In the aftermath of Tuesday’s presidential election, enrollment for 2017 health insurance continues as Republicans anticipate Obamacare will be repealed and replaced.
For health insurance coverage in 2017, people can still go to healthcare.gov or work with navigators to purchase health insurance and access subsidies to help pay for it.
“It will still be honored this year,” said Valerie Long, executive director of Tupelo-based CATCH Kids, who serves as a navigator through the Get Covered Mississippi organization.
Repealing and replacing Obamacare is a high priority for the next Congress as it moves forward with Republican majorities in both the House and Senate in addition to the executive branch under President-elect Donald Trump. But it will not disrupt policies purchased for 2017.
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“We’re not going to toss 20 million people out on the streets,” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, said in remarks to the Tupelo Kiwanis Club on Friday. “We’re going to have to have a soft landing.”
Open enrollment is set to run through Jan. 31. People who purchase insurance by Dec. 15 will have policies that go into effect on Jan. 1
“We’re encouraging anyone who might need coverage for 2017 to visit healthcare.gov to check out their options most can find a plan for $75 or less per month,” said Marjorie Connolly, press secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Despite headlines about higher premium rates, Long said that so far most of the people she has assisted have been very pleased with the insurance, premiums and subsidies.
“There’s some good plans available,” she said.
The results of the presidential election have created some confusion. The Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, which is part of the Cover Mississippi coalition, said it’s gotten multiple calls from people asking if Obamacare will exist after Jan. 1.
“We are reassuring people that Obamacare will exist and that we will be here to assist consumers,” said Roy Mitchell, executive director of the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program.
What to expect
Previously, the Congress has passed bills seeking the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and provisions of it, Wicker noted Friday.
“Now that we have a president who has vowed to sign such a bill, maybe we will have bipartisan input on how to do it,” Wicker said.
Wicker said he expects the repeal and replace efforts to work through the committee system. He anticipates that mandates for individuals and employers will be dropped. He hopes it will include provisions that provide choices and encourage competition, including allowing insurers to offer plans across state lines. Health insurance needs to be portable and make some kind of provision for existing conditions without incentivizing people to wait until they have a health problem to get insurance. Any new system must control costs, he said.
“The system hasn’t worked and without major surgery, it can’t last,” Wicker said. “I hope we find an approach that works like Medicare Part D.”
Wicker expects the Congress will be well into the process of repeal and replace in the first 100 days of Trump’s administration, it will take time.
“I’m not suggesting it will be simple,” Wicker said.
Among the related proposals under consideration will be funding Medicaid through a block grant program, where the federal government would give the states a set amount of money to provide health services for the poor. In Mississippi, Medicaid covers poor children, pregnant women and the disabled. Most of the people on Medicaid in Mississippi are children, but most of the expense comes from covering long-term care for the impoverished in nursing homes.
“I think it’s something to look at,” Wicker said.
The block grant approach would be troublesome for Mississippi, Mitchell said.
“With block granting Mississippi legislators will be forced to find ways to reduce payments to providers, cover fewer services and cut people from the current program,” Mitchell said.
Date: November 14, 2016