2022 Obamacare Open Enrollment

The 2022 ACA/Obamacare Open enrollment was a very busy Open Enrollment. There are several reasons. First reason is that the AEP was extended for 1 month. The 2nd reason I believe was that there were 2 new Insurance Companies that entered The Marketplace, Aetna and United Healthcare. So, now we have access to more Health Insurance Companies than we’ve had in the Marketplace for years. We’ve now got Fl Blue, Oscar Health, Bright Health, Cigna, AvMed, Aetna, Molina Healthcare, Sunshine Health’s ambetter plans, and United Healthcare, so there were plenty of Health Insurance Companies and plans to choose from for 2022.
The first thing an Insured or their agent needs to do, so they can find a suitable plan, is to check the participating doctors. The first doctor to search would be your Primary Care Physician and then perhaps an OB/GYN since that is a woman’s second Primary Care doctor and then search for any Specialists you may be using. You can even search for Hospitals. Once you or your agent have done the appropriate search then you will know which of your doctors participate in which plan/plans. FL Blue was popular again this year since they are the only Insurance Company in the Marketplace to offer 2 National PPO plans. So, for folks that travel for work or pleasure and are in need of a National Network or just consumers that want access to a National Network would have chosen FL BlueSelect or FL BlueOptions. BlueOptions is the larger of the 2 PPO networks. BlueSelect is the smaller of the 2 PPO’s.
Now, also keep in mind the current administration extended the Open Enrollment period by an additional month. The Annual Enrollment period started just as it does each year on November 1st, however, instead of ending when it usually does on December 15th, the Open Enrollment was pushed out another month to January 15th, 2022. This was a very smart move on the part of the Government. It allowed many more people that were on the fence to move forward and get themselves Health Insurance coverage. Fortunately, most of the tax credits from 2021 were still available for 2022 policies. I did notice that several Health Insurance companies raised their rates while others kept their rates stable. Again, if you were to ask yourself what the best plan was for 2022 that is very subjective since it is critical to search for your doctors. Whenever my clients ask me what is the best plan, my answer is generally the same. I always tell my clients that the best plan is usually the one that accepts most or all of your doctors. You can even call the doctor’s office to confirm exactly which plans they accept. The unfortunate part of this is that doctors can join or leave these different networks anytime they want. Again, it can’t hurt to check with your doctor’s office also to make sure they still take your plan and if not, that might be a reason to change. Make sure you or your agent are doing the proper searches to make certain your doctors take your new plan. Feel free to call us if you are not certain you’ve got the right plan. We would be happy to review it with you.

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