Open enrollment for the healthcare Marketplace in Virginia begins today, and to provide some information on that, we interviewed Emma Goodacre from the Young Invincibles.
Q: So tell us what the Young Invincibles is.
A: So Young Invincibles is a national non-profit. We are focused on amplifying the voices of millennials from 18 to 34 across the country. And we also want to expand economic opportunity for our generation. One of the predominant ways that we do this in Virginia is we focus a lot on helping people access affordable and quality healthcare options. So that’s the majority of what I do as a Virginia Training & Outreach Coordinator. We host free, open to the public classrooms year-round, on health insurance literacy, helping people understand everything from coverage to care. We’ll run through like ‘what’s a deductible’ and a lot of key terms that especially young people may not be familiar with. And then during open enrollment, we’re going to be doing a lot of great work over the next couple weeks, to help people find the best coverage for them.
Q: So right now, you’ve got a push to help young people with this. What are some of the challenges that you’ve seen in the past – and this doesn’t really have to be with young people – but especially with young people, in trying to get insurance in the marketplace?
A: We’ve seen, I would say maybe a couple different challenges. I would say it would start with saying that a lot of the biggest challenges probably be that people don’t know what their options are. And that’s where our education work comes into play a lot. They may be confused by the political environment and they’re [just] not sure that they’re going to be able to get assistance, or if they’re going to be able to get any help. And I find that when they come to any of our classrooms or events, they feel better. We actually have a survey question on our evaluation as to if they feel more confident about understanding their health insurance. And generally we get a score of about 8 to 10 out of 10. So hopefully that helps.
So we try to help them in that sense, and get them the resources and education that they need. Another problem that we have faced is that unfortunately for young people, if they can’t be on their parents health insurance plan, that does seem to be a barrier too. Especially as a student, in which case when they connect with us, and are able to get coverage hopefully through the Marketplace, that’s a real success.
Q: So, tell us about what’s happening with the ACA right now, and how that impacts Prince William County residents?
A: So there is actually quite a bit confusion surrounding everything with healthcare and health insurance right now. So to dispel a couple of the myths out there, the first one is that the Affordable Care Act, known as the ACA or Obamacare, is the law of the land. And people will be able to enroll in insurance plans and have those plans through the end of next year. So going on right now, we’re getting ready for open enrollment, that starts November 1 and it runs through December 15, which is a shorter window than what we’re used to. So I do want to highlight that December 15th date. If you’re looking to get or re-enroll in coverage starting on January 1, 2018, then you really want to make sure that you’re focusing on those six weeks. And you can find some really great resources here in Virginia, especially with Enroll Virginia, you can access them at EnrollVirginia.com/get-help, if you want to get in-person assistance with that.
Q: So what types of plans exist – like what sort of assistance for Prince William County residents are there?
A: Yeah, that’s a great question. So there’s actually quite a bit of assistance, and a lot of affordable options are available. The assistance is still going on, and actually 80% of consumers who apply for coverage end up with some form, if not multiple forms, of assistance. And 8 out of 10 people could get plans for $100 a month or less, when you factor in that assistance.
Q: So let’s talk about the different kinds of plans that are available?
A: Yeah, so there’s a full range of tiers of coverage on the Marketplace that you can access. They range from bronze all the way up to platinum, basically the biggest difference here being is that it’s going to be split between what the consumer is going to pay out-of-pocket, and what the insurance will cover for you. So if you’re at a bronze level plan, the premiums are going to usually be less per month, however your out-of-pocket costs are going to be higher. These types of plans could work really well if you’re for example, a healthy college student, you’re looking to pay a little less per month, and you just want to use your preventive care hopefully in your annual checkups, then those types of plans might work really well for you, as long as you remember that your out-of-pocket expenses will be higher if you do need to seek more care.
On the other side of it, the top plans – the platinum plans – they’re gonna be probably more expensive per month, but they’re going to cover a lot more of your out-of-pocket costs and those might work really well, for example, for a family of four who maybe have some chronic conditions and they need to seek medication, and more doctor’s visits, maybe specialists, things like that. So you really want to make sure that you’re looking at what works best for you, and or your family. And feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions, and we can walk you through it.
Q: And I know that we want to make sure that people know that there’s a shorter timeframe this year. So just tell us about, you know, the timeframe they have to enroll compared to what they might be used to in the past?
A: Yeah, so in the past there was a three month window where they could enroll, and it’s been cut in half to six weeks. So that’s really important to remember is that you really want to save the date of November 1, that’s when it starts, and it runs through December 15. And we will be available all six weeks to help people, to answer their questions, we’ll be out here in the community right in Prince William County, so let us know if you need anything.
Q: How can people actually get ahold of your organization, whether it be website or Facebook – do you have those options?
A: Yeah, so we are online at YoungInvincibles.org. We also do have a Facebook and a Twitter account. And if people are looking to get help right here in Prince William County, I’m a resident of Prince William County, I’m here. I’m probably going to be working Mondays through Saturdays, six days a week for open enrollment, sometimes Sundays. So if people want to reach out to me directly, we can provide my email address and phone number – people can comment on this as well, and I will follow up with them.
Here is the contact information mentioned in the interview:
Marketplace
Open for consumers November 1st-December 15
Website: https://www.healthcare.gov/
24/7 phone assistance: 1-800-318-2596
***People can now window shop for plans NOW: https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/
Enroll Virginia
in-person assistance: http://www.enrollva.org/get-help/
Young Invincibles
Virginia Representative: emma.goodacre@younginvincibles.org
Virginia Events: http://bit.ly/2gH6zKg
Website: http://younginvincibles.org/
