Consumers gather at an Accesss Health CT informational session in New Haven last fall. Kathleen Schassler/West Hartford News
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As a couple older than 50, they were offered premiums of $700 per month, which was too much for them to afford.
After being uninsured for five years, the couple recently was insured under the Affordable Health Act. They signed up during an enrollment fair for the Affordable Care Act in Cornwall last Saturday and found they were eligible for a government subsidy. Now they qualify for a free health plan.
“We can finally see doctors,” Mrs. Beecher said, wiping her tears.
Connecticut has its own exchange for the Affordable Care Act, Access Health CT, which is separate from the the federal site, healthcare.gov, and which has been reported to be among the most successful in the nation. To have insurance coverage on Jan. 1, the deadline for enrollment is Dec. 15. Connecticut’s application activity has skyrocketed this week, with close to 1,000 people signing up for coverage each day, compared to a previous peak totaling 3,544 enrollees for the entire week before Thanksgiving, according to the CT Mirror.
In the Northwest Corner enrollees have been receiving help in making their decisions through the Foundation for Community Health in Sharon, where assisters and navigators recently got new laptops to facilitate their work with clients.
Nancy Heaton, CEO of the foundation, said they got off to a slow start because the state only recently instituted the assister and navigator program. An assister is assigned to assist applicants in the enrollment process and to help them input information on the website.
“People are worried about what they hear on the news. They don’t realize Connecticut has its own exchange,” Heaton said, “They need to separate all the noise from other states. Connecticut is doing well.”
The challenge for the rural Northwest Corner, though, is the lack of access to wifi in the enrollment process, Heaton said. Additionally, not every town has assisters. Some assisters cover the whole area but can only help in places with access to the Internet. People can always call for assistance on the chatline, but it’s quite different from doing it in person. Sometimes, people have to travel 40 minutes to get to a wifi spot.
Lindsay Murphy, 35, is an assister operating in the office of Foundation for Community Health. She started as an assister at the end of October and hopes to reach a total of 200 people during the enrollment period. Murphy said some people get stuck because they go to the federal website. Half of the people that contacted her had started the process, but she said people are nervous about enrolling because many are making decisions about health insurance for the first time, comparing plan to plan rather than having one laid out for them. Continued...
Janet Carlson Sanders, an assister based in Cornwall, has been hosting enrollment fairs for residents in that region. She said every time there is a nationwide policy change there are a few bumps. She points out that some people are afraid to reveal certain information.
“In the past, you could be an alcoholic and wouldn’t tell anybody, because it would impact your health care,” Sanders said, “None of that exists any more.”
The Affordable Care Act targets uninsured and underinsured people, Heaton said. Seniors who have Medicare won’t be affected, while Medicaid is expanded in Connecticut under the new law. Before people only had access to individual markets and many were rejected because of pre-existing conditions or couldn’t afford to purchase insurance because of the high price. Heaton added that government subsidies are available to people on Medicaid or those with income levels below 400 percent of poverty. Even co-pays will be adjusted depending on income.
Those who don’t buy insurance by Mar. 31 will face a penalty when they file their taxes at the end of the year. The penalty starts at $95 per person in a household and grows larger with each succeeding year. However, Heaton said, residents don’t have to pay that penalty if the lowest premium available to the household is more than 9.5 percent of their total income.
“I haven’t run into a scenario yet that people haven’t gotten help in paying their premiums,” Ms. Sanders added.
Mike Sweeney, an ethnographic researcher, paid more than $800 a month for his healthcare premium because of his pre-existing condition. He said the coverage was adequate but not great. After enrolling in the Affordable Care Act, starting in January he will pay $400 a month for better coverage.
“It hurt every month to write that $800-plus check,” Sweeney said, “I was nervous about [Obamacare], because I’ve heard many complaints ... but I was blown away when I went from such a high premium a month to half that.”
Many people don’t know that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are the same law. Murphy said she has been correcting people who call it Obamacare “because there is so much negative press that links to Obama’s name. You just hear Obamacare. It’s a terrible thing.”
Having access to health care insurance is the first step in the Northwest Corner, Heaton said. The next step will be to increase people’s access to actual healthcare. The Affordable Care Act is going remove free hospital emergency care, she said. Hospitals are cutting back on providing free emergency care because, in theory, everyone will be covered by insurance and hospitals will be able to bill health plans. Continued...
As a couple older than 50, they were offered premiums of $700 per month, which was too much for them to afford.
After being uninsured for five years, the couple recently was insured under the Affordable Health Act. They signed up during an enrollment fair for the Affordable Care Act in Cornwall last Saturday and found they were eligible for a government subsidy. Now they qualify for a free health plan.
“We can finally see doctors,” Mrs. Beecher said, wiping her tears.
Connecticut has its own exchange for the Affordable Care Act, Access Health CT, which is separate from the the federal site, healthcare.gov, and which has been reported to be among the most successful in the nation. To have insurance coverage on Jan. 1, the deadline for enrollment is Dec. 15. Connecticut’s application activity has skyrocketed this week, with close to 1,000 people signing up for coverage each day, compared to a previous peak totaling 3,544 enrollees for the entire week before Thanksgiving, according to the CT Mirror.
In the Northwest Corner enrollees have been receiving help in making their decisions through the Foundation for Community Health in Sharon, where assisters and navigators recently got new laptops to facilitate their work with clients.
Nancy Heaton, CEO of the foundation, said they got off to a slow start because the state only recently instituted the assister and navigator program. An assister is assigned to assist applicants in the enrollment process and to help them input information on the website.
“People are worried about what they hear on the news. They don’t realize Connecticut has its own exchange,” Heaton said, “They need to separate all the noise from other states. Connecticut is doing well.”
The challenge for the rural Northwest Corner, though, is the lack of access to wifi in the enrollment process, Heaton said. Additionally, not every town has assisters. Some assisters cover the whole area but can only help in places with access to the Internet. People can always call for assistance on the chatline, but it’s quite different from doing it in person. Sometimes, people have to travel 40 minutes to get to a wifi spot.
Lindsay Murphy, 35, is an assister operating in the office of Foundation for Community Health. She started as an assister at the end of October and hopes to reach a total of 200 people during the enrollment period. Murphy said some people get stuck because they go to the federal website. Half of the people that contacted her had started the process, but she said people are nervous about enrolling because many are making decisions about health insurance for the first time, comparing plan to plan rather than having one laid out for them.
“A lot of people have asked me to pick a plan, which is not something I can do,” Murphy said, “My job is to put all the information in and see what plans you qualify for. But a lot of people are scared because nobody knows what’s behind the scene.”
Janet Carlson Sanders, an assister based in Cornwall, has been hosting enrollment fairs for residents in that region. She said every time there is a nationwide policy change there are a few bumps. She points out that some people are afraid to reveal certain information.
“In the past, you could be an alcoholic and wouldn’t tell anybody, because it would impact your health care,” Sanders said, “None of that exists any more.”
The Affordable Care Act targets uninsured and underinsured people, Heaton said. Seniors who have Medicare won’t be affected, while Medicaid is expanded in Connecticut under the new law. Before people only had access to individual markets and many were rejected because of pre-existing conditions or couldn’t afford to purchase insurance because of the high price. Heaton added that government subsidies are available to people on Medicaid or those with income levels below 400 percent of poverty. Even co-pays will be adjusted depending on income.
Those who don’t buy insurance by Mar. 31 will face a penalty when they file their taxes at the end of the year. The penalty starts at $95 per person in a household and grows larger with each succeeding year. However, Heaton said, residents don’t have to pay that penalty if the lowest premium available to the household is more than 9.5 percent of their total income.
“I haven’t run into a scenario yet that people haven’t gotten help in paying their premiums,” Ms. Sanders added.
Mike Sweeney, an ethnographic researcher, paid more than $800 a month for his healthcare premium because of his pre-existing condition. He said the coverage was adequate but not great. After enrolling in the Affordable Care Act, starting in January he will pay $400 a month for better coverage.
“It hurt every month to write that $800-plus check,” Sweeney said, “I was nervous about [Obamacare], because I’ve heard many complaints ... but I was blown away when I went from such a high premium a month to half that.”
Many people don’t know that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are the same law. Murphy said she has been correcting people who call it Obamacare “because there is so much negative press that links to Obama’s name. You just hear Obamacare. It’s a terrible thing.”
Having access to health care insurance is the first step in the Northwest Corner, Heaton said. The next step will be to increase people’s access to actual healthcare. The Affordable Care Act is going remove free hospital emergency care, she said. Hospitals are cutting back on providing free emergency care because, in theory, everyone will be covered by insurance and hospitals will be able to bill health plans.
“It’ll not be the norm in the future that hospitals just provide basic care in the emergency room,” Heaton said. “Culturally we are going to have to change, and that law pushes us in that direction.”
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