More good news today!
Extra premium subsidies approved as part of the recent stimulus bill will be available on the federal Affordable Care Act exchange starting on Thursday, April 1.
Link to HealthCare.gov.
CNN reports, New stimulus Obamacare subsidies start April 1:
Current enrollees and those seeking Obamacare coverage can access the additional help for [the next] two years as part of the $1.9 trillion relief package that President Joe Biden signed in early March.
However, those who are out of work likely won’t be able to sign up for the $0 premium coverage called for in the stimulus plan until July, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, though they may qualify now for zero- or low-cost policies based on their income. This provision is taking longer to implement because it is new.
The agency is also still looking into whether it can automatically apply the new subsidies to existing enrollees who don’t take action. If not, they will receive the enhancement when they file their taxes next spring.
Meanwhile, the 14 states that run their own exchanges have their own timetables for when the larger subsidies will become available. [Arizona is not one of them.]
More help to buy health coverage
The boost in aid is part of Biden’s effort to get more Americans covered by health insurance. The relief package makes two changes to the subsidies to address long-standing complaints that Obamacare plans are not affordable for many people, particularly the middle class.
Enrollees will pay no more than 8.5% of their income toward coverage, down from nearly 10%. And lower-income policyholders will receive subsidies that eliminate their premiums completely.
Also, those earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level — about $51,000 for an individual and $104,800 for a family of four in 2021 — will become eligible for help for the first time.
The President launched a special enrollment period on February 15 so the uninsured can sign up for coverage. He recently extended the deadline to August 15 to give consumers more time to take advantage of the beefier subsidies.
State-run exchanges, meanwhile, have somewhat different timelines.
More people qualify for help now
An additional 3.7 million people now have access to subsidized Obamacare coverage, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. The relief bill broadened availability to 21.8 million people, including both the insured and uninsured.
The average savings for current enrollees will be $70 a month, or 25% of what they pay now, Kaiser found. But it varies widely by income, with those between 400% and 600% of the poverty level saving an average of $213 a month, or 39% of their current premiums. Those earning below 150% of poverty will pay nothing, saving $33 a month, on average.
About half of the remaining 29 million uninsured Americans are now eligible for coverage through Medicaid or a zero-premium Obamacare plan, according to Kaiser. That does not count the jobless, who will also be able to access a no-cost policy.
So when do we start calling it “BidenCare”?
Many people, however, don’t know that financial assistance is available, so it’s unclear how many uninsured folks will actually sign up for coverage. Just over 200,000 selected policies during the special enrollment period in the last two weeks of February, before the enhanced subsidies were available.
To raise awareness, the Biden administration is doubling its advertising budget to $100 million and launched a new ad highlighting the availability of no-cost or low-cost plans, thanks to the Democrats’ stimulus package. Four out of five consumers will now be able to purchase a plan for $10 or less with the enhanced subsidies, the ad says.
“The Department of Health and Human Services is doubling down on our efforts to ensure consumers, especially those hurting most, are aware that health care coverage is more affordable than ever on healthcare.gov,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The evil GQP bastards who tried to take away your health care and leave you to fend for yourself in their embrace of “social Darwinism” are not done screwing over Americans in red states. The Washington Post editorializes Democrats are making Obamacare work. But Republicans still block access for 2 million Americans.
This has been a landmark year for the Affordable Care Act. For the first time, because of the covid-19 epidemic, the safety net that Congress created 11 years ago has had to catch large numbers of Americans as they lose their jobs and their health-care insurance. Thankfully, President Biden wants the law to succeed, unlike his predecessor.
Mr. Biden announced last week that the government will allow people to enroll in ACA health-care plans through Aug. 15, extending a special enrollment period that the president opened in February. Some 200,000 people bought ACA coverage during the first two weeks of the period, a strikingly high number. The government typically limits enrollment to a brief window to prevent people from signing up for insurance only when they get sick. But Congress just approved enhanced federal subsidies that help people buy private plans on the ACA marketplace, making the coverage far more affordable up and down the income scale. With these subsidies just coming online, and the pandemic still raging, Mr. Biden was wise to make an exception.
The need is acute. Two million or more people may have lost employer-based health insurance during the pandemic. Nearly all are now eligible for Medicaid or subsidies to buy private ACA health-care plans. During past economic crises, many Americans have lost their health insurance with no recourse. The ACA may limit the damage this time.
Even so, the ACA’s promise to ensure that no one goes without health care remains stubbornly unfulfilled. A major reason: Republicans ripped a big hole in the law, denying coverage to more than 2 million low-income people. The ACA expanded the state-federal Medicaid program for the poor and near-poor, with the federal government picking up nearly the whole tab, but 12 Republican-led states refused to extend Medicaid coverage as the law anticipated. Some 2.2 million people remain locked out of the Medicaid program and unable to buy private coverage in these states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. [Former Governor Jan Brewer opted Arizona into expanded Medicaid, the only decent thing she ever did in her political career.]
In its latest covid-19 relief package, Congress sweetened the deal for states that have refused to extend their Medicaid programs, boosting substantially the health funding they would get if they expanded. According to Kaiser, these 12 states stand to net nearly $10 billion from the federal government, even after accounting for their share of the cost of larger Medicaid rolls. It is clearer than ever that refusing to expand is not only hardhearted but also fiscally irrational.
Some holdout states appear to be reconsidering. Alabama’s governor and Wyoming’s legislature have recently expressed interest in Medicaid expansion. But Florida and Texas account for about half of those stuck in the Medicaid coverage gap. Without movement in Tallahassee and Austin, more than 1 million low-income Americans will lack coverage that the federal government wants to provide them.
Republicans are the reason why Americans cannot have nice things.Selfish, greedy bastards. Time to kick ’em all to the curb.
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