The Arkansas Insurance Department on Friday unveiled an online tool that allows consumers to compare the deductibles, required copayments and other details of the plans that will be available starting today on the state's federally run health insurance exchange for coverage that will take effect Jan. 1.
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The tool is part of an "information portal" accessible from ahc.arkansas.gov, the website of the department's Health Connector Division.
The portal also includes contact information for outreach workers, counselors and agents licensed to sell plans offered through the exchange.
At a meeting Friday of the exchange's plan management advisory committee, Tonmoy Dasgupta, data manager for the Health Connector Division, said similar information is available on the federal enrollment portal, healthcare.gov, but in a different format.
"We show it side by side, which is easier to compare," Dasgupta said.
Established in every state under the 2010 federal health care overhaul law, insurance exchanges allow consumers to shop for coverage and apply for subsidies to help pay for it.
As of early October, more than 220,000 Arkansans had enrolled in coverage through Arkansas' exchange, including more than 182,000 whose premiums are paid by Medicaid under the state's so-called private option.
Those who qualify for the Medicaid program can enroll at any time but can only change plans during annual open enrollment periods.
People who don't qualify for Medicaid are generally limited to signing up during the enrollment period.
The enrollment period for coverage starting in 2015 begins today and runs through Feb. 15.
Arkansans can enroll through healthcare.gov, by calling the federal call center at (800) 318-2596 or by mailing an application to the Health and Human Services Department's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Those who are eligible for Medicaid can apply through a state website, access.arkansas.gov.
Special language attached to the Insurance Department's appropriation bill during this year's fiscal session prohibits the department from promoting enrollment in the exchange.
Insurance Department spokesman Seth Blomeley said the website complies with the special language because it simply provides information about the plans but doesn't encourage people to sign up.
In addition to offering information on its website, Blomeley said the Insurance Department plans to increase the staff at its consumer assistance call center during the enrollment period from five to seven.
The call center is normally closed on weekends but will be open today from 8 a.m. to noon. The number for the call center is (855) 283-3483.
Several nonprofit groups will offer one-on-one help today.
According to Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, licensed outreach workers will be stationed from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Dee Brown Library, 6325 Baseline Road in Little Rock; Laman Library, 2801 Orange St. in North Little Rock; and the Enroll the Ridge Call Center, 107 E. Jackson St. in Jonesboro.
Outreach workers also will be at the Spring River Area Chamber of Commerce Business Expo in the A.L. Hutson Memorial Center in Highland in Sharp County from 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. and at the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese at 109 Spring St., Suite 14, in Springdale from 9 a.m.-noon.
ARcare, anAugusta-based community health center, will have enrollment counselors working at its clinics in Augusta, Wynne, Jonesboro, Heber Springs, Cabot and Lonoke, said Mary Leath, chief executive of Community Health Centers of Arkansas.
Leonard Stern, an outreach worker with Future Builders, a Wrightsville nonprofit, said those who come to Laman Library to sign up should bring a driver's license or other form of identification, pay stubs or tax returns, and their children's Social Security numbers.
He expects enrollment in exchange plans to grow during the enrollment period but said "it's hard to guess" how many will sign up today.
During the first open enrollment period, which started Oct. 1, 2013, many people waited until close to the end of the period March 31 to sign up, Stern said.
"Typically, it's all toward the end deadline is when you get the most activity," he said.
Metro on 11/15/2014