Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts on the development and implementation of the California health insurance market place, application, account, enrollment, termination.
Having problems finding someone to help you with you Covered California enrollment? You’re not alone. The second week into open enrollment shows that Covered California is struggling to get bodies trained and certified to help enroll Californians in the new health plans. After hoping to have an army of In-Person Assisters to help Californians, there were less than 300 Certified Enrollment Counselors (CEC) according to figures released by Covered California.
CoveredCa.com website went from accessible to impenetrable last week for many consumers and agents. Just recently I learned that the problem stems from issues with both Google Chrome and Internet Explorer web browsers. I can confirm this since the stall in the login occurs with both web browsers as of the writing of this blog post, October 14th. Oddly, I was able to login on my iPad. Unfortunately, the Safari web browser on my iMac won’t correctly connect to Covered California.
In an email correspondence to his supporters, Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) made his usual pitch that the Affordable Care Act was an awful plague on America. The surprising aspect of the letter was that McClintock focused on another state while completely ignoring California. Doesn’t McClintock represent California any more?
While most people are thrilled with the ability to get affordable health insurance through Covered California, others are trying to avoid the premium free health insurance being offered. Specifically, some families and individuals are trying to figure out how to avoid having either their children or their family automatically enrolled in Medi-Cal. Inflating the income of the household is one way side step automatic enrollment in Medi-Cal health plans.
Beyond the well crafted TV commercials and print ads for Covered California are numerous volunteers that are “walking and talking” with total strangers to spread the news about the new Affordable Care Act health plans. People committed and passionate about health care reform from the Sacramento Mighty Oaks ACA Team are spending countless hours answering questions and handing out literature at libraries, community centers, neighborhoods and small businesses.
There were a total of 43,616 applications for health insurance started in the first week Covered California was open for business. An estimated 16,311 households were able to complete the entire enrollment process representing 28, 699 California residents. What Covered California did not release were the completed applications that were eligible for premium assistance and how many qualified for Medi-Cal.
Californians with individual and family plan health insurance are opening letters from their existing carriers notifying them of steep premium increases due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The skyrocketing rate increases are leading some policy holders to question the wisdom of Obamacare. But upon closer inspection, the higher rates may not necessarily be all that they seem.
Sacramento Mighty Oaks is part of the Certified Outreach Network for Covered California. They will be holding a series of educational events at various libraries throughout Sacramento.
As a consequence of the Affordable Care Act, Health Net will have to discontinue offering health plans to California Farm Bureau Federation members in 2014. Current Health Net members in the affected plans will be receiving letters from the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF) notifying them of the discontinued health insurance.
After giving presentations in Oroville and Chico, it was apparent that I should offer the educational seminar to other communities in Northern California that want to learn more about this new health insurance market place call Covered California. I am now offering presentations on the features and benefits of Covered California to large and small groups.
