Gov't announces health insurance enrollment numbers for 1st 2 months
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Covered Illinois urges consumers to seek enrollment assistance from
statewide navigator network
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[December 13, 2013]
CHICAGO — The U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services released numbers on Wednesday for the
first two months of enrollment under the federal Affordable Care
Act, These figures indicate that 67,936 applications on behalf of
124,252 individuals from Illinois have been completed and that 7,043
people have selected a private health care plan through the
healthcare.gov website
since Oct. 1.
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The new data was released days after federal officials announced
major improvements to the federal website,
healthcare.gov. With these
critical improvements, the state's Get Covered Illinois program is
now ramping up for an enrollment push leading up to Dec. 23, the
first of a series of key enrollment dates. Consumers must enroll in
a health plan by Dec. 23 and have paid a premium by Dec. 31 in order
to have coverage on Jan. 1 through the plans offered on the Illinois
Health Insurance Marketplace, which is accessed through
healthcare.gov. The full
open enrollment period runs through March 31. The numbers released
show that of the completed Illinois applications, 73,949 people are
eligible to enroll in a marketplace health plan, and 28,689 of them
qualify for federal financial subsidies. In addition, 30,446 people
are being transferred to the state for potential eligibility for
Medicaid, although the final Medicaid determination rests with the
state.
"These numbers show the federal website has improved, but there
is still more work to do," said Jennifer Koehler, executive director
of Get Covered Illinois. "A lot of people still need coverage and
have been exploring their options on
Getcoveredillinois.gov.
We can see this from the traffic on the website and from the reports
we are getting from our statewide network of community partners, who
are helping consumers sort through their options and enroll every
day.
"There is still plenty of time left to pick a plan that meets
your needs. If you need assistance, you can locate one of our nearby
community partners by visiting
Getcoveredillinois.gov.
They have staff trained to help you explore all of your options."
Illinois officials said traffic on the
Getcoveredillinois.gov
website — where consumers can compare all plans — has remained
steady, with 529,650 website visits since Oct. 1 and more than
245,800 users of the screening tool that leads users either to the
federal website or the state's new Medicaid eligibility site,
ABE.illinois.gov. The ABE site, or Application for Benefits
Eligibility, has received more than 82,000 applications, which are
in addition to those reported Wednesday by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
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Get Covered Illinois is urging health care consumers to take
advantage of the assistance that is being offered via the Web, over
the phone and in person through hundreds of community partners
across the state:
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You can visit the
GetCoveredIllinois website, which includes a
Spanish-language version.
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You can call the Get Covered Illinois help desk at 866-311-1119.
Operators are available each day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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You can meet in person with a specially trained "navigator," who
can help you understand your options and even enroll at one of the
hundreds of partner sites across the state. There are more than
1,500 navigators, and they can be located by visiting the website
and entering your ZIP code, or through the help desk.
Get Covered Illinois officials have concentrated resources in the
field, as grantee partners around the state conduct local activities
designed to educate communities on the benefits of enrolling and the
educational resources available to help consumers understand their
options and how to shop.
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Follow Get Covered Illinois:
Website: http://getcoveredillinois.gov/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CoveredIllinois
Twitter: @CoveredIllinois
Hashtag: #GetCoveredIllinois
[Text from
Get Covered Illinois news release]
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