Insured for Sure! It’s open enrollment season and RI does insurance right

It’s that time of year, and I’m not talking about the holidays. Starting today and extending well into December is the open enrollment period for affordable health insurance. HealthSource RI is the official state agency for the insurance marketplace, one of only 12 in the nation. Insuring people for healthcare is actually one of the things Rhody has been phenomenally successful at.

“We’re pretty forward thinking,” says Zachary Sherman of HealthSource RI. “We decided to take advantage of the vast resources available to states to set up our own marketplace and expand Medicaid.” HealthSource RI has three goals: to achieve universal coverage, bring down the cost of health insurance and provide customer service around the purchasing process. Nearly 96% of the state is insured today, giving us the fourth lowest uninsured rate in the nation, third lowest for kids.

“One of our big successes in keeping prices down is getting everyone insured,” says Sherman. “When you have a fully insured or nearly fully insured marketplace, you have as many people in the risk pool as is necessary.” When you have a large and diverse risk pool, it’s easier to keep prices down. Local insurers know their local marketplace and demographics, and rates have actually gone down in recent years in RI. They compete with each other on price, having a downward effect on the cost for the customer. Young people, for example, tend to use less healthcare than they pay in for. Other successes include a 45% increase in new customers last year, and a 10% jump in 18- to 34-year-olds signing up for health insurance in the marketplace.

Sherman also attributes these successes to state control. When it comes to President Trump, says Sherman, HealthSource RI stands in front of their customers and pushes back. States have stronger resources to draw on to stand up for federal subsidies and funding for its citizens, and RI has succeeded in getting millions more in financial assistance for health insurance. Forty-five percent of RI customers have premiums less than $100 a month. HealthSource RI also provides financial assistance for customers in need. The federal government gives advance premium tax credits for health insurance, and customers can either take them up front and apply them to their premium, or they can write it off on their taxes. Eight out of 10 customers in the state receive some form of that tax credit for their health insurance. Most customers, says Sherman, take them right away. The money helps.

So who’s in that remaining 4.3%? The demographics skew toward younger, low-income males living in the metro area; 42% of them identified as Hispanic/Latinx. HealthSource RI is making strides to reach out to such demographics by appealing to them directly. They use Facebook and other social media ads and take out advertising on websites like Spotify, Pandora and Hulu. Everything they do in English also has a Spanish language version. That includes their entire website. “We try to be as accessible as possible in whatever channel our customers want to access us and try to enroll,” says Sherman. The website also includes a plan calculator. New to insurance? Type in factors such as your demographics and income, and find insurance quotes to compare.

Starting this year, customers can pay their bill at CVS nationwide. You’ll get your bill in the mail, and the CVS cashier will scan the barcode and then you pay for it as you would any other transaction. “Our customers can now pay credit card, cash or debit,” says Sherman. “That’s been a really popular program. We’ve seen take-up of it every month and it now makes up 13% of our payment transactions.” Rhode Island is the only state that’s done something like this that makes paying a bill easier. Before, it was by check or online, but these payment options can help the uninsured, especially those without a bank.

While national Republicans are beating their chests about cutting entitlements and repealing the Affordable Care Act, Sherman feels the political debates have at least had a positive side effect. “The general public got a lot more educated about the benefits of the ACA,” he said. “It’s been more popular than it’s ever been.” Makes sense — people like not having to worry about choosing between food and medicine.

HealthSource RI will host events across the state during the open enrollment period. They’re hosting two all-day events at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick on Nov 13th and Dec 11. They have a walk-in/contact center open extended hours during the open enrollment period at 401 Wampanoag Trail in East Providence. Anyone looking to get health insurance coverage will need a valid photo ID, the last four weeks of pay stubs, their social security number, any necessary immigration papers and their most recent tax return.