A pregnant Bay Area woman who applied for health insurance through Covered California in November and has yet to receive any notification from her selected health plan or Covered California must now consider cancelling her prenatal doctor visits for lack of insurance. When asked about the status of the woman’s application a Covered California call center staffer said that it can take weeks for the insurance companies to receive the application. Essentially, Covered California has decided to ignore the woman, her family and unborn baby.
Posts related to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and potential changes to the rules, primarily in California.
ACA group health plan rule set to punish families
The Affordable Care Act regulations preclude individuals and families from receiving tax credits to lower health insurance premiums bought through an exchange if they are offered employer sponsored health insurance that is deemed to be affordable and meets minimum value. This rule is actually denying some families access to affordable health insurance and is set to penalize other families with a huge IRS tax bill in 2015.
ACA is splitting families apart
The Affordable Care Act is failing families on two major issues that need immediate resolution. The employer sponsored health insurance regulation has left many spouses without affordable coverage and household income limits are placing children in Medicaid programs. Together, these two ACA regulations are unfairly fracturing the health insurance coverage for many families and need immediate changes.
Discrimination practiced at Covered California enrollment events
I will happily attend any public enrollment event and assist anyone applying either for Medi-Cal or a health plan with or without premium assistance. However, hence forth, I will not attend any event where Certified Agents are allowed to discriminate against people based on their income and Medi-Cal eligibility. Further, if anyone is refused assistance from an agent because they might be Medi-Cal, please do us all a favor and report that agent to Covered California. Income discrimination practiced by Certified Agents needs to stop.
Are doctors to blame for smaller networks?
Consumers are growing frustrated as they find their current doctors aren’t included in new Covered California individual and family plan (IFP) health insurance networks. There is also widespread uncertainty about the rules of in-network providers with the new Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPOs) and California’s new 19 pricing regions. When California consumers are craving information the doctors have been silent and the insurance companies along with Covered California are providing scant information.
California Republicans: sick people cost too much
The California Assembly Republican Caucus has declared that people with pre-existing conditions are the root cause of escalating health care costs. From their statements on their website Covering Health Care: A California Resource Guide, one can only come to the conclusion that California Republicans feel that sick people should be denied guarantee issue health insurance so premiums of healthy people won’t be adversely affected.
Californians speak out on ACA and Covered California
So many words have been spoken and written about the Affordable Care Act there is hardly an angle that hasn’t been touched. Obamacare101 podcast produced by Staci Joy is a well balanced presentation that features several different Californians that are touched by the ACA and Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace. Just like the ACA itself is controversial, some of the sincere comments by those recorded for the Obamacare101 podcast may leave one thinking, “Did he just say that?”
Covered California loses the children’s dental plan
I had just finished the family’s application into a new Covered California health plan when I realized that we hadn’t chosen a pediatric dental plan for their son. I had that sinking feeling when I screw up an application…or did I? According to a customer service agent, Covered California hasn’t released the children’s dental plans.
Monthly Household Income Estimator
The eligibility requirements to receive premium assistance for the new ACA health plans offered through either the federal or state websites is based on a household’s estimated income in 2014. Past federal tax returns are a great starting point and guide, but an individual or family’s wages may have significantly changed in 2013 and may change again in 2014.
Registered Domestic Partnerships get a break under the ACA
Registered domestic partnerships are receiving a financial break under the Affordable Care Act not available to married couples. For married couples, if either one is offered employer sponsored health insurance that automatically excludes the spouse and children from receiving tax credits to lower monthly premiums on health plans purchased through the state health insurance exchange of the ACA*.