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for health and life Insurance!
Get Rates & Plans Now

Or call today!
877-734-3884

ACA September 2021

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Volume 3, Number 24

Latest News and Updates

The COVID-19 special enrollment period ended effective August 16 and individuals and families can now apply for an Affordable Care Act plan with effective dates before January 1, 2022 ONLY if they experience a “qualifying life event.”

Open enrollment for 2022 will be extended (the starting date is November 1 and the ending date is January 15). Open enrollment occurred between November 1 and December 15 during the Trump Administration. New carriers will be entering the market and some present carriers will be offering coverage in new counties and states; some carriers may also be making network and other changes, as well.

Short-Term Health Insurance and Medical Cost Sharing continue to be attractive alternatives for those who aren’t eligible to enroll in ACA plans or who are either ineligible for tax subsidies or eligible only for small subsidies.

COVID-19 SPECIAL ELECTION PERIOD HAS ENDED

The COVID-19 special election period that ran from February 15 through August 15 on healthcare.gov has ended for states that participate on healthcare.gov (e.g. Florida). If you live in a state that does not participate on healthcare.gov and runs its own state exchange, check with your state exchange, as some state exchanges have extended this special election period past August 15 and have different rules/enrollment dates for this SEP.

The COVID-19 special election period essentially operated like it was an open enrollment period. This meant that applicants did not have to provide proof of a qualifying life event. If applicants lived in a plan’s service area, had legal U.S. residency, and were not incarcerated, they were permitted to enroll as of the first of the month after they made the application.

Applicants wishing to enroll in an ACA plan with an effective date before January 1, 2022, can now apply ONLY if they have a qualifying life event, e.g. a move outside the plan’s service area, loss of employer group coverage, loss of Medicaid eligibility, marriage or divorce, or gain or loss of an eligible dependent. Most special enrollment periods last 60 days and require applicants to have had prior coverage, so applicants must enroll within the period permitted by the type of SEP they qualify for and submit proof of qualifying for the special enrollment. In most cases, they must enroll before the 15^th of the month for their plan to be effective the first of the following month. Otherwise, enrollment will be effective the first day of the second following month.

Where proof of the qualifying life event is required, applicants will have 30 days to provide such proof, and coverage will be pended until acceptable proof is submitted. Once such proof is submitted, coverage will be retroactive to the effective date of coverage established when application was submitted..

Individuals who qualified for premium-free COBRA assistance were eligible to receive such assistance starting April 1 and running through the earlier of the date their eligibility for COBRA ended or September 30. Individuals who lose premium-free COBRA are eligible for a special election period. Please see this explanation from healthcare.gov for more information.

2022 OPEN ENROLLMENT

Open enrollment during the Trump Administration ran from November 1 through December 15 for a January 1 enrollment period. Although final guidelines have not been published as of the date of this writing, President Biden has proposed that open enrollment in states that participate in the Federal exchange (healthcare.gov) for 2022 run from November 1 through January 15. Those who enroll before December 16 will have effective dates of coverage of January 1. Those who enroll between December 16 through January 15 will have an effective date of February 1.

The rules concerning qualification for tax subsidies and cost sharing reductions will remain as liberalized by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This means that most people who qualify for subsidies will receive higher subsidies than they would have received before passage of ARPA and that many people who make more than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level will qualify for subsidies for the first time. However, these liberalized qualification rules will sunset as of December 31, 2022 unless Congress extends the rules past that date.

The special rule that persons who received at least one week of unemployment compensation during 2021 were considered to earn 133% of the Federal Poverty level will not apply during 2022.

Federal poverty guidelines that will apply for purposes of calculating 2022 subsidies will be published during September, and details of 2022 plans will be published in September or October.

More carriers will be entering the market in 2022, and some existing carriers will be expanding networks and possibly making other changes. For example, both United Healthcare and Aetna will be offering plans in some areas of Florida (including South Florida) in 2022. Existing carriers (Ambetter, AvMed Bright, CIGNA, Molina, and Oscar) offering coverage in South Florida will continue to offer coverage in 2022, and some of these carriers will be extending coverage to additional counties and states.

Details of 2022 plans have not been announced, but we will keep readers posted concerning 2022 plans as details are announced.

SHORT-TERM HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS AND MEDICAL COST SHARING PLANS

Short-Term Health Insurance and Medical Cost Sharing Plans will continue to be alternatives to Affordable Care Act plans. These plans are offered on a year-round basis and are not subject to restricted enrollment periods.

Short-Term Health Insurance plans continue to be offered and while President Biden was expected to curtail how long these programs could be offered, such plans are available for up to three years (in one year increments) in Florida, and plans with increments of one year or less can still be purchased at a discount for those who pay on a lump sum basis.

Both Short-Term Health Insurance plans and Medical Cost Sharing plans are attractive options for those who can’t qualify for a special enrollment period or who aren’t eligible for or who receive limited tax subsidies.

Please contact us at 561-734-3884 or 877-734-3884 for additional details or to determine if either of these types of plans make sense for you.

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HEALTH

DENTAL

MEDICARE

DISABILITY

LIFE

2022 Schedule
Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment will begin November 1, 2021 and end January 15, 2022
on the federal facilitated marketplace for 2022 plans.

Between August 16 and October 31, 2021 you can enroll in a plan
ONLY if you have a “qualifying life event.”

You may be eligible to enroll for another type of plan.
Call us at 561-734-3884 or 877-734-3884 for details.

2022 Schedule
Medicare Annual Enrollment Period

Medicare Annual Enrollment begins October 15, 2021 and
ends December 7, 2021 for a January 1, 2022 effective date.

You’re eligible to enroll now if you’re first becoming eligible for
Medicare or are eligible for another type of enrollment period.
Enrollment rules differ between Medicare Supplement plans and
Medicare Advantage, Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug,
and stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans.

Call us at 561-734-3884 or 877-734-3884 for details.

Get Rates & Plans Now

We offer a comprehensive set of Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) plans

to individuals and families qualified to buy health (tax- and non-tax subsidized) insurance and dental/vision and/or hearing plans through the Federal marketplace (this is called buying “on-exchange” or “on-marketplace”) or directly from insurance carriers (this is referred to as buying “off-exchange or -marketplace”). Our Affordable Care Act policies comply with the Affordable Care Act and contain all of the “essential health benefits” required by that law.

The dental/vision and/or hearing insurance

products are available both on an insured or discount basis

We offer short-term health insurance policies

for those who are looking for more inexpensive coverage and shorter term alternatives.

We offer Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage, and Part D Drug plans

to Medicare beneficiaries. Our site is compliant with federal, state, and carrier guidelines in selling these policies. See the Medicare section of this site for details.

We represent many carriers that offer supplemental benefits

to both individuals and families and Medicare beneficiaries, and the site contains information about hospital indemnity, cancer, critical illness, gap, accident, and international medical insurance offered by many different carriers. This section of the site also contains valuable information and tools about lowering the cost of prescription medications. Call us if you want more information about or would like to enroll in one of these products.

We also offer Short- and Long-Term Disability products

and can also help you meet the costs of long-term care, nursing home, or short-term (recovery) care needs.

Finally, we have a complete array of Life, Final Expense, and Annuity products

and offer pre-need services in Florida, as we have both life insurance and pre-need licenses in that state.

You pay nothing for our services:

we’re paid directly from the carriers we represent, Premiums are NEVER EVER marked up to include paying us for our services: you pay the same whether you order directly from the carrier or the marketplace on your own or directly through us or from our site.

We ONLY offer alternatives that are suitable for you and for which we feel meet YOUR needs.
When or if we feel a product or service is not appropriate for you from either a cost or benefit point of view we will tell you so.

We’re fully compliant with privacy and security guidelines, have signed all required privacy and security agreements, have developed a privacy and security policy, and take extraordinary steps to safeguard your protected health and personal information.
In short, we’re experts in all aspects of health and life insurance and also have relationships with professionals who can help you with very specialized situations.

More choices
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Or call today!

877-734-3884

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