Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Enrollment Outreach Takes Multiple Forms
The pitch for health care coverage is being made at nail salons, pizzerias, mosques and even bars. As the second enrollment period under President Barack Obama's health care law begins, advocates are employing new tactics and expanding old ones to reach people who need insurance. Some groups are targeting populations they believe slipped through the cracks during the last enrollment period. (Sanner, 11/16)
Two very successful state health insurance exchanges, Connecticut’s and California’s, are both intent on reaching people who avoided signing up last year – especially young Latinos and African-Americans. "The big takeaway for us last year was that the uninsured were really pocketed in a couple of key, large cities," says Jason Madrak, the chief marketing officer of Access Health CT, in Connecticut. In light of that, he says, the exchange has changed its ad strategy. "We’ve dialed up some of the more locally-focused efforts while we’ve dialed down some of the broader efforts," he says. (Cohen and Demboskey, 11/14)
Some news outlets take a look at how dynamics within state marketplaces are impacting the cost of coverage and the alternatives that might be available to consumers. And, in the background, the individual mandate continues to be an issue with the public -
The tens of thousands of people on the state health exchange who find themselves shopping for new, cheaper policies can blame Colorado's first nonprofit health insurance cooperative. Colorado HealthOP recently upended the state marketplace by undercutting the lowest prices for mid-level, or silver, health plans, dragging down tax credits for all. Yet this market volatility uncorked by Colorado HealthOP is a design feature of the Affordable Care Act. (Draper, 11/17)
Many of the 148,000 people who bought private health insurance this year through Colorado’s exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, are facing disheartening news this month and must decide within weeks whether to renew their plans and pay more, switch to lower-cost coverage or opt out altogether. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 11/14)
John Uit de Flesch is among a small but growing number of Christians joining health care sharing ministries, in which members agree to abide by Christian lifestyle principles and contribute to each other’s medical expenses. Four long-standing ministries – Christian Healthcare Ministries, Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share and Samaritan Ministries – qualify as an alternative to health insurance under the ACA. That means members won’t face tax penalties. As with insurance, they make monthly payments, though they’re called shares rather than premiums, and pay a fixed amount out of pocket, much like deductibles. Methods of getting that money to members with covered medical bills vary: Some ministries handle the billing, while one oversees a system in which payments are sent directly from one member to another. (Helms, 11/16)
More uninsured people say they would rather pay the Obamacare penalty under the law’s individual mandate this year, than buy health insurance on the health exchanges. (Ehley, 11/14)
