Individuals & Families Newsletter
Keeping your health plan current.
A belated Happy New Year! Now that your health insurance is in place for another year, I hope it provides you the peace of mind you were looking for and that you’ll have little need of it. What’s important now is to keep your plan active. A plan termination due to an...
Best ways to check if your providers participate in the network for “off-exchange”, non-CoveredCA plans.
Ensuring your “must have” providers are in your health plan’s network is not as easy as it should be. Some PPO carriers have gone to narrower networks (namely Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and CIGNA) so it’s important to check provider participation. Although...
Annual Open Enrollment
The annual open enrollment period is upon us when you can evaluate plans in the new insurance marketplace and replace your existing policy if you so choose. Like in previous years there will be mandated changes to standard plan benefits for the next plan year. These...
Open Enrollment starts November 1!
The annual health insurance open enrollment period is fast approaching! This is the time when individuals and families already enrolled in ACA-compliant coverage can review their health insurance and make a plan change, and when those without coverage can enroll as...
Dental Insurance – Is it worth it?
If you are like the millions of Americans who don’t have dental insurance provided by an employer, you may wonder why there aren’t more “reasonable” insurance products available in the individual market. There is no shortage of individual dental plans; all medical...
Mergers & Acquisitions
Last month the Supreme Court ruled the ACA law (Obamacare) did not misstep in providing subsidies to residents of states with no state-run exchange (see June 29 blog entry, “Supreme Court decides to keep ACA subsidy”). A defeat could have led to a dismantling of the...
Supreme Court decides to keep ACA subsidy.
A big decision was made last week by the Supreme Court, which could have negatively impacted millions of Americans receiving health insurance subsidies in states where the federally run exchange is used. Known as the King v. Burwell case, the Court ruled against the...
Covered California (CoveredCA) Alert
Any one insured under CoveredCA, and receiving subsidies, should be aware of a recent development that may impact them. CoveredCA subsidy eligibility is based on the household’s Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) and is available for those whose annual income meets...
What to do while “locked-in”.
Many of us in individual health plans are unable to make a plan change outside of open enrollment. Unless you have a qualifying event, such as a change in family status, a move, or the loss of group health insurance, you may have to wait until open enrollment...
What is Special Enrollment?
Special Enrollment is a window of time outside of the annual open enrollment period during which you and your family can enroll in a healthcare plan. The next annual open enrollment period for the 2016 plan year is currently scheduled for November 1, 2015 – January...