Tag Archives: Covered California

Don’t Get Caught Without Health Care

Insurance,

Screen Shot 2015-04-09 at 2.21.32 PMYou have been hearing about the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, for several years. Covered California has been advertising it’s 2015 open enrollment period since mid 2014. You may have heard that the February 15th deadline had been extended to March. Now, Open Enrollment has been extended to April 30, 2015 before tax penalties will be assessed.

So what exactly are the penalties and how does it affect you and your family? As stated by HealthCare.gov:

“If you don’t have coverage in 2015, you’ll pay the higher of these two amounts:

  • 2% of your yearly household income. (Only the amount of income above the tax filing threshold, about $10,000 for an individual, is used to calculate the penalty.) The maximum penalty is the national average premium for a bronze plan.
  • $325 per person for the year ($162.50 per child under 18). The maximum penalty per family using this method is $975.

If you didn’t have coverage in 2014, you’ll pay the higher of these two amounts:

  • 1% of your yearly household income. (Only the amount of income above the tax filing threshold, about $10,000 for an individual, is used to calculate the penalty.) The maximum penalty is the national average premium for a bronze plan.
  • $95 per person for the year ($47.50 per child under 18). The maximum penalty per family using this method is $285.”

And the fee’s only increase in the coming years.

Wanting to make healthcare more affordable for all individuals, Obamacare offers many a Premium Tax Credit (PTC) for qualifying individuals and families. There are many plans to chose from within Obamacare, many of which can be catered to your specific needs. With costs starting as low as $88 (combined with a PTC), healthcare has never been so affordable.

Rebecca, a wife and mother of two children, lost her medical insurance in 2012 when her husband was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. The rest of her family was covered under Medicare and MediCal but she was unable to get coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Under Obamacare, she was able to obtain an affordable plan that had extensive coverage to cover her pre-existing condition. “You can’t imagine how much of a relief it is to have insurance again.” she recently explained, “I had been living in fear for the past few years that something would flare up with my condition and we would be responsible for thousands of dollars. I had to have an emergency transfusion in 2011 due to my anemia. That one transfusion would have cost me $5,000 out of my own pocket.”

Merten’s Insurance can help you choose the best medical plan for your unique lifestyle with a member-focused service, a wide choice of plans and doctors, financial strength and affordable rates. We can assist with Individual and Family Plans, MediCal, and Small Business medical insurance plans.

Don’t delay. The deadline is coming up fast. Contact us today to start your new health insurance plan.

 

Do you have COBRA?

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Covered California Creates Limited Special-Enrollment Period for Those Covered by COBRA

COBRA Enrollees Have 60 Days to Switch to an Exchange Plan; Move Is Expected to Save California Consumers Money on Health Insurance

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Beginning Thursday, May 15, Covered California will launch a limited-time special-enrollment period for people who have COBRA health insurance and would like to switch to an exchange plan.

People who have health coverage through COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) will be eligible to shop for and buy coverage through Covered California from May 15 through July 15, 2014. The two-month window mirrors a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ruling announced May 2 that allows COBRA enrollees to buy plans through the federal exchange until July 1st.

Covered California™ and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced today that from Oct. 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014*, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 122,971 consumers in two Inland Empire counties enrolled in subsidized and non-subsidized Covered California health insurance plans. The new total represents a 70 percent increase from the 72,340 enrollments recorded through Jan. 31.

A strong turnout in the closing weeks of open enrollment in Sacramento counties helped push county enrollment in Covered California health insurance plans to 400,889 consumers. The results announced today by Covered California™ and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) represent a 66 percent increase during March* over the 241,312 enrollments that had been recorded .The new total represents a 59 percent increase from the 76,875 enrollments recorded through Feb. 28.

Covered California Gearing Towards Meeting Goals

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According to the latest information, approximately 728k have signed up through Covered health insuranceCalifornia so far. This is more than halfway toward meeting the original projection of 1.3 million for individual policies by the March 31st enrollment deadline, per federal data released last Wednesday.  Six weeks remain until the end of enrollment, and exchange director Peter Lee said last Monday that he expects March to be a very busy time as people try to enroll before the deadline.

Continue reading Covered California Gearing Towards Meeting Goals →

Quality Insurance Ratings Discussed by Covered California

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Health Exchange in California

Covered California is the board that oversees health exchange in California.  They are meeting for the first time since enrollment began to consider changes in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.  Figures that were released by the board said there were more than 125,000 applications that they received, but the number of completed enrollments is thought to be somewhere around 16,000.  There is not reliable data available on all health plans, which is why Covered California executives say they have to prolong providing the public with ratings until October 2015.

covered ca Continue reading Quality Insurance Ratings Discussed by Covered California →