According to Anne Gonzales, Public Information Officer for Covered California (Covered CA)— a new, state-run healthcare marketplace—Oct. 1 will be the first day to enroll in new health care options offered under the ACA.
Though the ACA will undoubtedly raise the number of insured U.S. citizens and legal residents, the undocumented population remains unattended.
“There are currently about 7.1 million uninsured people in California, about 2.6 million of them are undocumented,” said Ruben Cantu, program director at the California Pan Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN), a statewide organization working to improve the health of communities of color.
The options for undocumented immigrants are limited as “Undocumented communities will still have to rely heavily on their community clinics,” said Jen Lee, Community Services director at Asian Health Services.
Emiliy Riggs, interim director of Healthy San Francisco (HSF) assured that participants of HSF—a health program available to San Francisco residents— many of whom are undocumented, will not lose coverage under the ACA.
“HSF will not change but who will be a part of it will change dramatically,” said Riggs. She explained that U.S. citizens and legal residents that qualify for expanded Medi-Cal coverage (a state health insurance program for low-income people) will be encouraged to transfer over.
Riggs said that “HSF will remain accessible to the undocumented community, and for people that do not qualify for Medi-Cal.” She urged those who qualify for Medi-Cal to take advantage of the program: “Medi-Cal is insurance, and HSF is not—with insurance you can get care anywhere.”
Moreover, ACA options vary depending on household income, legal status, and plans offered by employers.
Low-income U.S.citizens or legal residents (income less than $15,856 for an individual and $32,499 for a family of four) will be eligible to enroll in Medi-Cal. Those whose incomes exceed these figures have the option of looking into insurance through employers, or Covered CA.
It will be important to critically examine employer plans in comparison to Covered CA as prices may differ.
U.S. citizens and legal residents who do not acquire health care coverage before March 2014 will be issued an annual penalty of either 1 percent of their income, or $95—whichever is greater. In 2015, the fine is set to rise to %2 or $325.
However, the penalty will not apply to people who will have to pay more than 8 percent of their income for health insurance, undocumented immigrants, people who do not meet the minimum income requirement for filing taxes, people with religious exemptions, and people who are incarcerated.
Small business owners with less than 50 employees will not be not required to insure their employees. Employers with more than 50 staff members that fail to offer insurance may be subject to penalty.
Currently, the Covered CA website is available in both English and Spanish and the basic information sheet has been translated into 13 different languages. Multilingual call centers are also being set up to provide more language access.
Gonzales stressed that Covered CA has donated millions of dollars to community clinics/ non profit organizations to train representatives in helping people with the change.
According to Sandy Close, executive director of New America Media, there is a vast information gap regarding the ACA—especially amongst the Latino and African American communities.
A recent Field Poll survey issued on Aug. 20 shows that only ¼ of California voters under 65 years of age know “a lot or something” about the Covered CA health insurance exchange. Nonetheless, 79 % of Latino, 83 % of African- American and 83% of non-English speaking voters have expressed interest in learning more about it.
“The polling we’ve done shows that ethnic communities consistently rely on their local news media outlets for their information.” she said. “The media is a very important bridge for people to learn about this.”
The enrollment period for new ACA options (Covered CA, and expanded Medi-Cal) begins on October 1 but coverage does not go into effect until January 2014.
For Healthy S.F. Participants:
To learn more about the ACA, and see if you qualify for Medi-Cal contact your local Healthy SF clinic/ assistant.
To apply for Medi-Cal visit www.medi-cal.ca.gov, or visit your nearest county social services office.
To shop for plans via Covered CA, visit coveredca.com and insert your household income and social security number to see what options are available to you.
To see insurance options for employers visit coveredca.com.