Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Exchanges Open October 1, 2013

This is a monumental change in the history of healthcare insurance.

September 30, 2013 | 3 min reading time

This article is 11 years old. It was published on September 30, 2013.

StethoscopeBeginning tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1, the Affordable Care Act (a/k/a Obamacare) health insurance exchanges will open.  This is a monumental change in the history of healthcare insurance.  Even so, it is built upon what already exists, and so there is a lot of confusion of old and new, existing policies and institutions as well as new policies and institutions. There is a lot of information, misinformation, and confusion swirling about in the media these days about what this means.  Frankly, it is all pretty complicated, as you might expect.  Take a portion of healthcare, a dose of insurance, a dab of tax law, a cup of entitlement benefit;  add a few pinches of politics, mix it all together and voila, what do you think you have?  The Affordable Care Act.  Each one of these components of the health insurance exchange recipe is complicated on its own.  And, what this means for every American is as varied as every American and their income level, medical condition, lifestyle, age, family, etc. are varied.

What I believe is that our country is founded on certain inalienable rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and that health is the sine qua non foundation for all of these. In fact, the purpose of government is to preserve and protect health, safety and welfare.  Our Missouri State seal translated from Latin states:  Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law ("Salus populi suprema lex esto").  It can also be translated "Let the health of the people be the supreme law".

 For those who buy into the politics of all of this and don't want to know how any of these exchanges might help real people with real health care and income problems, you can ignore the rest of this article.  For everyone else, I hope some of the references below help you and your neighbors to navigate some of the confusion.

 I am no expert in this matter, but as I understand it:
1.  Those who currently have health insurance through work, currently buy their insurance in the private market, have Medicaid coverage, or who have Medicare coverage do not really need to worry about the Health Insurance Exchanges or IRS penalties for not having insurance.
2.  The health insurance exchanges will be open from October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014.  So, you have some time to research this and figure out what is best for you and your family.
3.  If you want to have health insurance coverage available by January 1, 2014, I think the deadline to apply for health insurance coverage through the exchange is December 15, 2013.   
4.  I do not know yet the answer to the question of whether one needs to have insurance coverage effective by January 1, 2014, or can wait and apply up until March 31, 2014, in order to avoid IRS penalties for not having mandated health insurance coverage (the mandate that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court).  

 A good overall source of information is at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website:  http://www.rwjf.org/en/topics/rwjf-topic-areas/health-insurance.html
 Also see the Missouri Foundation for Health website: http://www.mffh.org/
 If you want to go to the official U.S. governmental website for information, go to: https://www.healthcare.gov/
 There are potential subsidies and credits available as well as reduced insurance costs that may be available through the health insurance exchange.  You can calculate this at:  http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/
You can also consult:  http://covermissouri.org/ and  http://enrollmissouri.org/
  
 Please feel free to share this information. WARNING:  In this world or opportunism I suspect that there will be a lot of fraud and attempts to separate people from their money.  Please be aware of offers to provide information in return for money and communications of any kind that ask for private information such as your social security number, credit/debit card numbers or bank information, etc.  All of the information will be free and will not ask for private information other than such things as income, age, how many family members, whether you have health insurance coverage, whether you smoke, and zip code.  There may also be people who see this as an opportunity to get you to buy their "insurance".  
  • Contact Information:
    Craig Schmid
    Ward 20 Alderman
    Office Phone: (314) 622-3287
  • Department:
    Board of Aldermen
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