ACA open enrollment: 4 to 6 plans available

The Affordable Care Act open enrollment began on Thursday, and if you want your health coverage to start in January, you have to sign up or re-enroll in a plan in the ACA marketplace by Dec. 15.

Floridians have access to seven insurance providers this year, but not all of them are offering plans in every county. Florida Blue is the only insurer that’s offering plans in all 67 counties.

Central Floridians have access to between four to six plans, depending on the county of residence. New to the mix of carriers this year is Oscar Health, which is offering competitively priced bronze and silver plans.

If you already have coverage through the ACA, you should consider updating your application anyway, experts advise.

“The cost of the plan doesn’t factor in new tax credits that a person is eligible for, so go back to your application, update the information and resubmit it,” said Anne Packham, the lead ACA navigator in Central Florida and marketplace project director for the Primary Care Access Network.

“It makes sense to shop around because things change year to year,” she said.

To select a plan, look at premiums and deductibles. A premium is regular payments you make to the insurance company to keep your coverage. A deductible is the amount of money you have to pay out of pocket until your insurance company starts picking up the claims.

So if you find a plan that has a low monthly premium but a $7,600 deductible, it means you have to pay $7,600 out of pocket for your doctor visits and drugs before your bills are covered by your insurance.

“When you’re budgeting, you have to take into account all the costs,” said Jodi Ray, director of Florida Covering Kids and Families at USF and director of Florida’s navigator grant.

Packham and Ray, who have been ACA navigators since the federal marketplace opened five years ago, said the first day of open enrollment was off to a slow start for them, but they had appointments on the books for the coming