Federal health care enrollment ends Sunday

Individuals and families are just days away from the January 15th deadline to sign up for free or low-cost health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. Insurance officials are concerned that the public is unaware that more people are eligible than before and that subsidies are bigger due to drastic changes to eligibility rules.

The federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services reported nearly 16 million people were enrolled nationwide as of Wednesday, Saturday, up 13 percent from last year. State Department of Insurance spokesperson Andrew Demers said their office does not receive state-level registration numbers from the federal government. According to First Choice Services, one of two federally-funded “navigators” that do, the number of enrolments in the state is up 5.75%, according to CMS data.

At this time last year, 51,058 Granite Staters received insurance assistance through the Marketplace. So far this year he has registered 53,785 people, according to CMS.

New this year, more families eligible for the Household Member Work Plan may be eligible for the subsidized plan. Fixing the so-called “family glitch”, eligibility is no longer based on the cost of an employer’s individual plan, which in most cases is less expensive than a family plan.

This year also, the income ceiling for eligibility has been raised, and subsidies have also increased.

Jeremy Smith, Program Director of First Choice Services, said in a statement: “We are urging people to pay attention to the new plans and prices that have been released this year. ”

There are several options for individuals seeking help in understanding and evaluating their options. First Choice Services and another of his federal navigators, Health Market Connect, offer free assistance in multiple languages. The New Hampshire Insurance Department and the state benefits assistance portal nheasy.nh.gov are also options.