Federal subsidies for 2024 mean more Georgians could qualify for marketplace health coverage costing as little as $10 per month.
Affordable Care Act open enrollment got underway in November.
Some key deadlines:
- Dec. 15 — The last day to sign up for plans beginning Jan. 1, 2024, if the first premium is paid.
- Jan. 15 — ACA open enrollment ends. It’s the last day to enroll in a plan for 2024 that begins Feb. 1.
At an event to promote open enrollment, Deanna Williams, an Insurance Navigator in central Georgia with the nonprofit policy group Georgians for a Healthy Future, said she has gotten a lot of calls this year from people asking what coverage is included in ACA marketplace plans.
“So we are helping them to apply in many ways,” Williams said. “We’re just making sure they have the plan that provides the coverage they need, whether they want a specific hospital or specific doctor, whether it’s making sure that they still get the coverage that’s catered to their health needs.”
Williams is among the dozens of free community-based insurance navigators around the state funded in part through the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for 2024 open enrollment.
“That’s a part of getting help with someone in your community. We are in the community, in rural communities. And we do have help in the metro Atlanta area,” Williams said.
Other changes this year in Georgia include the ongoing transition to the state-based marketplace Georgia Access.
Insurance shoppers can find information about open enrollment at either Georgia Access or the federal ACA exchange HealthCare.gov, which is currently accessible through Georgia Access.
Advocates have long expressed concern over the timing of the state’s launch of the Georgia Access marketplace.
“Even on Georgia Access right now, it is going to redirect you over to healthcare.gov so you can visit the site just to give you information. But please visit healthcare.gov to enroll in completed application,” said Williams.
Georgia’s state-based marketplace transition is expected to be complete by next year.
The Georgia Access state-based marketplace model was initially green-lit by the Trump administration, then blocked by the Biden administration, which objected to Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan to allow insurance companies to offer plans with the minimum health coverage options required under the ACA while also offering plans with lesser coverage.
The state later agreed to offer only federally compliant plans.
“We have a responsibility to cover Georgians, of going and providing that marketplace for Georgians to get access to health insurance,” State Insurance Commissioner John King said. “And we understand Georgia better than the federal government does.”
So far during this open-enrollment period, nearly 7.3 million Americans have signed up for a marketplace plan, including almost 544,000 Georgians, according to CMS.
