When open enrollment for healthcare coverage rolls around this fall, individual plans will be through an Illinois state-based exchange, rather than the current federal enrollment platform. Missy Shepherd with Way Insurance Services breaks down coming changes with tax credits:
“Agents and brokers in the area have concern with our customers being attached to our new Illinois accounts. I want to bring up for consumers to realize in this market, is that the enhanced premium tax credits that you see on your premiums currently, those are expiring at the end of the year; the expansion piece is going away. There are still tax credits, but it will follow the pre-COVID rules. We will see those tax credits go down. Another concern is that folks that are above 400 percent of federal poverty level, for a family of four you are talking around $82,000 household income, those folks would no longer qualify for any tax credits. Then you partner that up with rate increases on health insurance.”
Additionally, Shepherd informs three carries will be exiting the healthcare market in Illinois at the end of this year, Health Alliance, Aetna/CVS, and a Courts Health Insurance offered in the Chicago area.
While last year brought significant changes to Medicare plans, Shepherd anticipates another shuffle in plans this upcoming enrollment period:
“The Inflation Reduction Act had a lot of pieces that became effective last year; big changes to the drug cards and then the drug portion within the Medicare Advantage Plans too, so there are still going to be some shakeups. We are going to feel repercussions. Last year, carriers didn’t know how to price their product because there were so many changes and what we have found going through the year that some of those carriers actually shut off enrollments to some of their plans because they were just overwhelmed. When that comes around this year, I would expect there to be a whole other shuffle. Everybody had to review their plans last year, get into the plan that worked best for them, that is probably not going to be the same plan this year.”
For those on Medicare Advantage Plans, Shepherd advises folks to review those plans as well during open enrollment because coverage, deductibles, and co-pays will more than likely change.
