New Law passed by Congress guarantees 3 more years of savings from health care premium assistance!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Tampa FL
​August 16, 2022

Covering Florida Navigators across Florida are excitedly preparing for the upcoming Open Enrollment Period as President Joe Biden today put his signature on the new “Inflation Reduction Act” bill that was approved by the House and Senate last week. The deficit-reducing, multi-faceted bill provides for reduced Medicare costs for seniors, prescription drug savings, clean-energy incentives and tax savings, a corporate minimum tax, and a 3-year extension of expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies! 
 
Florida Covering Kids and Families Project Director Jodi Ray said, “The extension of the ACA subsidies is a game-changer, if Congress had not acted last week, Florida health care consumers were looking at steep increases of over 50% in Marketplace premium payments.”
 
Ray added, “The subsidies will increase the amount of financial help available to those who have been eligible and expand subsides to middle-income consumers who would have been priced out of coverage. For example, we were looking at the return of the subsidy cliff, meaning that people earning over 4x the poverty limit, or about $51,520 for a single person, would have lost subsidy eligibility altogether.” 
 
The new law is also critically important in Florida, a non-Medicaid expansion state, since we are expecting the end of the federal Public Health Emergency at any time.  which will likely result in an “unrolling” or the transitioning of many Floridians from Medicaid.  The extended subsidies will help to cushion that blow for many of our most at-risk neighbors in communities throughout Florida.
 
The current Special Enrollment Period also remains available through October 31, 2022, for individuals and families who qualify due to life change circumstances, including moving to a new county, losing insurance through a job change, having (or adopting) a child, marriage, divorce, and other personal circumstances.  Covering Florida Navigators provide services at no cost and without bias towards any coverage options and can help consumers determine eligibility. Consumers are also urged to contact Covering Florida for assistance in determining if they are eligible for the 150% household income threshold SEP. The tenth annual Open Enrollment Period begins on November 1, 2022, The OE10 period allows all consumers to shop, choose and/or renew their policies for coverage in 2023.
 
Florida Covering Kids & Families at the University of South Florida partners with organizations collectively referred to as the “COVERING FLORIDA” consortium, to provide Navigator services across the state of Florida. Our Navigators provide free of charge outreach and enrollment services to any Floridian looking to enroll in health care coverage in the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace.  We assist consumers with telephone, in-person, and virtual online enrollment service and provide public education and outreach activities at locations throughout the state.  Our Navigators are trained and able to help consumers as they look for health coverage options through the Marketplace, including completing eligibility and enrollment forms. Covering Florida Navigator services are free to consumers in all 67 counties, with confidential one-on-one, unbiased customer service. 
 
 
Florida Covering Kids and Families and its partners have been providing free Navigator services throughout the state of Florida since the first Open Enrollment Period in 2013. The following ten partners comprise the 2022-2023 Covering Florida statewide consortium:  
 
•       Big Bend Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) – Serving Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson,  Liberty, Leon, Madison, Taylor, Wakulla, and Washington counties
•       Epilepsy Florida (South Florida Navigation) – Serving Broward, Indian River, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie counties.
•       Family Healthcare Foundation – Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Polk counties
•       Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida– Serving Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, St. Johns, and Volusia counties.
•       Health Planning Council of Southwest Florida– Serving Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties.
•       90 Works– Serving Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties.
•       Primary Care Access Network (PCAN, Covering Central Florida)– Serving Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties.
•       Suwannee River Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) – Serving Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Putnam, Sumter, Suwannee, and Union counties.
•       United Way of Brevard – Serving Brevard County.
•       University of South Florida Navigators– Providing Toll-Free and Virtual Services in ALL FL COUNTIES 
 
The number of Floridians enrolled in the Marketplace each year has consistently exceeded expectations over previous years. Florida year-after-year leads the United States in enrollments.  Consumers who are unable to secure insurance through employment or other options owe it to themselves and their families to #GetCovered and insure themselves against potentially life changing health related emergencies and developments.  Call or visit Covering Florida today at 877-813-9115 or www.CoveringFlorida.org 
 
Florida Media Contact:  Jody Young  cell: 561-704-3912  email: jody_r_young@att.net