Residents have until Tuesday, Dec. 15, to sign up for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) health insurance.
After Tuesday, residents may have to wait another year to sign up, unless they have special circumstances. Residents may sign up at the website, HealthCare.gov.
For Wyandotte County residents, there are about 49 plans to choose from this year, up significantly from last year. New companies included Oscar, Cigna, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. Still participating are Medica and Ambetter.
The Marketplace website lists doctors and hospitals that are on the provider list for each plan offered. For hospitals in Wyandotte County, Providence Medical Center is only on the Ambetter plans, while the University of Kansas Health System is on Ambetter, Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Kansas City, Medica and Oscar. Neither hospital is listed on the Cigna plan.
There are plans available this year for persons who are in need, also. Plans are available for as little as $10 a month, depending on income. Those who have been left without health insurance during the pandemic are encouraged to sign up. It’s also recommended that those who had coverage through ACA last year should go back to the HealthCare.gov website this year, re-evaluate their coverage and sign up.
Assistance is available from 1-800-318-2596 and localhelp.healthcare.gov.
A good resource on selecting a health insurance policy is at the Kansas Insurance Department’s website at https://insurance.ks.gov/documents/healthlife/health/KID-Issue-Brief.pdf.
Blue Cross-Blue Shield of KC re-enters market
Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Kansas City is back in the ACA market this year, after an absence of a couple of years. This year the company offers plans with access to its Spira Care program, including a location at 98th and Troup. It also has a behavioral health component. There are many hospitals and thousands of physicians in the program, according to a spokesman.
According to a spokesman, hospitals in the BlueSelect Network include AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, Cameron Regional Medical Center, Liberty Hospital, North Kansas City Hospital, Olathe Medical Center, Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill, Truman Medical Center Lakewood, University of Kansas Hospital, and hospitals in the Blue Select Plus Network include all of the previous hospitals plus Children’s Mercy Hospital Hill and South.
Jenny Housley, senior vice president and chief marketing officer with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, said the Spira Care program launched in January 2018 and has been very successful in the experience members have had with the care and benefits they are able to access. Spira Care centers are comfortable, welcoming places for members to go to to get their care, she said. With pharmacy services, x-rays and behavioral health, it is an all-in-one stop for many customers, she added.
Blue Cross-Blue Shield of KC officials said that they exited the Marketplace in January of 2018 because they lost a significant amount of money in the four years they were in it previously. Through 2016 they had lost more than $100 million. At the time they exited, the level of uncertainty and lack of clarity for the individual market was at an all-time high for 2017, making it difficult to plan for the future, according to officials.
For the past few years, they feel the premiums in the market have stabilized a little and are at more sustainable levels now, according to Blue Cross-Blue Shield of KC officials.
Also, the impact of COVID-19 has been significant this year, with more people needing access, officials said.
In the 32-county Kansas City area covered by ACA today, there are about 71,000 Blue Cross members, officials said. Blue Cross-Blue Shield of KC officials believe they have created an opportunity for consumers to purchase products at really affordable price points, and with the addition of Spira Care, consumers will love that they can go into care centers and have positive experiences without any money out of pocket, except for prescription costs.