More Californians are buying health care through the state’s insurance marketplace
California’s health insurance marketplace is on track to enroll more people this year than last year, state officials said Wednesday.
As of Monday, about 230,000 people had newly enrolled in coverage through Covered California, the state’s insurance marketplace, a roughly 16 percent increase from this time last year.
Covered California’s open enrollment period lasts through Jan. 31, but Californians must sign up by Friday for their coverage to start Jan. 1. About halfway through the enrollment period, Californians have signed up for about 1.38 million plans, according to Covered California.
On a call with reporters, Gov. Gavin Newsom credited the state’s efforts to boost enrollment for the coverage gains and keeping costs down.
To encourage more sign-ups, this year’s state budget created new subsidies for people making up to 600 percent of the poverty level, about $75,000 for an individual or $154,500 for a family of four, who buy insurance on the marketplace.
California also re-instated a fine called the individual mandate for people who don’t sign up for health insurance. Congress first created the individual mandate at the federal level through the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, but repealed it in 2017.
Newsom and Covered California director Peter Lee announced the new numbers the same day a U.S. appeals court ruled the federal individual mandate unconstitutional. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra criticized that decision Wednesday, saying he plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling on the federal individual mandate does not affect California’s individual mandate, Becerra said. However, he said continued litigation over the Affordable Care Act perpetuates uncertainty about California’s health care system, which relies heavily on authority and funding in the federal law.
Enrolling more healthy people in coverage to offset costs to care for sick people has resulted in a healthier pool in Covered California compared to the federal insurance marketplace, Lee said. That’s keeping premium costs down, he said.
“We’re making investments that are saving Californians money,” Lee said during the call.
Newsom said in 2020 he’ll focus on improving Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income Californians, calling it the “core driver of our work into the new year.”
Newsom said he’ll ask the Trump administration for changes to the waiver that lets California operate Medi-Cal separately from the federal low-income insurance program Medicaid, but declined to give details and told reporters he’ll announce more in the coming weeks.
Next year, Newsom said he’ll also look to reduce prescription drug costs, crack down on surprise medical billing and expand coverage to more undocumented adults. Undocumented children can already enroll in Medi-Cal, and undocumented young adults under 26 can access the program in 2020.
Newsom is expected to release a more detailed health agenda in January as part of his 2020-21 budget proposal, which is expected to benefit from a $7 billion surplus.
Californians can sign up for health insurance through the state marketplace and find out if they qualify for new subsidies at www.coveredca.com or by calling 800-300-1506.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 1:06 PM with the headline "More Californians are buying health care through the state’s insurance marketplace."