Md. officials optimistic rise in health insurance coverage will continue in open enrollment
Enrollment in the state’s health insurance marketplace has already risen during the current open enrollment period, and state officials are optimistic those numbers will increase before enrollment closes this month. Or next.
Open enrollment ends Dec. 31 for anyone who wants coverage to start on Jan. 1. But those who miss the end-of-year deadline can still enroll until Jan. 15 — their coverage will just not start until February.
“Anyone who submits an application by Dec. 31 can get coverage, effective January,” said Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange that oversees the marketplace.
“If someone misses that deadline — they get busy with the holidays, they miss Dec. 31 — they have up until Jan. 15 to apply for coverage, but then their health care coverage would not start until the first of February,” she said.
Eberle said that over the past year, more than 217,000 Marylanders have bought private health care plans through Maryland Health Connection, the state’s health insurance marketplace. That’s up about 2% over the same period last year, meaning more people are using the marketplace to get coverage.
“That’s what we’re always trying to do, is get more people insured,” Eberle said. “So that’s good.”
She urges Marylanders who do not have health insurance, or are interested in other insurance options, to shop for plans on the marketplace before the open enrollment period ends. Open enrollment is time, nationwide, when people can get a private health care plan or make changes to their current plan on the exchange. Changes to insurances can only occur during open enrollment, barring a “qualifying life event” such as divorce, marriage, the birth of a child or the loss of other coverage.
Maryland’s state insurance marketplace, called the Maryland Health Connection, is part of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. It offers a variety of private health plans, with differing levels of coverage, but also offers tax credits and subsidies that help bring down monthly costs for insurance plans.
Those savings will vary based an applicant’s finances, age and other factors, but the average tax credit received per member per month is $474, according to November data from the exchange.
As of November, 217,070 Marylanders had purchased a private health plan through the exchange.
Enrollments were already up this year due to the end of federal COVID-era rules that prohibited states from removing people from Medicaid during the public health emergency. When those protections ended in April 2023, Maryland health officials began the long process of determining Medicaid eligibility for 1.8 million Marylanders who had coverage at the time.
About 100,000 people who were no longer eligible for Medicaid were directed to the marketplace and encouraged to sign up for a private plan there.
Eberle is particularly excited for this Open Enrollment period because thousands of immigrants in Maryland are now able to participate in the marketplace for the first time, due to a recent federal decision to opened marketplaces to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, or so-called “Dreamers.” Previously, DACA recipients were not eligible to buy insurance from state marketplaces, though some still had health care insurance through their place of work.
According to Eberle, there are about 7,000 DACA residents in Maryland, about half whom will qualify for the exchange, marketplace staff expect. So far, about 210 DACA recipients have signed up for insurance through the state marketplace, and coverage will start for them in the new year.
“This year, who knows what will happen with our Hispanic community and enrollments,” Eberle said. “Last time Trump was in office and talked about ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and deportations, people were really afraid to get coverage.
“So we’ll see how that goes,” she said.
Eberle said the exchange is conducting outreach to get more DACA recipients enrolled, and she hopes immigrants who are currently eligible will enroll in health insurance this year.
“If you are in a mixed household, and you’ve got people in your family who are not here with proper documentation, still apply. We don’t give your information to anyone, please apply,” she urged.
For those considering changing health insurance or enrolling for the first time, Eberle said they can shop different plans before committing through the Health Connection website.
“If they have all that information … it’s going to go pretty fast,” Eberle said. But applicants should still set aside about 30 minutes to enroll in a plan, she said.
She noted that the Maryland Health Connection has hundreds of language options to choose from, and those who need help navigating enrollment can use the website chat box or call for assistance.