Health
SACRAMENTO – Covered California announced that more than 1.5 million consumers selected a health plan for 2019 coverage during the most recent open-enrollment period, a figure in line with last year’s total.
There was a 7.5 percent increase in the number of existing consumers renewing their coverage and a 23.7 percent drop in the number of new consumers signing up for 2019.
“Covered California’s overall enrollment has held steady, but recent actions at the federal level appear to be causing large drops in enrollment that will lead to more uninsured and higher premiums for all Californians,” said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee. “The federal removal of the individual mandate penalty appears to have had a substantial impact on the number of new consumers signing up for coverage.”
The total number of net plan selections for 2019 is 1,513,883, which reflects 1,217,903 consumers having their coverage renewed and 295,980 consumers who newly signed up for coverage during open enrollment .
Overall, there is a difference of 7,641 fewer plan selections compared to 2018, a decrease of 0.5 percent.
“While we end open enrollment in line with the number of plan selections we saw at this time last year, it is too early to draw any conclusions,” Lee said. “We have seen the impact that federal decisions have had on new enrollment, and we do not yet know how that will play out for renewing consumers down the road.
In addition to the impact of the penalty, Covered California conducted analysis and has released an issue brief, “Covered California 2019 Open Enrollment: Early Observations and Analysis,” that examines its open enrollment plan-selection demographic compared to last year.
Covered California found larger differences in the share of Bronze consumers, unsubsidized consumers and those populations in which English is not the preferred spoken language. However, other demographics do not appear to be a factor.
“With the reduction being relatively evenly spread across demographics, the primary driver of the loss of new enrollees appears to be removal of the individual mandate penalty,” Lee said.
In August, Covered California shared analysis from national experts that projected that the removal of the penalty could lead to a reduction in enrollment ranging from 7 to 26 percent across the entire individual market.
As part of its budgeting process, Covered California projected that the federal removal of the individual mandate penalty would reduce effectuated enrollment at the end of fiscal year 2018 to 2019 by between 7 and 18 percent, with the midpoint estimate of 12 percent. When combined with other factors, this would result in approximately 162,000 fewer consumers insured at the end of June 2019.
“The drop in new enrollment affirms the leadership Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken to propose an individual mandate and enhanced subsidies aimed at making coverage more affordable for Californians,” Lee said.
In addition to the federal removal of the mandate penalty, other potential factors affecting new enrollment could include the continued challenges of affordability and Covered California’s previous success in signing up healthy consumers.
“California has done tremendous work in building one of the healthiest consumer pools in the country,” Lee said. “One impact of successfully enrolling so many healthy Californians in previous years is that there may be fewer people newly eligible in California to enroll in this period – meaning that those who can sign up are more susceptible to being influenced by the federal removal of the penalty.”
While plan selections in Covered California have remained steady over the past four years, the number of consumers in federally facilitated marketplace, or FFM, states newly enrolling continues to drop, from 9.6 million in 2016 to 8.4 million in 2019.
In addition, during the past three years that the current federal administration has made policy decisions to dramatically cut back on promoting enrollment, one result has been a substantial decrease in the number of new enrollees signing up for coverage: declining 49 percent from 4 million in 2016 to 2.1 million in 2019.
“When the federal government pulled back on marketing and cut their enrollment period in half, they shut the door on hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Lee said. “The data shows that going into 2019, almost 1.5 million Americans who could have enrolled through FFM states were already priced out of coverage or opted not to enroll.”
Among the other major findings of the Covered California issue brief are:
– Covered California’s drop in new enrollment is higher than the average 15.8 percent drop of the 39 states served by the federally facilitated marketplace this year. The difference is likely explained by the fact that the FFM states have already experienced sharp decreases in new enrollment in each of the past four years, putting their decrease on top of an already diminished pool of healthy consumers opting out of coverage. California has maintained strong new enrollment in each of the prior four years, leaving it more susceptible to drops in new enrollment due to the loss of the penalty and other factors.
– In addition to the impact of the penalty on Covered California’s new enrollment, early analysis also indicates that affordability remains a key obstacle for many, especially those who do not receive subsidies.
– The analysis also found that enrollment by other demographics, including age and income level for those receiving subsidies, did not appear to be substantially different.
While open enrollment is over, consumers can still sign up for health care coverage if they experience a life-changing event, such as losing their health insurance, getting married, having a child or moving.
For more information on special-enrollment rules, visit https://www.coveredca.com/individuals-and-families/getting-covered/special-enrollment/.
Eligible consumers who are interested in signing up can visit Covered California’s Web site where they can get help enrolling, explore their options and find out if they qualify for financial help by using the Shop and Compare Tool.
There was a 7.5 percent increase in the number of existing consumers renewing their coverage and a 23.7 percent drop in the number of new consumers signing up for 2019.
“Covered California’s overall enrollment has held steady, but recent actions at the federal level appear to be causing large drops in enrollment that will lead to more uninsured and higher premiums for all Californians,” said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee. “The federal removal of the individual mandate penalty appears to have had a substantial impact on the number of new consumers signing up for coverage.”
The total number of net plan selections for 2019 is 1,513,883, which reflects 1,217,903 consumers having their coverage renewed and 295,980 consumers who newly signed up for coverage during open enrollment .
Overall, there is a difference of 7,641 fewer plan selections compared to 2018, a decrease of 0.5 percent.
“While we end open enrollment in line with the number of plan selections we saw at this time last year, it is too early to draw any conclusions,” Lee said. “We have seen the impact that federal decisions have had on new enrollment, and we do not yet know how that will play out for renewing consumers down the road.
In addition to the impact of the penalty, Covered California conducted analysis and has released an issue brief, “Covered California 2019 Open Enrollment: Early Observations and Analysis,” that examines its open enrollment plan-selection demographic compared to last year.
Covered California found larger differences in the share of Bronze consumers, unsubsidized consumers and those populations in which English is not the preferred spoken language. However, other demographics do not appear to be a factor.
“With the reduction being relatively evenly spread across demographics, the primary driver of the loss of new enrollees appears to be removal of the individual mandate penalty,” Lee said.
In August, Covered California shared analysis from national experts that projected that the removal of the penalty could lead to a reduction in enrollment ranging from 7 to 26 percent across the entire individual market.
As part of its budgeting process, Covered California projected that the federal removal of the individual mandate penalty would reduce effectuated enrollment at the end of fiscal year 2018 to 2019 by between 7 and 18 percent, with the midpoint estimate of 12 percent. When combined with other factors, this would result in approximately 162,000 fewer consumers insured at the end of June 2019.
“The drop in new enrollment affirms the leadership Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken to propose an individual mandate and enhanced subsidies aimed at making coverage more affordable for Californians,” Lee said.
In addition to the federal removal of the mandate penalty, other potential factors affecting new enrollment could include the continued challenges of affordability and Covered California’s previous success in signing up healthy consumers.
“California has done tremendous work in building one of the healthiest consumer pools in the country,” Lee said. “One impact of successfully enrolling so many healthy Californians in previous years is that there may be fewer people newly eligible in California to enroll in this period – meaning that those who can sign up are more susceptible to being influenced by the federal removal of the penalty.”
While plan selections in Covered California have remained steady over the past four years, the number of consumers in federally facilitated marketplace, or FFM, states newly enrolling continues to drop, from 9.6 million in 2016 to 8.4 million in 2019.
In addition, during the past three years that the current federal administration has made policy decisions to dramatically cut back on promoting enrollment, one result has been a substantial decrease in the number of new enrollees signing up for coverage: declining 49 percent from 4 million in 2016 to 2.1 million in 2019.
“When the federal government pulled back on marketing and cut their enrollment period in half, they shut the door on hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Lee said. “The data shows that going into 2019, almost 1.5 million Americans who could have enrolled through FFM states were already priced out of coverage or opted not to enroll.”
Among the other major findings of the Covered California issue brief are:
– Covered California’s drop in new enrollment is higher than the average 15.8 percent drop of the 39 states served by the federally facilitated marketplace this year. The difference is likely explained by the fact that the FFM states have already experienced sharp decreases in new enrollment in each of the past four years, putting their decrease on top of an already diminished pool of healthy consumers opting out of coverage. California has maintained strong new enrollment in each of the prior four years, leaving it more susceptible to drops in new enrollment due to the loss of the penalty and other factors.
– In addition to the impact of the penalty on Covered California’s new enrollment, early analysis also indicates that affordability remains a key obstacle for many, especially those who do not receive subsidies.
– The analysis also found that enrollment by other demographics, including age and income level for those receiving subsidies, did not appear to be substantially different.
While open enrollment is over, consumers can still sign up for health care coverage if they experience a life-changing event, such as losing their health insurance, getting married, having a child or moving.
For more information on special-enrollment rules, visit https://www.coveredca.com/individuals-and-families/getting-covered/special-enrollment/.
Eligible consumers who are interested in signing up can visit Covered California’s Web site where they can get help enrolling, explore their options and find out if they qualify for financial help by using the Shop and Compare Tool.
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- Written by: Covered California
On Monday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, launched a new app that gives consumers a modernized Medicare experience with direct access on a mobile device to some of the most-used content on www.Medicare.gov.
The new “What’s Covered” app lets people with Original Medicare, caregivers and others quickly see whether Medicare covers a specific medical item or service.
Consumers can now use their mobile device to more easily get accurate, consistent Original Medicare coverage information in the doctor’s office, the hospital, or anywhere else they use their mobile device.
In addition to the “What’s Covered” app, through Blue Button 2.0 the agency is enabling beneficiaries to connect their claims data to applications and tools developed by innovative private-sector companies to help them understand, use, and share their health data.
“eMedicare is one of several initiatives focused on modernizing Medicare and empowering patients with information they need to get the best value from their Medicare coverage,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “President Trump is delivering on his commitment to Medicare by modernizing tools that deliver health information in the most convenient way possible. This new app is the next in a suite of products designed to give consumers more access and control over their Medicare information.”
CMS created the app to meet the needs of the growing population of people with Medicare. The Medicare population is projected to increase almost 50 percent by 2030 – from 54 million beneficiaries in 2015 to more than 80 million beneficiaries in 2030.
As of 2016, about two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries indicate they use the Internet daily or almost daily (65 percent).
Questions about what Medicare covers are some of the most frequent inquiries that CMS receives. There are approximately 15 million page views annually for coverage-related content on Medicare.gov and 1-800 MEDICARE receives over three million coverage-related calls each year.
CMS launched the eMedicare initiative in 2018 to empower beneficiaries with cost and quality information.
Other tools in the eMedicare suite include:
• Enhanced interactive online decision support to help people better understand and evaluate their Medicare coverage options and costs between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
• A new online service that lets people quickly see how different coverage choices will affect their estimated out-of-pocket costs.
• New price transparency tools that let consumers compare the national average costs of certain procedures between settings, so people can see what they’ll pay for procedures done in a hospital outpatient department versus an ambulatory surgical center.
• A new webchat option in the Medicare Plan Finder.
• New easy-to-use surveys across Medicare.gov so consumers can continue to tell us what they want.
The eMedicare initiative expands and improves on current consumer service options. People with Medicare will continue to have access to paper copies of the Medicare & You handbook and Medicare Summary Notices.
The What’s Covered app is available for free in both Google Play and the Apple App Store. The app is available in Google Play at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.medicare.coverage, and is available in the Apple App Store at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whats-covered/id1444143600?mt=8.
The new “What’s Covered” app lets people with Original Medicare, caregivers and others quickly see whether Medicare covers a specific medical item or service.
Consumers can now use their mobile device to more easily get accurate, consistent Original Medicare coverage information in the doctor’s office, the hospital, or anywhere else they use their mobile device.
In addition to the “What’s Covered” app, through Blue Button 2.0 the agency is enabling beneficiaries to connect their claims data to applications and tools developed by innovative private-sector companies to help them understand, use, and share their health data.
“eMedicare is one of several initiatives focused on modernizing Medicare and empowering patients with information they need to get the best value from their Medicare coverage,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “President Trump is delivering on his commitment to Medicare by modernizing tools that deliver health information in the most convenient way possible. This new app is the next in a suite of products designed to give consumers more access and control over their Medicare information.”
CMS created the app to meet the needs of the growing population of people with Medicare. The Medicare population is projected to increase almost 50 percent by 2030 – from 54 million beneficiaries in 2015 to more than 80 million beneficiaries in 2030.
As of 2016, about two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries indicate they use the Internet daily or almost daily (65 percent).
Questions about what Medicare covers are some of the most frequent inquiries that CMS receives. There are approximately 15 million page views annually for coverage-related content on Medicare.gov and 1-800 MEDICARE receives over three million coverage-related calls each year.
CMS launched the eMedicare initiative in 2018 to empower beneficiaries with cost and quality information.
Other tools in the eMedicare suite include:
• Enhanced interactive online decision support to help people better understand and evaluate their Medicare coverage options and costs between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
• A new online service that lets people quickly see how different coverage choices will affect their estimated out-of-pocket costs.
• New price transparency tools that let consumers compare the national average costs of certain procedures between settings, so people can see what they’ll pay for procedures done in a hospital outpatient department versus an ambulatory surgical center.
• A new webchat option in the Medicare Plan Finder.
• New easy-to-use surveys across Medicare.gov so consumers can continue to tell us what they want.
The eMedicare initiative expands and improves on current consumer service options. People with Medicare will continue to have access to paper copies of the Medicare & You handbook and Medicare Summary Notices.
The What’s Covered app is available for free in both Google Play and the Apple App Store. The app is available in Google Play at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.medicare.coverage, and is available in the Apple App Store at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whats-covered/id1444143600?mt=8.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
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