Insurance companies waiting for info from feds before confirming coverage

I’ve been receiving panicked calls from people I helped enroll or re-enroll in Moda Health or Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance plans prior to Dec. 15 through the Affordable Care Act. They say they have yet to hear from the insurance companies since their enrollment on healthcare.gov, and they are worried they won’t be covered Jan.1.

I don’t think anyone would be too shocked to know that the federal government is a little behind the curve when it comes to processing ACA health plan enrollments. But I figured it’d be a good idea to let folks know that if they enrolled in a Moda Health or Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan in the last couple of weeks through healthcare.gov, there’s a good chance their insurance company has not yet received their enrollments yet because of a backlog in the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Although many of the folks I assisted ended up owing nothing per month for their premiums because their income qualified them for a large monthly tax credit, they still want to be sure their new policy will kick in at the first of the year. Others want to be sure they are able to pay their first premium before Jan. 1, so they will be covered right away.

It is my understanding that Moda and Premera are well aware of the delay in the federal data feeds and are doing their best to get everyone processed as quickly as possible to make sure they are covered by the first of the year. If worse comes to worst, the coverage will be retroactive, I believe.

This only holds true only for those able to get enrolled or renewed by Dec. 15. The policies for those who enroll between Dec. 16 and Jan. 15 won’t kick in until Feb. 1. If you were enrolled in an ACA plan this year and did not go back to healthcare.gov and resubmit your application and get a new tax credit determination for 2015 by Dec. 15, the insurance company most likely auto-enrolled you, which means you will most likely be paying a higher premium in January than you had this year. You can still go back to your ACA account on healthcare.gov and re-apply, but your lower premium rate won’t kick in until Feb. 1, if you do it by Jan. 15.

Also, those who were enrolled in an ACA policy for 2014 and renewed their coverage for 2015 in a health plan that was the same or very similar to the one they had this year will not get a new insurance card. They will use the same card they had for 2014.

I am currently taking appointments to help those who wish to be covered by Feb. 1. Please give me a call at Mat-Su Health Services at 352-3225 to find out if you qualify for help paying for coverage. You can also get free assistance from insurance brokers Enroll Alaska at 1-800-385-5550, or the Wilson Agency at 770-5100, or by calling the healthcare.gov call center directly at 1-800-318-2596.

K.T. (Kate) McKee is a Certified Application Counselor for the Affordable Care Act at Mat-Su Health Services Inc., in Wasilla.