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Health Insurance brokers, once worried the health law would put them out of business, are now planning on flexing their expertise muscles to help guide people through the process of buying and getting the most out of their coverage.
Brad Stevens, 54, learned the hard way that being uninsured was risky as accidents and illness took a toll. Soon, he’ll qualify for California’s expanded Medicaid program.
The health law provides new marketplaces for employers with 50 or fewer full time workers, designed to offer more affordable insurance to mom-and-pop businesses that have long had to pay more than large companies.
Pardit Pri, 29, is among the 5 million uninsured people in California. Insurance would give her peace of mind, but she worries whether she can afford it.
The federal health insurance marketplace continued to frustrate consumers Wednesday with delays and software failures, but some people also reported progress.
Many people encountered obstacles when trying to sign on to the online insurance marketplaces Tuesday; others are holding out for later.
One South Texas health center had 50 people show up to enroll Tuesday, many could prove what they make, but not a single one had an email address required to sign up online.
There was a party atmosphere at Affordable Care Act events in California, where the law has been embraced, and in Virginia, where it has been resisted. But consumers will have very different experiences in the two states.
Consumers shopping in the new Obamacare marketplaces will want to know these three things before buying coverage.
What you need to know about signing up for ACA marketplace coverage: There are new benefits, and what you pay depends on your age, your address and how much you earn.
The online marketplaces, also known as exchanges, sell plans effective as soon as Jan. 1. But they got a rocky launch, with software glitches in some cases and implementation delays in others.
The Obama administration is counting on outreach efforts to enroll Latinos and other immigrants. They tend to be younger than the general population, and so they balance out the costs of older, sicker people in the insurance pool.
They can expect to be bombarded by messages from both proponents and critics of the law.
Children no longer “age out” of their families’ plans so quickly, but for some moving to the health law’s marketplaces will offer new options.
Many are relieved they can no longer be rejected by insurers but anxious about whether they will be able to afford the new policies.
