Oklahomans will have more choices and the most affordable health insurance options in years through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace.
Thanks in part to a recordnumber of insurers offering plans in Oklahoma for coverage that starts Jan. 1, the average monthly benchmark premiums on the federal exchange are down more than 20% from a record high in 2019.
This is good news for health advocates who want to boost insurance rates during a time when COVID-19 has killed more than 260,000 and hospitalized more than half million across the country.
But experts and groups that assist consumers in selecting health care options say the ever-worsening pandemic has created new challenges in reaching residents and ensuring they sign up before the Dec. 15 deadline.
“Because of the health restrictions, we are very limited in in-person meetings and meeting with individuals or groups that we would usually be meeting with,” said Steven Goldman, lead health navigator with the Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma. “Typically we’d be meeting in libraries or churches, but this year it’s just not happening.”
The stakes for ensuring residents sign up for the oftenheavily subsidized health insurance is especially high in Oklahoma, which has the nation’s second highest uninsured rate at 14.3%.
If that rate doesn’t improve, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready said many Oklahomans could be at risk since all indications show that the pandemic will continue to rage through at least the first part of 2021.
“Unfortunately it takes something like this for some folks to wake up and realize I really should be covering myself to protect me from these unexpected out-of-pocket costs,” he said.
The positive news is that many policies on the exchange may be more attractive to Oklahomans.
The three insurers — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Bright Health and Medica Insurance Company — that offered individual health plans on the exchange, still commonly known as Obamacare, for the current year will be doing so again next year.
In addition, there will be two new entries for selected areas of the state: Oscar Health and UnitedHealthCare.
Before 2019, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma was the only insurer that offered plans in the state.
For the second straight year, many of the plans will be cheaper than before.
According to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks state and federal health policies, Oklahoma’s average benchmark premiums will drop from a record-high of $696 per month in 2019 to $554 for the upcoming year.
Most consumers end up paying far less than those amounts, however, since federal subsidies cover much of the costs depending on someone’s income.