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Community Involvement:
Healthcare and Homelessness
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Now that the political season is over it is time for all of us to come back together as a community and as a state and get back to work. There are a few things happening soon that I would like to draw your attention to.
GET READY TO GET COVERED: OPEN ENROLLMENT BEGINS NOVEMBER 15, 2014
How Do I Enroll Myself and My Family in Health Insurance?
Alaskans can sign up through Healthcare.gov (https://www.healthcare.gov) or 1-800-318-2596 or call 2-1-1 to connect with enrollment information and professional assistance.
How the Health Care Law is Making a Difference for the People of Alaska:
From: http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/bystate/ak.html
• Under the health care law, if your plan covers children, you can now add or keep your children on your health insurance policy until they turn 26 years old. Thanks to this provision, 9,000 young adults in Alaska who would otherwise have been uninsured have gained coverage.
• As many as 43,371 non-elderly Alaskans have some type of pre-existing health condition. Today, most insurers can no longer deny coverage to anyone because of a pre-existing condition, like asthma or diabetes, under the health care law. And they can no longer charge women more because of their gender.
• Health insurance companies now have to spend at least 80 cents of your premium dollar on health care or improvements to care, rather than administrative costs like salaries or marketing, or they have to provide you a refund. This means that 11,431 Alaskans with private insurance coverage benefited from $3,062,042 in refunds from insurance companies, for an average refund of $388 per family because of the Affordable Care Act.
• Because of the Affordable Care Act, 172,000 Alaskans with private health insurance gained preventive service coverage with no cost-sharing. And women can now get coverage without cost-sharing of even more preventive services they need.
• The Affordable Care Act increases the funding available to community health centers nationwide. Health Center grantees in Alaska have received $95,041,978 under the health care law to offer a broader array of primary care services, extend their hours of operations, hire more providers, and renovate or build new clinical spaces.
Choosing a Plan:
Beginning November 15, you will be able to choose a new health plan for 2015 (or decide to keep your current plan). There are important considerations when choosing a plan. Only you can make the final decision on what choice is right for you and your family, but there is help available to make a more informed decision.
Navigators, Certified Application Counselors, and insurance agents and brokers are all available and eager to help you choose the best plan for you for 2015.
There are several important things to consider when you compare Marketplace plans:
• Plan category: There are 5 categories of Marketplace insurance plans: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Catastrophic. Plans in these categories differ based on how you and the plan share the costs of your care. The categories have nothing to do with the amount or quality of care you get.
• Monthly premiums: This is the amount you pay your insurance company for your plan, usually monthly, whether you use medical services or not.
• Out-of-pocket costs: These include the costs you pay before your insurance begins to pay its share (your deductible, copayments, coinsurance, and your out-of-pocket maximum).
• Type of insurance plan and provider network: Some types of plans allow you to see almost any doctor or health care facility. Others limit your choices to a network of doctors and facilities, or require you to pay more if you use providers outside the network.
Benefits: All plans sold through the Marketplace provide the same essential health benefits and cover pre-existing conditions and offer free preventive services. But some plans offer additional benefits.
Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services Community Survey on Preventing and Ending Homelessness in Anchorage
The Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services is working with the Housing and Neighborhood Development Commission's Oversight Subcommittee on Homelessness, as well as the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, and other interested community members to develop a new five-year homeless plan entitled: Anchorage Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.
People who become homeless do not fit one general description.
However, people experiencing homelessness do have certain shared basic needs, including affordable housing, adequate incomes, and health care. Some homeless people may need additional services such as mental health or drug treatment in order to remain securely housed.
All of these needs must be met to prevent and end homelessness.
Homelessness is a community wide problem and in an effort to make the plan as robust as possible, DHHS, HAND, and HCOSH are inviting the Citizens of Anchorage to participate in a survey to provide input on solutions to end homelessness.
The survey should only take about ten minutes to complete and the results will be one of several sources of information used to develop the five-year plan.
The survey can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/s/Anchorage_HomelessSurvey.
As always, please call or email with any thoughts, ideas, or concerns.
I Answer to You!
Sincerely,
![Andy Josephson[signed]](../../josephson/sig.gif "Pete [signed]")
Representative Andy Josephson
733 W. 4th Ave
Phone: 907-269-0265 |
