Taking Advantage of Open Enrollment for Health Coverage

Comprehensive health coverage, and the peace of mind it brings for families, is fundamental. When the Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2010, states were given the option to operate their own exchanges or participate in the multi-state, federal exchange. In 2013, California chose to take advantage of this opportunity and launched its state exchange: Covered California.

Covered California’s mission was simple – to reduce the number of uninsured Californians, improve quality of care, lower costs and reduce health disparities through a competitive marketplace that empowers consumers to choose the plan that is of best value to them.

Overall, the reform has achieved many of these goals, extending coverage to millions and helping to constrain costs. Although health care costs continue to rise, they are rising more slowly, or at least they were, until the present uncertainty over the program’s future. It is certainly true that the reform has not affected everyone the same way – my rates, as a man in his 50s, married and with two kids, went up considerably, while the rates of my young staff went down just as appreciably.

Changing the way our nation delivers health care was and continues to be a massive undertaking, and improving our health care infrastructure is still a work in progress. But we should all be pleased to see the unprecedented decrease in the number of uninsured Americans – by the end of 2016, Covered California had helped bring our state’s uninsured rate down from 17% to 7.1%, adding millions to the ranks of the insured nationwide.

Open enrollment kicked off last month, and I was heartened to see that in the first half of November, more than 48,000 new consumers signed up through Covered California, an increase of 23% from last year. Despite the controversy surrounding health care, our state exchange is stable and can help all Californians find the health coverage that is best for them.

If you’re one of the millions of Californians who doesn’t obtain coverage through your employer or Medi-Cal, or Medicare, Covered California offers a competitive range of plans from 11 different health insurance carriers. Whether you want to renew your current policy or sign up for a new health plan, Covered California allows you to compare plans and find the one that best serves you and your family’s needs.

While you may have heard reports of increased premiums and higher deductibles as a result of the Administration’s threat to stop payments to insurers, Covered California has taken a number of measures to protect consumers from the worst impacts of this uncertainty. Many consumers may even see their premiums drop due to Covered California’s proactive work with insurers. Although additional steps will be needed to control costs in the future, Californians will continue to have access to a range of good health care options.

As part of the enrollment process at CoveredCA.com, you will be asked a series of questions to determine whether you qualify for financial aid. Last year, 80% of Americans who purchased health insurance on the state exchanges qualified for financial assistance in the form of tax credits, and those tax credits are still available. Additionally, last year, roughly 1.1 million Californians qualified for subsidies to help pay for their coverage. Depending on your household income, you may also be eligible for Medi-Cal coverage.

If you need coverage but aren’t sure how to sign up, you can visit www.coveredca.com/gethelp/ or call (800) 300-1506 to speak with a representative who can answer your questions. Open enrollment lasts until Jan. 31. For a Jan. 1 start date, I encourage you to enroll by Dec. 15 to prevent any lapse in coverage.

While the ACA and Covered California have been largely successful in our state, there are still many ways to increase competition in the market and lower costs. This must be done in a bipartisan fashion, so let’s stop fighting over a repeal of the existing system, and work together to make it better.

  ADAM SCHIFF