Covered California staff is forecasting that SHOP enrollment will double by the end of 2014 and double again during open enrollment for 2015. A list of assumptions was given for the stellar forecast enrollment during the May 2014 Board meeting where the topic was revenue projections from fees charged on individual small group members. Based […]
Covered California
Posts on the development and implementation of the California health insurance market place, application, account, enrollment, termination.
Agents paid $9.2 M monthly on IFP Covered California enrollments
Covered California enrollments assisted by Certified Insurance Agents are producing a minimum of $9.2 million per month in commissions as estimated from enrollment statistics released by the states ACA exchange. While this number may sound impressive, a good chunk of the enrollments were for individuals and families who already had health insurance. With many health […]
Covered California generates estimated $593 million in monthly premiums
With a peek at the enrollment statistics released by Covered California after the end of the ACA open enrollment we are able to visualize just how large the health insurance industry is in the state. While the enrollment data is only for individual and family plans (IFP) purchased through Covered California, the 1.3 million individuals […]
Adding a baby to ACA plan could cost double
Congratulations! You have a new baby and now it’s time to add the little bundle of joy to your Covered California health plan. Unfortunately, similar to other quirks of the Covered California system, adding a new dependent, if not done properly, could result in a gap in coverage for the baby or loss of the […]
Supporting agents to help their clients
Agents and brokers drove in 39% of the enrollments for Covered California during the 2013-14 ACA open enrollment period with the least amount of training and resources of any group submitting applications. As Covered California starts their budget process allocating money for 2014 training, I had to speak publicly at a Board meeting and plead […]
Medicare more expensive than new ACA plans
Individuals who recently acquired Parts A and Part B of Original Medicare may find they have to pay more per month than their existing ACA health plans. Under the ACA rules, once someone accepts Medicare, they must exit any ACA health plan they purchased through the exchange and the tax credits that make it affordable. […]
Covered California surveys agent experience
Did you get your Covered California agent survey and how did you respond? It was a pleasant surprise that a survey from Covered California showed up in my email in-box. Does this survey represent a new chapter in communications between agents and the California exchange or will Covered California continue business as usual with the […]
New ACA plans increase out of network costs to patients
The first challenges individuals and families faced with the smaller provider networks offered in California was keeping their current physician or finding doctors that would accept the new health plans for health care treatment. The next hurdle has been doctors referring or using out of network physicians for patient care. Patients are now getting slapped […]
How to report partial income for ACA enrollment
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows for Special Enrollment Periods for individuals and families to purchase a health plan through the federal or a state exchange when there is a loss of coverage from a qualifying such as a change in employment. There has been confusion over how to characterize the previous month’s employment wages […]
Covered California COBRA SEP Cautions
Covered California announced on May 15, 2014 that they will follow the HHS guidance and offer a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for individuals and families currently on a COBRA health plan. However, people should be cautious before they leave their COBRA plan and jump into a Covered California plan for many reasons.