Millions of uninsured Americans, including tens of thousands of Arkansans, have until midnight tonight to sign up for health coverage and avoid paying a fine when they file their taxes next year.
Robin Fletcher, an insurance agent at The Hatcher Agency in Little Rock, said she's seen a steady stream of customers who aren't counting on a promised repeal of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to save them from the penalty.
"We've got a lot of people who, they got the penalties last year, or their CPAs told them they were going to have penalties, and they're coming in so that they don't have it this year," Fletcher said.
According to Menlo Park, Calif.-based Kaiser Family Foundation, 249,000 Arkansans were uninsured as of early last year, including 102,000 who were eligible for Medicaid and 47,000 who were eligible for other subsidized coverage through the insurance exchange.
For those who buy insurance on their own, rather than through an employer, the enrollment period for coverage for this year started Nov. 1 and runs through midnight.
Under the Affordable Care Act, those who go without coverage for more than two months during the year face a penalty of up to 2.5 percent of their household income above the tax filing threshold, which was $10,350 for an individual last year.
The state's federally run health insurance exchange, accessible through healthcare.gov, makes tax credit subsidies available to many people who don't qualify for Medicaid or other government insurance programs and have incomes below 400 percent of the poverty level: $47,520 for an individual, for instance, or $97,200 for a family of four.
As of Jan. 15, 66,952 Arkansans who did not qualify for Medicaid were signed up for coverage through the exchange, according to the Arkansas Insurance Department.
That's up just slightly from the 66,635 who had signed up by Jan. 9 of last year.
In addition, the expansion of Arkansas' Medicaid program in 2014 extended coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level: $16,643 for an individual, for instance, or $33,948 for a family of four.
About 331,000 low-income Arkansans were covered under the state's expanded Medicaid program as of Dec. 31. That included about 308,000 who received the coverage through plans on the exchange, with Medicaid subsidies paying most of the premiums and other costs under the so-called private option.
People who qualify for Medicaid can enroll at any time during the year.
Max Greenwood, a spokesman for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, said enrollment has increased in her company's plans, including private option and non-Medicaid plans offered through the exchange.
"The last couple of weeks have been very, very busy," Greenwood said.
Andy May, an insurance agent in Newport, said he's been helping more people sign up as the deadline approaches. Many are surprised to learn they qualify for tax credits, he said.
"It still amazes me" that people aren't aware they qualify, he said.
The tax-credit subsidies, Medicaid expansion and penalty are all components of the Affordable Care Act, which President Donald Trump and Republican leaders of Congress have pledged to repeal. Trump and congressional leaders say they will replace the law with their own plan but have yet to agree on one.
In the meantime, Arkansans can compare their options under the 2010 law and sign up by visiting healthcare.gov or calling a federal call center at (800) 318-2596.
Contact information for insurance agents and outreach workers who can provide one-on-one help is listed at myarinsurance.com, created by the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace, a state agency responsible for promoting enrollment in the exchange.
Operators at a marketplace call center can also help people reach an agent or outreach worker, marketplace spokesman Alicia McCoy said. The number for the call center is (844) 355-3262.
Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said uncertainty about the Affordable Care Act's future shouldn't deter consumers from signing up.
Even if the tax penalty goes away, "the big penalty for being uninsured is something happens to you, and you need health care," Pollitz said.
"People expect that it won't, or hope that it won't, but that penalty could crush you," Pollitz said.
Metro on 01/31/2017