Consumers Must Enroll by Midnight on Dec. 15 to Be Covered
on Jan. 1
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As the Dec. 15 deadline to enroll for health insurance
starting in January arrived, Covered
California released a list of the top areas in the Central Valley where
high numbers of people who qualify for subsidized health insurance are believed
to reside.
The “hot spots” released today show the estimated highest
concentrations of subsidy-eligible uninsured individuals — people who qualify
for help to buy health insurance through Covered California but have not yet
taken advantage of it.
“Covered California works across all of California, but the
maps help us focus our efforts on areas where we know many who are still
uninsured live,” Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee said.
“Everyone who needs health insurance, or knows someone who does, should know
they can get financial help to pay for top-brand health insurance coverage, and
if they enroll by midnight tonight, their coverage can start on Jan. 1.”
According to Covered California, the “hot spots” shown on
the maps at www.CoveredCA.com/news/pdfs/CoveredCA_Heat_Map_Central_Valley.pdf
generally contain more remaining subsidy-eligible individuals per capita than
the rest of the region. For example, while Covered California estimates that
2.5 percent of the state’s overall population is subsidy-eligible, the maps
show:
- More than 10 percent of the population in both Bakersfield and Visalia’s hot spots is subsidy-eligible, more than four times the state average.
- 5.7 percent of the population in Fresno’s hot spots is subsidy-eligible, more than twice the state average.
“If you live in one of these areas — in Clovis or Reedley,
in Bakersfield or Oildale, or in Visalia or Goshen — and you do not have health
insurance, now is the time to get covered,” Lee said. “This is our opportunity
to build healthier communities throughout the Central Valley and the rest of
the state.”
Covered
California has redoubled its enrollment outreach efforts in the region,
including:
- Working to expand the number of storefronts in neighborhood hot spots.
- Working on the ground with Certified Insurance Agents and community partners to ensure that enrollment events are located in optimal locations and that residents in hot-spot communities are aware of enrollment locations nearby.
- Conducting more than a dozen interviews with Spanish-language and Asian-language media and highlighting hot spots by name to reach Spanish speakers and Asian-language speakers in their neighborhoods.
- Scheduling phone banks in partnership with English- and Spanish-language news outlets and promoting enrollment in specific neighborhoods.
- Launching an intensive enrollment effort in communities where high numbers of subsidy-eligible African-Americans reside, by going door to door to canvass with street teams; visiting barber shops, hair care salons and other small businesses; and deploying the “Van with a Plan” (a branded Covered California van) to areas where high numbers of subsidy-eligible uninsured Californians live.
As of Sunday, Dec. 13, more than 140,000
Californians had selected plans through Covered California since open
enrollment began on Nov. 1.
“Our research indicates that one-third of those eligible to
get financial help to buy insurance don’t know it’s available,” Lee said. “We
want to leave no stone unturned and make sure our message reaches into
neighborhoods throughout the state, especially those where we believe the
highest number of the eligible uninsured live.”
Covered California estimates that 750,000 people in the
state are eligible for help paying for their health insurance but remain
uninsured, with 33,000 of them living in the four counties — Fresno, Kings,
Madera and Kern — that comprise Covered California’s pricing regions 11 and 14.
An additional 1.4 million people statewide are believed to qualify for low-cost
or no-cost Medi-Cal, with 63,000 of them living in the region.
Enrollment locations can be found by visiting www.CoveredCA.com/get-help/local and searching for enrollment
help by ZIP code. In addition, hundreds of locations with Covered California
signage mark places where consumers can enroll confidentially and at no cost in
a variety of languages.
Covered California developed the maps by combining
estimates of eligibility for coverage under the Affordable Care Act from a
model of California insurance markets that was developed by the University of
California, Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy Research and the University
of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education, known as the
California Simulation of Insurance Markets (or CalSIM), and from U.S. Census
data from the American Community Survey.
The model accounts for individuals who are eligible for
other sources of coverage (Medi-Cal, Medicare or job-based coverage), as well
as those who are undocumented.
The estimates also incorporate Covered California’s
currently enrolled consumers (as of July 2015).
To find out more about the health plans and options available,
consumers can visit www.CoveredCA.com. Consumers can get a quick assessment of
how much it would cost to buy health insurance by clicking on “Shop and Compare,”
and they can apply for coverage online. Open enrollment continues through Jan.
31.
About Covered California
Covered California is the state’s marketplace for the
federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Covered California, in
partnership with the California Department of Health Care Services, was charged
with creating a new health insurance marketplace in which individuals and small
businesses can get access to affordable health insurance plans. Covered
California helps individuals determine whether they are eligible for premium
assistance that is available on a sliding-scale basis to reduce insurance costs
or whether they are eligible for low-cost or no-cost Medi-Cal. Consumers can
then compare health insurance plans and choose the plan that works best for
their health needs and budget. Small businesses can purchase competitively
priced health insurance plans and offer their employees the ability to choose
from an array of plans and may qualify for federal tax credits.
Covered California is an independent part of the state
government whose job is to make the new market work for California’s consumers.
It is overseen by a five-member board appointed by the governor and the
Legislature. For more information about Covered California, please visit www.CoveredCA.com.
