Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

For better health

Deadline near for insurance

- BRETT KIRKMAN Brett Kirkman is chairman of the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplac­e Board of Directors and senior vice president of Poplar Healthcare.

Dec. 15 is a critical date for Arkansans seeking affordable health insurance coverage. It is the last day for open enrollment in the state’s My Arkansas Insurance Individual Marketplac­e.

This is the program, managed by the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplac­e, that provides health insurance plans for individual­s who do not have access to employer-provided insurance.

According to the most recent data from the respected Kaiser Family Foundation, there are approximat­ely 225,000 Arkansans who have no health insurance coverage. That’s 8 percent of our population with no access to insurance through an employer-provided plan, an individual policy, Medicare or Medicaid.

Those families and individual­s are one catastroph­ic illness away from potential financial bankruptcy. We insure everything else important in our lives—homes, autos, boats—why not our health?

Health insurance plans available through the marketplac­e’s website, myARinsura­nce.com, are designed to meet the needs of Arkansas families and provide a variety of options to fit household budgets. Each plan is administer­ed by trusted insurance providers and includes comprehens­ive benefits.

The most important features of each plan available through the marketplac­e include no restrictio­ns for pre-existing conditions and no lifetime limits. Also included are standard health-care benefits such as emergency care, outpatient services, mental health care and prescripti­on drugs. Preventati­ve care and screenings, most of which require no co-payment, are also emphasized.

If cost is an issue, financial assistance may be available to help pay for premiums.

The Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplac­e’s My Arkansas HelpLine is a toll-free service that connects consumers with in-person assistance and enrollment help by qualified agents and brokers located in the same area as the consumer.

The one-on-one enrollment assistance is provided at no cost. This is our commitment to making sure that every Arkansan in every county has access to necessary support through a streamline­d process utilizing experience­d health insurance profession­als.

The My Arkansas HelpLine, at (844) 355-3262, is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Two years ago, the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplac­e took the important step toward greater local control when we converted to a state-based exchange using the federal enrollment platform on Healthcare.gov. Simply put, by relying on the existing state-of-the-art technology of the federal program, we can focus more intently on the quality of services we offer Arkansans such as consumer outreach, enrollment assistance, and private industry partnershi­ps.

Consumer savings, comprehens­ive coverage, affordable choice, single point of contact and personal assistance from an engaged network of local agents and brokers are the benefits provided to Arkansans who search for coverage through the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplac­e.

But hurry! Time is running out on the open enrollment period. Dec. 15 is the absolute deadline.

Visit www.myARinsura­nce.com now and give your family the security and peace of mind that quality health insurance provides. You owe it to yourself and the ones you love.

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