Ohio Council of Churches Time of Prayer Nov. 8 at noon
This statewide gathering on Zoom will offer prayers for a cease-fire in the Middle East, an end to gun violence terror, and post-election healing. Register here.
Statewide Suicide and Crisis Lifeline webinar Nov. 10 at noon
In this half-hour Zoom meeting, Ohio Moms Demand Action will explain how texting 988 can help people considering suicide or otherwise in crisis. Registration closes Nov. 9 at noon. RSVP here.
Help prevent medical debt
Over 15% of Ohioans have medical debt in collection, ranging from 14% for white communities to 21% for communities of color, according to a 2022 Urban Institute study. Please tell everyone you know about coverage available through the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment (Nov. 1- Jan. 16) and Ohio Medicaid(more about both below).
If you or someone you know needs help paying for a hospital bill, use the statewide nonprofit UHCAN-Ohio interactive map to access your local hospital’s financial assistance web page to check eligibility. Put in the zip code and radius, and the map will provide a list of hospitals with links to their financial aid policies.
How to help neighbors who lost Medicaid coverage but are still eligible
As of July, 28% of Ohioans were enrolled in Medicaid, including 1.3 million of our children. Thousands of children of working families qualify for CHIP even if their parents do not. States have been dropping millions of people from coverage this year due to the end of the pandemic, and 74% of the Ohioans who’ve lost Medicaid this year were dropped for procedural reasons – failure to complete the renewal process correctly. Many remain eligible. Even if they are not, they will probably qualify for substantial savings on the Marketplace plans, with open enrollment underway. Read more below on how they can use HealthCare.gov to shop for coverage.
Please ask the community emergency assistance programs your congregation supports if they help clients find out if they are currently eligible for Medicaid. If not, reach out to the closest federally qualified health center to ask if they can help people successfully complete Medicaid applications. Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services has a fairly user-friendly online application form at benefits.ohio.gov which allows you to create an account, fill out the form, and upload screenshots of required supporting documents from your computer or smart phone. It has a Medicaid Eligibility screening tool where you can help someone check if they are likely to qualify.
Open enrollment underway for Marketplace insurance: surprising good news!
Open Enrollment began Nov. 1 for Marketplace (“Obamacare”) plans for 2024. Despite steep inflation in health care costs and premiums, a surprising number of Ohio households whose employers don’t provide coverage will discover they qualify for zero monthly premiums in 2024. This is due to the Inflation Reduction Act, which increased federal subsidies to offset the cost of health insurance. Households that earn less than 250% of the federal poverty limit also qualify for cost-sharing benefits that could drop their deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses tremendously.
Open enrollment for 2024 continues through Jan. 16, 2024, but you must enroll by Dec. 15 to have coverage that begins on Jan. 1, 2024.
You can check your options on the “see plans and prices link” of HealthCare.gov by putting in your zip code, then your household size, ages, and gross (pre-tax) annual income. This tool will also alert you if your children are likely eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, which could save the family a lot of money.
For example, I window-shopped for a hypothetical Columbus family of four earning $45,000 a year, and found they qualify $835 a month towards premiums. With that subsidy, they qualify for a $0 premium silver plan with $0 deductible for most services, and a $3,100 out-of-pocket maximum. At this income, the two children would qualify for CHIP.
You can also get free help in your area from assisters (often staff of federally-qualified health centers or other non-profits) or health insurance agents. Use the Find Local Help button on the home page of HealthCare.gov
HealthCare.gov is the official federal website. I’ve included a screen shot so you recognize it. (There are many private sites that pop up when you google “Health Insurance Marketplace”). HealthCare.gov has valuable tools to help you find the best fit for your needs. You can add your preferred providers and prescriptions to see which plans include them. When you’re looking at plan overviews you can click “add yearly cost” to factor in your likely utilization: low, medium, or high. This will generate an estimated annual cost for each plan by adding premiums to out-of-pocket costs for health care and prescriptions. This is vital to finding the best coverage both in terms of the care you need and affordability. If you need a significant amount of care and have many prescriptions, the cheapest premium may not be your best protection financially.
In its early years, the Affordable Care Act’s Marketplace struggled to retain insurers, but competition is now robust. The Ohio Department of Insurance approved 12 companies to offer Marketplace plans for 2024, up from 11 this year. Seventy-four of Ohio’s 88 counties have five or more companies competing. Knox County is the only county with just two plans.
Here’s the Kaiser Family Foundation’s summary of the benefits available in 2024: “Although unsubsidized premiums are rising, the Inflation Reduction Act’s temporary enhancement of subsidies continues to make the vast majority of Marketplace shoppers eligible for financial help with the cost of coverage. These subsidies cap how much enrollees must spend on a benchmark silver plan premium as a share of their household income, meaning that most enrollees will be sheltered from the increases in the sticker price of the premium.”
Advocacy briefings are compiled by Ariel Miller, a longtime community advocate and member of Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming. Connect with her at arielmillerwriter@gmail.com
