Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Law Signups, Traffic To Healthcare.gov Surge In First Few Days Of Open Enrollment
A record number of people signed up for ObamaCare in the first few days of open enrollment this year compared to the same period in previous years, several sources close to the process told The Hill. The surge in sign-ups, which was confirmed by an administration official, comes despite fears from Democrats that enrollment would fall off due to the Trump administration's cutbacks in outreach and advertising. (Sullivan, 11/6)
More than 200,000 Americans chose a plan on Nov. 1, the day open enrollment began, according to one administration official. That鈥檚 more than double the number of consumers who signed up on the first day of enrollment last year. More than 1 million people visited HeathCare.gov, the official federal website, the official said, which amounts to roughly a 33 percent increase in traffic compared with 2016. These figures capture only a portion of the nation鈥檚 overall ACA enrollment, because they encompass states that either use the federal health-care marketplace or rely on its website for their consumers to sign up for coverage. More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia run their own programs and do not use HealthCare.gov. (Eilperin, 11/6)
It's open enrollment for Americans buying health insurance through the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. This year's enrollment period has been cut in half, and some consumers may face higher premiums because the Trump administration has discontinued cost-sharing payments that used to subsidize insurance providers for covering low-income customers. (Chakrabarti, 11/6)
President Donald Trump's 90 percent cut to Obamacare advertising has U.S. health insurers in many states digging deeper into their pockets to get the word out about 2018 enrollment, which opened last week. Independence Blue Cross, a health insurer in Pennsylvania, has commissioned a tractor trailer truck to bring insurance consultants out to shopping centers and other neighborhood spots around Philadelphia. (Humer, 11/6)
Holly Monger seems like an unlikely candidate for short-term health insurance, the type of just-in-case policy known for being cheap and skimpy. She's self-employed, helping clients wade through mountains of medical bills to appeal on their behalf or to educate them about health insurance options. When it came to buying her own plan, the Obamacare public health insurance exchange was too expensive, Monger says. So last year she bought a short-term policy with a roughly $400 monthly premium, less than half the cost of a private plan she looked at. She'll pay the $695 federal tax penalty, too, since her plan doesn't meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act; it doesn't cover preventive care, for example. (Schorsch, 11/6)
Meanwhile, on the topic of picking employer-based coverage --
If you get health insurance from your employer, you have to make decision every year about which coverage to choose. So here is a warning: If you are simply sticking with an old plan with a low deductible, that may well be a wrong and costly choice. ... Because of human quirks, lack of understanding and overly complicated plans, many people are paying more without getting anything extra in return. (Thaler, 11/4)
Doing a thorough comparison of health care plans is difficult. But there is an imperfect, yet fairly, simple way to check whether a high-deductible plan might qualify for 鈥渘o-brainer鈥 status, meaning, it enables you to save on health care no matter how often you go to the doctor. Here鈥檚 how to do it. (Thaler, 11/4)
