COVID-19 & Healthcare

by David Safier

Want to know how much you, or anyone else, will pay for Obamacare premiums? Here's a great calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been putting together lots of terrific information about how the new health care system will work. The actual cost of the health care is approximate because it will vary state by state, but the government subsidy a person or a family can get should be pretty accurate.

Say you're a family of 4, with two 30-something non-smoking adults and two kids, and you make $30,000 a year. If you're in Arizona or some other state that expanded Medicaid coverage (Thank you, Governor Brewer), you're covered. Without the Medicaid expansion, you could still get the lowest coverage, the Bronze plan, for free. The next level, the Silver plan, would cost about $600 a year, or $50 a month. Either way, you can't be denied for preexisting condidtions. That's as opposed to an estimated cost of $10,829 without the subsidy — assuming you have no preexisting conditions that would make it impossible to get coverage. If the same family makes $40,000 a year, the Silver plan would run about $2,000 — that's $167 per month — or you could get the Bronze plan for $112 per year, or just under $10 a month.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Andrea Witte from Connect The Dots will be doing two live presentations of the latest version of  “The American Healthcare Crazy Quilt”: WHEN: Saturday, Sept 14th, 9:30 am to 11:00 am WHERE: Bear Canyon Library, large meeting room                  8959 E Tanque Verde Rd (near Bear Canyon … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This weekend is Get the Word Out Weekend | Get Covered America:

The Get Covered America campaign is hosting national days of action on
September 7th and 8th to get the word out to consumers who need to know
that they'll have access to new health insurance options this fall.
Below are several ways our partners can get involved in our Get the Word Out Weekend.

Events on the ground:

We have staff on the ground organizing Get the Word Out Weekend events
in the following 10 states: AZ, FL, GA, IL, MI, NC, NJ, OH, PA, TX.

• Find and RSVP to attend an event near you. More events will be listed online as the date draws nearer.
• If you or your organization wants to plan your own Get the Word Out Weekend Event, email us at: organizing@getcoveredamerica.org!

Social media:

Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

One of the best ways to help during Get the Word Out Weekend, and
beyond, is to promote our campaign and our content. We'll have tweets
and shareable graphics the week leading up to Get the Word Out Weekend.

Sign up to volunteer:

No matter where you live, we need your help to make sure as many
uninsured Americans as possible understand their new health insurance
options through the Health Insurance Marketplace. If you would like to volunteer yourself, sign up to stay up-to-date on how you can be involved.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic reports today that the "Get The Word Out Weekend" for the marketplace health insurance exchange in Arizona begins in earnest this weekend. Health care reform ramps up in Arizona:

Beginning what will be a years-long effort to enroll Arizonans into
health-insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, hundreds of
volunteers will canvass Phoenix and Tempe neighborhoods this weekend
seeking out some of the state’s 1 million uninsured residents.

Using mapping technology and political-campaign-style organization,
the national non-profit group Enroll America is working with local
health-care and social-service agencies to locate the uninsured, answer
their questions about the federal health-care overhaul and get them
signed up.

Enrollment begins Oct. 1 in Arizona’s expanded Medicaid program and
the online insurance marketplace. Those who enroll by mid-December will
be covered beginning Jan. 1.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to increase the number of
people who have coverage,” said Allen Gjersvig of the Arizona Alliance
for Community Health Centers. “But we know … that huge numbers of
people who are potentially eligible don’t know what’s coming.”

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The good news about the insurance exchange rates continues in advance of the marketplace insurance exchanges coming online on October 1. The rates have consistently been below the rates initially projected, and are even a better deal when the tax subsidy is factored in.  

Think Progress reports, Major New Study On Obamacare Premiums Should End The ‘Rate Shock’ Hysteria Once And For All:

The most comprehensive study
on Obamacare to date finds that Americans’ insurance premiums under the
health law will be “lower than expected.” Many Americans will pay even
less than the top-line rates after factoring in government subsidies for
their health coverage, with some paying nothing at all for crucial
medical coverage.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) looked at individual policy prices
in the 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have released
comprehensive numbers for their Obamacare insurance marketplaces. Since
premiums under the law will vary based on factors such as age and
geographic location, KFF chose to examine how much the second-least
expensive “Silver” mid-level plan and the least-expensive bare-bones
“Bronze” level plan would cost for 25-year-old, 40-year-old, and
60-year-old Americans in those 17 states’ largest cities. The report
includes both the top-line prices for those demographics, as well as
what their costs would be after factoring in government subsidies based
on varying income levels.