Santa Barbara County residents can purchase Blue Shield or Anthem Blue Cross health insurance plans through the Covered California marketplace, which has open enrollment available through Jan. 31.
Anyone with a life change, such as a change in employment, can sign up anytime, but the annual open enrollment period allows all consumers to sign up or change their plans.
According to the state, 2021 plan premiums are expected to increase 0.5%, significantly less than previous years.
Most people who purchase Covered California health insurance plans qualify for some subsidies, either through federal or state government, which reduce the cost of monthly premiums.
The state estimates 60,000 Central Coast residents are eligible for subsidies or no-cost Medi-Cal coverage, according to statements from Covered California officials Monday.
Certified enrollment counselors and independent insurance agents can help consumers research the health insurance plans available, and there is detailed information available on the website, https://www.coveredca.com/, and the Shop and Compare tool, https://apply.coveredca.com/lw-shopandcompare/.
Applying for a Covered California health plan automatically checks eligibility for Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program, which allows sign-ups year-round. Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo county Medi-Cal programs are administered through CenCal Health.
Santa Barbara County reported 4,190 people enrolled in Covered California health insurance plans as of February, with 90% in Blue Shield of California plans and 9.8% in Anthem Blue Cross plans.
About 48% chose bronze-level plans and about 42% chose silver-level plans, which have higher monthly premiums and lower co-pay costs than the bronze plans.
State officials said Monday that the most-ever Californians are currently enrolled in the marketplace, with 1.5 million people signed up, and that includes about 290,000 people who have signed up since the novel coronavirus pandemic started.
“The insurance-related impacts of the recession are evident in changes in where consumers are going when they leave Covered California,” according to a state report.
“A much smaller share of consumers are leaving for job-based coverage (only 15% compared to the pre-COVID rate of 55%), more are enrolling in Medi-Cal as they lose income, and a greater share of consumers are leaving to become uninsured — a troubling indicator of unaffordability of even subsidized coverage in tough economic times.”
Statewide unemployment was reported at 11.8% in September, and Santa Barbara County reported a rate of 8.9% — higher than August but lower than the spring months, when there were more widespread business closures, according to the UCSB Economic Forecast Project.
California continues to have a state mandate for health coverage, with tax penalties for people who are uninsured, but the Affordable Care Act’s federal mandate has been eliminated.
As state officials noted Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in the case of Texas vs. California, an ACA-related case.
“The case centers on the question of whether Congress’s decision to reduce the individual mandate penalty to zero invalidates the entire law,” state officials, including Covered California executive director Peter Lee, said in a statement.
“A decision to invalidate the Affordable Care Act could have a significant effect on consumers by jeopardizing the federal subsidies that help bring the cost of health insurance coverage within reach to not only 1.3 million Californians, but many more across the nation; the protections for the 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions; the Medicaid expansion; Medicare prescription savings; critical health programs to fight the COVID-19 pandemic; and a range of other programs.”
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.