Millions may wind up with unwanted plans
Millions of Americans with insurance through the Affordable Care Act could find themselves locked into health plans they do not want for the coming year because of the Trump administration’s schedule for the enrollment season that starts in less than two weeks.
The complication arises when people who already have health plans under the law are automatically reenrolled in the same plan. In the past, a few million consumers each year have been auto-enrolled and then were sent government notices encouraging them to check whether they could find better or more affordable coverage.
This time, according to a federal document obtained by The Washington Post, the automatic enrollment will take place after it is too late to make any changes. Auto-enrollment will occur immediately after the last day of the ACA sign-up season, which the Trump administration has shortened, leaving the vast majority of such consumers stranded without any way to switch to a plan they might prefer.
That inability is particularly problematic at the moment, health policy specialists say, because political turmoil surrounding the sprawling health care law has contributed to spikes in 2018 insurance rates that might catch customers by surprise, as well as widespread public confusion about this fifth year’s enrollment season.
The administration’s unannounced decision about the nuances of auto-enrollment is part of a pattern in which President Donald Trump’s antipathy for the ACA — he erroneously terms its insurances exchanges “dead” — has filtered into a series of actions and inactions that could suppress the number of Americans who receive coverage through the marketplaces for 2018.
Last year, 2.8 million Americans — or nearly one quarter of the 12.2 million with ACA health plans at the end of the enrollment season for 2017 coverage — were automatically re-enrolled. That figure does not include an unknown number who had received autoenrollment notices and then chose a different health plan.
Consumer advocates and health-policy experts, told of the auto-enrollment timing, were critical. “If they find out after Dec. 15 they’ve been auto-enrolled, there is a real danger people will not be able to pay the premiums — or will drop out,” said Cheryl FishParcham, director of access initiatives for Families USA, a liberal consumerhealth lobby.