California is open for business

California is open for business
Government shutdown does not affect those seeking health care options
Tuesday was the day Covered California went into effect. At 8am Oct 1, the marketplace opened for enrollment, more than three-and-a-half years after passage of the Affordable Care Act. The marketplaces opened as scheduled.
1) What do I need to do? If you already have insurance through your job or a public program such as Medi-Cal or Medicare, you don’t need to do anything. You already have insurance and nothing about your situation will change. The new marketplace is for people who are uninsured or who are buying insurance for themselves or their families, people like Schrago’s mother. About half of people currently buying insurance on their own are expected to get a subsidy, according to Kaiser Family Foundation.
2) How much will the insurance cost me? If you are one of those people buying insurance on the individual market, you can calculate your premium on the Covered California website located at https://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/
. Insurance companies can only use three factors to set premiums: your age, where you live and number of people in your family. Statewide, the average premium is about $375, but that will vary according to those three factors, plus the level of coverage you choose. Be sure to pay attention to details, because some of the cheaper plans have higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs.
3) What about subsidies? People earning from 138 – 400 percent of poverty (roughly $15,500 – $46,000 for an individual; $32,000 – $94,000 for a family of four) are eligible for subsidies. Covered California will show how much of a subsidy you may qualify for.
4) What about Medi-Cal? If your income is below 138 percent of poverty, you are eligible for the Medi-Cal expansion. Right now, people who are not disabled and do not have children are not eligible for Medi-Cal – no matter how low their income is. Starting Jan. 1, these childless adults will be eligible for the federal-state health insurance program, if their income is low enough to qualify.
5) Why do I need to buy health insurance, anyway? The Affordable Care Act includes an individual mandate that requires most to have health insurance or pay a penalty. In 2014, that penalty is $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. But the penalty goes up from there to $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016.
On Tuesday President Obama said: “This shutdown isn’t about spending or deficit or budgets,” Obama said. “This shutdown is about rolling back our efforts to provide health insurance to folks who don’t have it. This, more than anything else, seems to be what the Republican Party stands for these days.”
Federal agencies are under orders to close down all but essential functions after Congress hit a stalemate over funding government operations, with a critical faction of Republicans fighting to stop the Affordable Care Act from taking effect on Tuesday as it did.

We consulted the White House website for details and this image appears on our screen.
Image courtesy The White House

Google, in its never-ending quest for irony and humor based doodle on its site Tuesday. Knowing full well the Government shutdown affects all Federal parks but ironically, Yosemite should be celebrating its 123rd year. Click on the image, and Google will search for “Yosemite National Park.” You might get a link to the official Yosemite website, but following that link would be like showing up at the park Tuesday to celebrate the birthday. Yabba-Dabba-Doo-Boo-Boo.
Image – courtesy Google

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