This Saturday – Affordable Care Act (ACA) 90 day registration window opens! The next 90 days is YOUR TIME if you are needing healthcare coverage for you and your family. The new effects of the ACA are trickling down to the point that this enrollment affects us all in some form or the other.
People have less time to select a health plan and risk paying much more in tax penalties for going without medical coverage as the second year of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate rolls around.
The penalty, which was just $95 for a single person this tax year, will more than triple in 2015. Single people and families face penalties of up to 2 percent of their household income unless they qualify for hardship exemptions.
That’s the stick. The carrot is subsidies to help people with purchase prices.
Open enrollment begins Saturday and ends Feb. 15.
Volunteer organizations have lined up a series of sign-up events in Nashville and throughout the state to help people navigate healthcare.gov. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, which insured 88.5 percent of state residents who bought coverage during the first year of enrollment, is making it easier for them to choose a plan. You can contact us at the agency because they are one of our primary providers of ACA endorsed healthcare plans..
People who want to stay with the insurance they chose last year don’t have to do anything unless they have had major changes in income or different family sizes, said Carla Raynor, vice president of marketing for BlueCross BlueShield.
And the insurer is dispatching experts statewide to help Tennesseans and increasing Spanish speaking personnel as well.
The decision to increase one-on-one assistance was made after the company surveyed its customers.
“What we learned is that 80 percent of them bought without anybody assisting them,” Raynor said. “They bought directly from healthcare.gov without any help. So they didn’t understand the plans that they bought. A lot of them had bought based on prices. A lot of people bought products they were not 100 percent satisfied with because they didn’t understand what they had bought.”
BlueCross BlueShield is raising premiums this year. Letters started going out last week notifying policy holders of the increases. Two other carriers, Humana and Cigna, are also raising rates. The other insurers offering coverage on the exchange in this state are Community Health Alliance and Assurant Health (who we also represent here at Benton White Insurance).
People can also buy dental coverage on the exchange in Tennessee, where seven carriers are competing for business.
Help with Open Enrollment
Get Covered Nashville has volunteers ready to help people select a plan on healthcare.gov throughout open enrollment, which begins Saturday. For more information, visit www.getcoveredtenn.org or call 615-724-1339 in Nashville or 844-644-5443 statewide.
Saturdays: Madison Branch Library, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Southeast Branch Library (In Global Mall), 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Mondays: Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, first floor – Suite 133, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Lentz Health Department, 10 a.m. to noon; Mt. Juliet Library, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Edmondson Public Library: 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Tuesdays: Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, first floor Suite 133, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Green Hills Library, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Wednesdays: Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, first floor – Suite 133: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Casa Azafran, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Thursdays: Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, first floor – Suite 133, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Financial Empowerment Office, Foster Street, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Hermitage Branch Library, 3700 James Kay Lane, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Fridays: Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, first floor – Suite 133, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; NICE at Highland Apartments, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Credit to Tom Wilemon of The Tennessean for portions of this article..
