Despite this year’s rate increases, health insurance on the state exchange is affordable and offers more options than ever, the head of Your Health Idaho said Wednesday.
The average beneficiary will pay $65 a month out of pocket, just a dollar more than before, Executive Director Pat Kelly told the Times-News. The tax credit that nearly 90 percent of enrollees receive is pegged to income and the cost of plans in their geographic area.
“The tax credit essentially caps the amount the individual consumer pays out of pocket,” Kelly said.
Open enrollment starts Nov. 1, and Kelly said he wants to get the word out on the affordability of the coverage and on the increase in choices available. The exchange is offering 211 plans this year, he said, and is also offering adult dental coverage for the first time.
Your Health Idaho is looking to increase the number of people enrolled by raising awareness about the value of health insurance and by touting how easy it is to enroll via the exchange’s website, Kelly said. The program’s website list brokers who will meet with people who want face-to-face assistance for free and help them find the best plan, he said.
Open enrollment closes Jan. 31. People who are currently enrolled will be automatically re-enrolled, unless they opt for a change.
Idaho created its own exchange in 2013, one of the few Republican states to do so. Its supporters, who included Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, said it was a way for the state to keep more control of its health-care system rather than relying on the federal exchange. Many more conservative Republicans were against creating it, and it became one of the issues in a wave of tea party-backed primary challenges to establishment GOP incumbents in 2014.
Federal funding for the exchange stopped on Jan. 1. Now that it receives no state money, Your Health Idaho sustains itself with assessment fees collected on the plans.
“Our legislators made it clear we need to be lean and efficient,” Kelly said.
Kelly said there is a “very clear plan” to make sure the exchange can pay for itself. He also pointed to an analysis done by the Utah-based health care consulting group Leavitt Partners. It analyzed Idaho’s exchange to see what about it “led to a successful roll-out and put it on a fast-track to financial sustainability,” Leavitt’s paper says.
The Associated Press reported in June that the exchange would need to boost its enrollment to be able to pay for itself. Kelly said Wednesday that Your Health Idaho is shooting for a 5 to 8 percent increase in enrollment to remain sustainable, which he thinks is doable given that enrollment jumped from 78,000 in 2014 to more than 86,000 today.
“We don’t need heroics,” he said. “We don’t need enrollment to double.”
Date: October 14, 2015