Open Enrollment for individual health plans is underway, but the political climate has created much confusion and angst for consumers. Below is a list of tips, considerations, and truths for this open enrollment period, which runs from November 1, 2017 through December 15, 2017, and through January 31, 2018 in California. You can also download our guide to buying insurance.
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Employers provide health insurance benefits to their employees and families because they want to be competitive with other employers, retain their workforce; and maybe, as a result of the employer mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act, are required to offer health insurance to avoid penalties.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Tibble v. Edison International, a lawsuit that centered on an alleged breach of fiduciary duty by a 401(k) plan sponsor. On May 18th, the Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion on Tibble.
In a post ACA world, employers who offer COBRA payments for a period after an employee’s termination should be VERY CLEAR that when employer COBRA severance ends, the terminated employee will pay the entire COBRA payment and will NOT be able to purchase a less expensive individual health plan outside of the open enrollment period.
We are on the eve of Covered CA’s 2nd open enrollment period, consumers be ready. Here is a list of 5 lessons learned from the first open enrollment period that will help those that need to buy health insurance during the 2nd open enrollment:
Medi-Cal, the California version of Medicaid, was expanded by the Affordable Care Act. Medi-Cal is available for those that qualify, regardless of affordable health insurance offered through an employer. This makes Medi-Cal an important option for low-wage earning employees to consider when evaluating their health insurance options, and an important benefit educational item for their employers.
One VERY significant change to the individual health insurance market made by The Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare) is the implementation of open enrollment and special enrollment periods. Prior to the ACA, an individual could purchase health insurance from an insurance carrier anytime, but the insurance carrier could reject an application, based on a pre-existing condition of the applicant.