The open enrollment period begins on Tuesday for millions of people in the United States looking to enroll or change their coverage under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Consumers can select their health plans for 2023 between Nov. 1 and Jan. 15 at HealthCare.gov, though if they want their coverage to begin at the start of next year, they need to sign up by Dec. 15. Some select states, however, offer state-run health insurance marketplaces that may have later deadlines, including those in Rhode Island and New Jersey.
Current enrollees who do not select a healthcare plan by Dec. 15 will be automatically reenrolled into their former plan or into one that is similar.
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Consumers can expect more options to choose from this year than last. The majority of people, 92%, seeking Obamacare coverage will have at least three insurers to choose from when selecting their health plans for 2023. About 220 insurers will be participating on the federal marketplace in 2023, up seven from this year.
The average monthly premiums for Obamacare’s benchmark silver plan, a category of health plans in the marketplace that typically falls in the middle with moderate monthly premiums and moderate costs, will rise by 4% in 2023 after dropping the previous four years. Consumers are expected largely to be shielded from the cost increases by the Inflation Reduction Act, which extends premium subsidies for those who earn more than four times the federal poverty level, roughly $54,000 for a person, through 2025.
Four out of 5 consumers will be able to select plans for $10 or less per month after tax credits, according to the Biden administration.
Some families will now be eligible for federal subsidies to help them purchase Obamacare that previously might not have qualified thanks to a rule change earlier this year from the Treasury Department tackling the “family glitch,” a policy that only took into account whether employer-sponsored insurance was affordable for the employee not including family members on the plan.
The new rule allows workers who don’t have employer-sponsored health insurance that’s considered “affordable,” health plans equivalent to no more than 9.61% of their income this year, to qualify for subsidized coverage, as well as their dependents.
Previously, a worker could get an affordable health plan capped at 10% of their income, but that lower rate was not extended to their family members on the plan, meaning coverage for family members could far exceed the threshold. Republicans have claimed that the change by the Biden administration is an illegal expansion of health coverage.
The White House estimates that up to 1 million people could either gain health coverage or see their premiums go down as a result of the change.
“It makes sense for consumers to shop around for health insurance, especially since this is an area with so many opportunities for savings,” said Louise Norris, a health policy analyst for healthinsurance.org. “It’s always a good idea for consumers to evaluate their options, but this year, it’s particularly important for budget-conscious consumers to ensure they’re not leaving anything on the table.”
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Roughly 14.5 million people already get their health insurance through the Obama-era law. Only 8% of people in the U.S. were not covered by a health plan in August, an all-time low, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
