Obama administration upbeat on health law sign-ups

So far, officials said, more than 62,000 Ohioans have signed up for coverage through the exchange since open enrollment began November 1.

More than 7.8 million uninsured rural Americans under 65 have gained new opportunities to enroll in affordable health care in the past year, and nationwide, an estimated 17.6 million Americans have found health coverage. Since 2015 was the first year that people without insurance had to pay a tax penalty, the Obama administration made a decision to give those people a special enrollment period until April 30 to sign up. This year it is rising to $325 per adult or 2 percent of household income, and for 2016, it will increase to $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income.

“We see that’s not true among the data set that’s shown in the (Urban Institute) study, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some plans in the marketplace that saw those types of hikes”, he said, pointing, for example, to the lowest-cost silver plan offered by Community Health Options, which will rise 16.5 percent.

As for United Healthcare saying recently that it might leave the exchange market after 2016 and Cigna CEO David Cordani saying the company isn’t making money on the exchanges, Slavitt said he’s not anxious about the long term health of exchanges.

Of 23 nonprofit insurance cooperatives created under the ACA, 12 have failed, with more than 700,000 people losing coverage.

“It’s important to remember that the final deadline to sign up for 2016 coverage through HealthCare.gov is January 31”, Counihan wrote.

Tuesday is the deadline to enroll for plans on healthcare.gov to get coverage for all of 2016. You can count on coverage for what the government calls essential health benefits.

IL is one of 38 states that use the federal health insurance marketplace. King said many former Consumers’ Choice customers are gravitating to Blue Choice plans.

ZocDoc, which allows users to book medical appointments online, is planning to target its customers who previously paid cash for medical services or indicated they don’t have insurance with emails letting them know that they can enroll in a health plan.

The cost of the grandfathered plans also has been increasing – by 18 percent for 2016, on top of 13 percent for 2015.

“We have reps on site who are able to enroll folks through the marketplace healthcare.gov and answer any questions that they may have”, Foutch said. “The burden of higher and higher health care costs has been shifted to the consumer, through higher deductibles, instead of the insurance companies”, says Dana Simpler, a doctor of internal medicine at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

The deadline is the first of several as part of the annual sign-ups for Obamacare, and this year there’s more incentive to participate because penalties for not having insurance continue to rise.