During a pandemic health care seems that much more of a necessity – especially with all the economic uncertainties of the COVID-19 crisis
Connecticut residents without health insurance have until midnight tonight to get health insurance that starts on January 1, 2021.
“I’ve been seeing more people upgrading their coverage this year. And people who have been without coverage for a very, very long time this year are now re-enrolling,” Jennifer Lovett, an insurance broker from South Windsor, said.
Lovett has been an insurance broker for 30 years.
“I think people are concerned about COVID and the ramifications, financially,” Lovett said.
Anyone with an income under $100,000 a year for a family of four will qualify for federal subsidies that will lower the monthly insurance premiums. If your income is low enough you qualify for low cost or free coverage through Husky.
“We found a lot of people are qualifying at this point for Medicaid, for the Husky,” Lovett said.
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As of November the state says there were 897,975 Connecticut residents enrolled in Husky.
As far as enrollment with the two private insurance carriers on the exchange Access Health CT officials say the volume has been very steady.
“We are seeing numbers very close, from an annual enrollment period, very close to what we’ve seen in the past,” Andrea Ravitz, marketing director for Access Health CT, said.
Access Health CT is the only place a person can go to get federal subsidies to lower the cost of insurance.
“It hasn’t been as busy due to COVID like last year was a lot of traffic, but it’s been a good steady pace,” Keila Sanchez, an Access Health CT navigator, said.
Sanchez said a lot of people are newly uninsured.
“A lot of people lost their jobs due to COVID or are changing their family size,” Sanchez said.
She added that “Some people went from full-time to part-time, cutting of the hours due to COVID, so they no longer qualify for health insurance.”
Sanchez said there’s a lot of confusion and sadness.
“It’s been sad to watch because a lot of people are really lost. They don’t know what’s going to happen. They don’t know like is this going to be for a long-time? How am I going to survive? Does this cover all my medical benefits?” Sanchez says.
