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The Open Enrollment Ultimate Guide

Purchasing health insurance is not an easy job. You have to look at many healthcare plans and find out what makes you qualified for one. The good news is that the year 2020 will not bring any substantial change in the premiums. This does not mean that the prices didn’t surge! The change is, or shall we say ‘will be,’ not too extreme.

What Raises Healthcare Cost?

Prescription drugs and medical amenities! With technological advancements on the rise, a new mix of medical services that needed a lot of work hours can now be done in just a few hours. Also, specialty drugs still cost too much. With medical problems on the rise, the requirement for in-patient and out-patient has risen significantly. Thus, it’s more imperative than ever to buy health insurance for the next year.

Here’s a rapid recap of the Open Enrollment Period for the next year’s healthcare coverage:

• Early signs are that the rise in rates will be modest
• The plan will begin on the 1st of January (if you are not qualified for a plan, you should consider purchasing a short-term plan for the remaining months of 2020)
• If your application proves that you are qualified for reductions like cost-sharing, you will receive it in the next year’s plan too
• You won’t be subjected to any form of penalties for not having a healthcare plan. Nevertheless, you should still buy coverage
• There won’t be any widespread promotion by the Trump Administration concerning the open enrollment

Plenty of cuts have been made in the enrollment support program by the Trump Administration. So, don’t expect to see any marketing. Till this administration is in action, things will continue as they are. The funding for Navigator plans is already down to $10 million from $63 million. Because these programs helped US citizens find out which health insurance plan will work best for them, there’s a lot of confusion.

Let’s talk about choices. There are two ways to get Obamacare: you can either change your plan or enroll in an entirely new one. But first, you will have to be eligible for the Special Enrollment Period. Because the 2020 Open Enrollment Period is over, you can make the changes through a marketplace plan. Certain situations make you eligible for this. Let’s focus them in detail:

Changes in Household

You will be qualified for the Special Enrollment Period if anyone in your house has gone through the following changes in the last 60 days:

Got Married: Send in the application by the end of the month, and the cover will kick in the next morning from the 1st.

Adopted a Child/Had a Kid/Took in a Kid for Foster Care: The cover will begin when you have the baby or the kid through foster care.

Lawfully Separated/Divorced: Lost Health Insurance: If you get divorced but still have your health insurance, you are not qualified for the Special Enrollment Period.

Death: If someone on your current marketplace plan has perished and left you in a lurch, then you qualify for the Special Enrollment Period. This is only possible if you no longer have your prior health plan.

Changes in Home

The following household moves make you qualify for the Special Enrollment Period:

• If you purchased a new house and moved to another state or country (if the ZIP code changes, so do the plan)
• If you are moving from a foreign nation to the US
• If you are moving to a new place after completing school
• If your work takes you places, where you not only work but also settle for many years
• If you are moving from a shelter to a house

Note: If you are moving to a medical treatment facility or changing houses for vacation, you will not qualify for the Special Enrollment Period.

To ensure that you are indeed enrolled for the cover, you have to prove the previous health coverage you had in those 60 days. Here, you don’t have to prove your move to the US from a foreign nation.

Resources and References:

• Special Health Insurance Enrollment Period
• Pros of Obama Care Act