More than ten thousand Hoosiers set to lose health insurance coverage through the Healthy Indiana Plan will get to keep those plans for a few more months. The state is reacting to enrollment issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act.
Up to now, a family of four earning about $47,0000 per year – 200 percent of the federal poverty level – was eligible for the Healthy Indiana Plan, the state’s health insurance program for low-income Hoosiers. Beginning in January, that income threshold will be lowered to 100 percent, roughly $23,000 a year for that family of four.
Those losing coverage were expected to transition to insurance plans through the healthcare marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. But after much-publicized problems with the marketplace website, Healthcare.gov, Family and Social Services Administration spokesman Jim Gavin says Indiana negotiated a temporary solution with the federal government.
“If the members need it, if they are still having difficulty purchasing coverage, they can stay on the Healthy Indiana Plan as long as April 30th,” Gavin says.
Gavin adds the FSSA is still telling members to act quickly to obtain coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace because signing up will still take some time and the four-month extension likely won’t be extended further.
