HealthCare.gov sign-ups spike during special enrollment
Modern Healthcare Illustration / Getty Images
Nearly one million people have signed up for insurance through HealthCare.gov and premiums have fallen for many enrollees during the current special enrollment period, according to HHS on Thursday.
The 940,000 new enrollees on HealthCare.gov from February 15 through April 30 represents an approximately 549,000 enrollee increase from the same period in 2020. HHS credited the American Rescue Plan for creating a special enrollment period. Those figures represent 36 states using the federal healthcare exchange platform.
The Biden plan also included expanding tax credits that would lower enrollees premiums. HHS said those tax credits lowered new enrollees average monthly premiums by 25%, and approximately 2 million people who returned to the exchanges saw 40% premium reductions. The median deductible for those selecting plans during the special enrollment period fell by 90%.
Uninsured Alabamians more likely to die from COVID-19
Lack of insurance and vaccine hesitancy By Cassie Fambro | May 6, 2021 at 10:06 PM CDT - Updated May 7 at 3:00 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - New research indicates 38 percent of Alabama deaths from COVID-19 could be tied to being uninsured.
That data comes from Families USA, a Washington D.C.-based health advocacy nonprofit organization.
While there are a lot of pieces to vaccine hesitancy, one of them is lack of access to healthcare.
At least one in ten Alabamians don’t have health insurance and thousands don’t qualify for Medicaid under the current requirements, leaving a gap in coverage. The pandemic has exposed that gap in a unique way, in fact if you Google Alabama insurance, the first result is “how much is a COVID test for the uninsured.”
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Agencies should use targeted approaches to vaccinate vulnerable children.
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Isabelle King, 14, gets her second dose of the Moderna vaccine from Jallesse Flores, as her twin sister watches, Feb. 5, 2021, in Houston.
While there’s a high level of certainty that we will have a vaccine ready for some children later this May, how we will distribute the vaccine effectively and equitably to this group remains unclear.
We are waiting on the Food and Drug Administration s review of the data submitted on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds. If and when the likely emergency use authorization is granted, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet the following day to make recommendations, which would apply to over 20 million kids. These kids would likely become eligi
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REPORT: 40% of Alabama residents who died from the virus did not have health insurance
COVID deaths linked to lack of healthcare By Kate Smith | April 30, 2021 at 4:00 PM CDT - Updated April 30 at 5:55 PM
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Not enough Alabamians have access to health insurance and one study suggests, because of that, the state’s COVID-19 case count was at alarming numbers.
According to a Families USA report, 40% of Alabama residents who died from the virus did not have health insurance.
The state health officer, Doctor Scott Harris, said it’s no surprise.
Ten percent of Alabamians do not have health insurance. According to the report, uninsured Alabamians represented nearly half of the total COVID-19 cases and 38% of COVID deaths.