[Repost] The ACA Countdown

From the 26 July 2013 post at The Cornflower, The Blog of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region

Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act Health Information Marketplace, formerly referred to as the “Health Insurance Exchange”, begins October 1, 2013. But did you know that you and your patrons can start collecting information now? According to the HealthCare.gov Marketplace Application Checklist, the following items will be needed for those planning to apply for coverage:

• Social Security Numbers (or document numbers for legal immigrants)
• Employee and income information for every member of your household who needs coverage (for example, from pay stubs or W-2
  forms—Wage and Tax Statements)
• Policy numbers for any current health insurance plans covering
  members of your household
• A completed Employer Coverage Tool for every job-based plan you or someone in your household is eligible for.

You can see the checklist as well as the complete Employer Coverage online at the following URL:https://www.healthcare.gov/downloads/MarketplaceApp_Checklist_Generic.pdf

To find out more about the Marketplace, see https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/individual/. Librarians and other professionals can find marketplace outreach information on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) site: http://marketplace.cms.gov/

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• In Some Deeply Red States, Figuring Out How To Enroll In Obamacare Is Like ‘Searching For A Unicorn’ (ThinkProgress)
  …many states have been busy launching public awareness campaigns so their residents will know how to gain access to Obamacare coverage in the fall. But that’s not necessarily the case in deeply red states that remain stubbornly resistant to President Obama’s health reform law, where Americans may not have any idea what their options are in October.

  States had the option of either setting up their own insurance marketplaces under Obamacare, or leaving that work for the federal government to do. Many GOP-controlled states resisted cooperating with the health reform law under any circumstances and refused to set up marketplaces on their own. In Missouri, lawmakers actually went a step further and enacted measures to prevent state officials from providing “assistance or resources of any kind” to the federal government’s effort to establish a marketplace. The New York Times reports that’s essentially encouraged confusion among Missouri residents, who have no idea how to enroll in Obamacare plans….
  ……

  Across the country, Obamacare opponents have launched a coordinated misinformation campaign about the health reform law, confusing Americans about what the upcoming changes will mean for them. A survey of health care-related advertising in June found that Obamacare critics have outspent its supporters by a nearly five to one margin. And last month, the Koch Brothers poured millions more into a new Obamacare misinformation campaign. Anti-Obamacare groups are now launching grassroots initiatives to actively dissuade people from enrolling in the new insurance marketplaces — telling young Americans to “burn your Obamacare draft card.”

  These campaigns could have serious consequences for Americans across the country. There’s a limited enrollment period for the new Obamacare plans in the state-level marketplaces. The initial enrollment period will be extended until March 2014 — but after that, people will only be able to sign up for coverage in between October and December. If they can’t figure out how to do it, or if they’ve been persuaded to simply forgo health plans in the marketplaces, they’ll be forced to go uninsured for the rest of the year even if they end up changing their minds….