The Biden administration is holding an unprecedented open enrollment session for the Affordable Care Act, or the ACA. Harold Weber is an Insurance Navigator at the Athens Neighborhood Health Center. He provides some details.
“The first time we’ve had an open enrollment session outside the normal period during the fall, normally it’s November 1, through December 15,” according to Weber. “But because of so many people losing their jobs and connected to that, losing their health insurance, the Bide administration thought that it would be extremely helpful for a large portion of the population that are under duress because of the economy, to have access to the Affordable Care Act.”
Participants could see additional benefits as part of President Biden’s proposed, nearly $2 trillion-dollar economic boost plan.
“If that bill is passed and those features remain intact, that premiums for the Affordable Care Act will be greatly reduced for many, many people. The examples I saw, they were less than half of what they are now, because they’ve raised the subsidy in this package. The same way with out-of-pocket costs, deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, out-of-pocket maximums.”
Weber says this time around, subsidies will expand to help middle class families in need of assistance.
“I’m real excited to see how much they’re going to try to subsidize middle income people. All those features remain to be seen, totally depends on if the law is passed as is or not.”
The open enrollment session runs through May 15th. It’s usually a six-week session.