A Marketplace Special Enrollment Period Ends on Nov. 2^nd

About 63,000 Wisconsinites lost their BadgerCare eligibility in April, and a large portion of them are now uninsured — as the following pie chart illustrates.  But those who can afford to purchase a subsidized private plan through the federal health insurance Marketplace still have a chance to sign up for that coverage.  A special enrollment period for those who lost BadgerCare coverage runs until November 2.

Please help get the word out. Tell anyone you know who lost their BadgerCare coverage to call the federal Health Insurance Marketplace at 1-800-318-2596 or TTY 1-855-889-4325 to enroll for health insurance before the November 2nd deadline. (Read more in this blog post from Senator Baldwin, who worked hard to get federal officials to create the special enrollment period.)  In addition, a new open enrollment period begins on November 15 for everyone who is potentially eligible for a Marketplace plan (for coverage that could start in January).

When Governor Walker proposed a partial expansion of Medicaid for childless adults and a contraction of eligibility for parents, he contended that more than 90% of the people who lost their BadgerCare eligibility would get private insurance.  Unfortunately, the preliminary figures that are summarized in the following pie chart suggest that a substantial percentage of the former BadgerCare recipients are now uninsured.

About 63,000 Wisconsinites were formally notified in March of this year that they would lose their BadgerCare coverage on April 1.  Fortunately, over the next couple of months about 4,900 were able to requalify for BadgerCare or for another category of Medicaid.  Our pie chart summarizes the DHS data for the insurance status in July of the other 58,000:

• Almost one third (about 18,800) had signed up for subsidized private coverage through the federal Marketplace;
• A little over a fifth (24,434) were found to have either gotten employer-sponsored coverage or were in private coverage outside of the Marketplace; and
• DHS was unable to determine the status of nearly half – most of whom are probably uninsured.

Using that data, Senator Baldwin was able to persuade federal officials to create a new Marketplace enrollment window for people who became ineligible for BadgerCare in April.  I applaud the Senator for that because I’m sure it’s going to help some families; however, for many people near the poverty level the Marketplace premiums, copays and deductibles simply aren’t an affordable option.

Consider, for example, a single mother with one child and a full-time job that pays $8.00 per hour.  She is a little above the poverty level and no longer eligible for BadgerCare, but she’s unlikely to be able to afford a subsidized private plan, with its premiums, copays and deductibles.

Of course, one way to address that problem would be to expand BadgerCare eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty level and to accept the federal funding for that purpose.  On November 4^th, people in many Wisconsin communities will have a chance to vote on an advisory referendum to let Wisconsin lawmakers know whether Wisconsin should take advantage of that federal funding and make about 87,000 more Wisconsinites eligible for BadgerCare. (This Wisconsin Citizen Action document lists the counties where the referendum is on the ballot.)

In the meantime, there are some former BadgerCare recipients who can potentially get covered now by taking advantage of the special enrollment period running through Nov. 2^nd.  Please help spread the word.

Jon Peacock