People have less time to select a health plan and risk paying much more in tax penalties for going without medical coverage as the second year of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate rolls around.
The penalty, which was just $95 for a single person this tax year, will more than triple in 2015. Single people and families face penalties of up to 2 percent of their household income unless they qualify for hardship exemptions.
That’s the stick. The carrot is subsidies to help people with purchase prices.
Open enrollment begins Saturday and ends Feb. 15.
Volunteer organizations have lined up a series of sign-up events in Nashville and throughout the state to help people navigate healthcare.gov. Independent brokers federally certified to sell plans compliant with the law can also assist people.
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, which insured 88.5 percent of state residents who bought coverage during the first year of enrollment, is making it easier for them to choose a plan.
People who want to stay with the insurance they chose last year don’t have to do anything unless they have had major changes in income or different family sizes, said Carla Raynor, vice president of marketing for BlueCross BlueShield.
And the insurer is dispatching experts statewide to help Tennesseans, increasing Spanish speaking personnel, opening a retail center at One Hundred Oaks Mall in Nashville and rolling out a mobile center to crisscross the state.
The decision to increase one-on-one assistance was made after the company surveyed its customers.
“What we learned is that 80 percent of them bought without anybody assisting them,” Raynor said. “They bought directly from healthcare.gov without any help. So they didn’t understand the plans that they bought. A lot of them had bought based on prices. A lot of people bought products they were not 100 percent satisfied with because they didn’t understand what they had bought.”
BlueCross BlueShield is raising premiums this year. Letters started going out last week notifying policy holders of the increases. Two other carriers, Humana and Cigna, are also raising rates. The other insurers offering coverage on the exchange in this state are Community Health Alliance and Assurant Health.
People can also buy dental coverage on the exchange in Tennessee, where seven carriers are competing for business.
Delta Dental of Tennessee, which added more than 4,000 subscribers during the last enrollment, is aiming to boost that number by 50 percent, said Missy Acosta, vice president of marketing. The plans the company will be offering in 2015 start at $21.58 a month, she said.
Date: November 08, 2014