke over the years, but for the most part they've been restricted to the December deadlines. the states with deadlines already extending into January have stuck with them for the most part...until this year.

A few days ago, New York State of Health announced that they're extending their final enrollment deadline (for March 1st coverage) by a week, until midnight on Friday, February 7th.

Late last night, the DC Health Link announced that they, too, are extending their final deadline (for March 1st coverage) by five days, until midnight on Wednesday, February 5th.

via the DC Health Link, where DC residents can still #GetCovered until January 31st:

  • Latino leaders to discuss state of enrollment opportunities at 6th Annual Hispanic Leadership Health Forum; Enrollment and outreach events scheduled throughout DC

Despite national studies showing the Latino community saw the biggest drops in uninsured rates thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the uninsured rate for Latinos continues to be significantly higher than in other minority communities, according to a United States Census report.

DC Health Link, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs (MOLA), the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and many community-based organizations, will host its annual, action-packed week of intensive enrollment and outreach activities during its Annual Hispanic Enrollment Week of Action. DC Health Link is using this Week of Action to accelerate outreach efforts to promote, educate and motivate Latino enrollment in quality, affordable health insurance. The Hispanic Enrollment Week of Action runs through January 19, 2020.

Thursday, January 16, 2020, 9:00am – 12:30pm

Someone pointed me towards an official ACA Open Enrollment report for the DC Health Link from a few days ago. There's a bunch of demographic data broken out, but the bottom line is:

  • 18,611 people have selected individual market Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) for 2020
  • Officially, this is down over 5% vs. last year...however...
  • ...the final official total for the 2019 Open Enrollment Period was only 18,035 due to some last-minute clerical error corrections and/or purging of last-minute cancellations.

...which means that at least for the moment, DC is up 3.2% year over year.

Remember, DC residents can still #GetCovered through the end of January for coverage starting in either February or March, so this number should increase a bit more yet.

via DC Health Link by email:

Healthcare Open Enrollment Going Strong in Washington, DC!

  • DC Residents Can Sign Up for Quality Affordable Coverage Through Jan 31, 2020

WASHINGTON, DC – District of Columbia residents still have more than six (6) weeks to sign up for quality, affordable health insurance through DC Health Link, the District’s state-based health insurance exchange established under the Affordable Care Act. While the final deadline has passed for individuals across the country to sign up for health insurance through the federal marketplace (HealthCare.gov), DC Health Link’s Open Enrollment for individuals and families continues on until January 31, 2020.  

OK, this isn't much of an extension, since the DCHealthLink.com exchange already lets people enroll as late as January 31st...but it's still important:

DC Health Link didn’t have any website issues on Sunday 12/15, but we know that news for other states may have caused confusion.

You now have until December 18 to sign up for a plan that starts January 1.

Visit DCHealthLink.com

#GetCoveredDC
#StayCoveredDC 

Pages

Advertisement