Boca Raton, FL – August 15 is the final day for individuals to apply for 2021 Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. The federal government made this special enrollment period available due to the pandemic.
Now, many uninsured individuals are eligible for an ACA health insurance plan for NO monthly premium. $0. For 4 out of 5 ACA customers a plan is $10/month or less. Why the change?
The federal government’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) includes funding to increase eligibility for financial assistance to help make medical insurance through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) more affordable.
In the South Florida area there are currently more than 1 million uninsured residents. Here is the breakdown by county:
o Broward – 262,517 17.7%
o Indian River – 17,811 16.7%
o Martin – 16,131 15.3%
o Miami-Dade – 467,510 16.9%
o Monroe – 13,248 20.9%
o Okeechobee – 6,111 23.5%
o Palm Beach – 184,699 14.5%
o St. Lucie – 41,454 18.4%
Many of the uninsured residents in South Florida qualify for health insurance at no monthly cost. That means, at this time if they were to be hospitalized with COVID and they had a Florida Blue plan with a $0 monthly premium, their treatment would be covered at 100 percent, instead of them owing the possible average of $73,300, the average cost of hospitalization for COVID treatment for uninsured patients.
Anyone who received unemployment benefits at any time in 2021 is eligible for a $0 monthly plan for the remainder of the year.
ARP also made financial assistance available to many more people (300,000 Floridians) while lowering the monthly cost for those who already have ACA plans retroactive to January 2021.
• There is no longer an income cap on who is eligible for financial assistance toward individually-purchased (non-employer based) plans. Now, the amount anyone pays for an individual plan can be no more than 8.5 percent of their income.
• Persons/families whose income was near 400% of poverty level (roughly $100,000 for a family of four) may see some of the largest changes. They previously may have only qualified for a small subsidy. Now, their monthly insurance payment could be cut in half.
• A family of 4 earning as much as $202,000 per year may qualify for financial help making their monthly payment.
Individual health insurance is more affordable than people think and more important than ever. They should look again on www.healthcare.gov to see what they qualify for.
How to take action:
• Visit www.healthcare.gov
• Contact an agent
• Call Florida Blue at 800-352-2583
• Stop by a Florida Blue Center
Experts Available for Interviews:
Florida Blue, the state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, is the largest provider of ACA (Obamacare) plans in the state with roughly 1.2 million members enrolled in one. We have experts available to explain these changes, what it means to Floridians and where they can get assistance. Information on these changes is available on this educational website produced by Florida Blue: www.getcoveredflorida.com