A Push For Health Coverage Enrollment As Deadline Nears
For most people the opportunity to sign up for a 2015 health plan ends on Sunday. News outlets look at a variety of enrollment issues, including consumers' increasing use of brokers to help choose plans and the abundance of high deductible insurance plans being offered.
NPR:
White House Reaches Out To Uninsured Americans
The deadline to sign up for health coverage for 2015 under the Affordable Care Act is Sunday. Renee Montagne talks to presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett about the looming deadline. (2/11)
Kaiser Health News:
Texas Insurance Brokers Play Bigger Obamacare Role
As the health law’s second open enrollment season barrels to a close on Sunday, nearly a million Texans have purchased or applied for health insurance. This time around, insurance brokers are aggressively marketing themselves to shoppers – it’s a big change for the brokers who have had an uneasy relationship with the health law for years. Bart Franco is one customer who sought help from a broker this time. He is the pastor of a tiny community church that he founded in a garage behind his house near downtown Houston. (Feibel, 2/11)
Kaiser Health News:
5 Tips For Procrastinators Who Need To Buy Health Insurance
If you who don’t get coverage at work or are otherwise uninsured, you may qualify for financial assistance for coverage purchased on the exchanges, or marketplaces. You can compare plans and prices at the federal website, healthcare.gov, or, if your state has its own exchange, shop there to find out which coverage is best for you. If your state has expanded Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people, you might also qualify for coverage there. (Carey, 2/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Study Finds It Cheaper For Students To Buy Insurance Than Go Without
As this year’s deadline to sign up for Obamacare fast approaches, California State University officials are trying to show students that buying health insurance makes financial sense. A new analysis from the CSU Health Insurance Education Project found that half the approximately 445,000 students in the CSU system are able to purchase health insurance for less than they would have to pay in fines for remaining uncovered. (Karlamangla, 2/10)
Minneapolis Public Radio:
High Deductibles Keep Patients Away From Care
Minnesota, which has some of the lowest health insurance premiums in the country, but also tends to have high deductibles. Deductibles also are rising in other states, so much so that there are growing concerns nationwide that there are millions of people with health insurance they cannot afford to use .... Two years ago, nearly nine in 10 insured private sector workers in Minnesota had a deductible, a significantly higher level than the national average. The high deductibles are intended to discourage unnecessary trips to the doctor to help curb the rising cost of health care, Minnesota State Health Economist Stefan Gildemeister said. ... But the tools are so blunt, Gildemeister said, that rising deductibles — more common in Minnesota than any other state — are discouraging people from seeking necessary care. (Zdechlik, 2/10)