More than 65,000 New Yorkers have enrolled this week
New Yorkers urged to enroll before the March 31, 2014 open enrollment deadline
ALBANY (March 28, 2014) – NY State of Health (NYSOH), the State’s official health plan marketplace, reported that as of 9 a.m. today, 1,130,600 New Yorkers have completed their applications and 782,472 have enrolled for coverage since the launch of the Marketplace on October 1, 2013. More than 70 percent of those who have enrolled to date were uninsured at the time of application.
This week, NY State of Health experienced its highest volume of enrollments since the December 24, 2013 deadline for January 1, 2014 coverage. More than 65,000 additional New Yorkers have enrolled in coverage through the Marketplace since Monday. Also this week, NY State of Health Customer Service Center representatives have answered nearly 74,000 calls from New Yorkers. Overall, since the October 1, 2013 launch of the Marketplace nearly 1 million calls have been answered. New York is on track to meet or exceed its enrollment goal of 1.1 million people by the end of 2016.
The deadline for individuals and families to enroll in coverage through NY State of Health is March 31, 2014. However, the Marketplace will provide additional assistance to those individuals who have taken steps to apply for coverage but have been unable to complete the enrollment process before the March 31 deadline. All applications and enrollments in health plans must be completed by the end of the day on April 15, 2014.
“Over this week alone, more than 65,000 New Yorkers enrolled for quality, low-cost insurance on the Marketplace, which brings our total since the October 1 launch to more than 782,000 individuals,” said Donna Frescatore, executive director of NY State of Health. “The time to enroll in coverage is now. New Yorkers should not delay. We are strongly committed to making sure that all New Yorkers who have taken steps to apply before April 1, 2014 will be able to enroll in coverage. We urge all uninsured New Yorkers to visit NY State of Health and apply for coverage by the March 31, 2014 open enrollment period deadline.”
With the exception of individuals who took steps to enroll prior to the March 31 deadline yet require assistance, after March 31, only those individuals and families who qualify for a Special Enrollment Period will be able to enroll in coverage in 2014. Special Enrollment Period qualifying events include getting married or divorced, gaining a dependent, losing employer insurance, or permanently moving into New York State. Individuals and families who do not qualify for a Special Enrollment Period will not be able to enroll in coverage until the next open enrollment period, which begins on November 15, 2014 for coverage starting on January 1, 2015. New Yorkers eligible for Medicaid and all children can enroll in coverage through NY State of Health at any time during the year. NY State of Health’s Small Business Marketplace for employers with 50 or fewer employees is open to enrollment throughout the year.
Thousands of New Yorkers continue to enroll each day through the Marketplace, and people who purchase their coverage directly are seeing premium rates that are 53 percent lower than the rates in effect in 2013 for comparable coverage. To further reduce costs, NY State of Health is making available financial assistance in the form of federal tax credits to help reduce the monthly cost of coverage. New Yorkers can access available plans, estimated costs, and financial assistance (for their county) by using the Tax Credit and Premium Estimator at: http://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/PremiumEstimator.
Plans offered on NY State of Health are available in four easy-to-compare metal tiers (platinum, gold, silver, and bronze) from 16 qualified insurers and 10 qualified dental insurers. New Yorkers can see plans available in their area at http://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/PlansMap.
The Small Business Marketplace offers small businesses with 50 or fewer employees a range of flexible options to meet their needs. Small businesses can access expert advice and enroll on NYSOH either online at https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov/employer, by calling toll-free at 1-855-355-5777, or by contacting an insurance broker.
More than 8,700 specially trained and certified assistors are available in counties throughout the state to help people apply in person. Individuals and families can get information and enroll in a plan either online at https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov/, by calling toll-free at 1-855-355-5777, or in-person through a navigator. A list of community navigators can be found by county on the website.
###
Contact: New York State Department of Health
518 474 7354, ext. 1