Trump Administration Considering Opening Obamacare Enrollment Amid Pandemic

[RandySF]

The Trump administration is considering opening up a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act to help uninsured Americans during the coronavirus crisis, Politico and The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

At least nine states that run their own health insurance exchanges have already reopened Obamacare enrollment to uninsured residents so they can obtain coverage.

But most states depend on the insurance marketplace run by the federal government. Open enrollment for states that use the federal exchange ended on Dec. 15. But a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which runs the Trump administration insurance marketplace, HealthCare.gov, said officials are now considering a new enrollment period.

“CMS is evaluating offering a Special Enrollment Period specifically designated for COVID-19,” she told the Journal. “We will continue to work with states and health plans around the country to assess what additional actions are necessary to ensure the American people have coverage for and access to the services they need during this time.”

The representative also encouraged people to check the HealthCare.gov site now to determine if they may already be able to enroll because of a change in circumstances, such as losing a job.

About 30 million people are currently uninsured, and that number is likely to grow significantly as businesses shut down.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-obamacare-special-enrollment-coronavirus_n_5e76fcc5c5b6eab77949ac6c?section=politics&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvL0ZNbmROQ2ZBVzg_YW1wPTE&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAcZtiaFgzdTDKz7rjHBqRuMSYaVy5X9QNPDOn1lUmRl6e5nLDgSC1oGHGzuyuA-WbrdhXM0pw5AKCGslrUWIy8dKN02o3XHfPcB0-K1IUkPY_ljHKnYR6Kmc5sP3k0EZbNzSKsawwetcnPgioZvvlq8uBe643INFLd4xsAOtHei

[BigmanPigman]

1. Has Hell frozen over?

[Jamastiene]

2. It is not going to do much good in states that opted out of the Medicaid Expansion.

We, the uninsured, in these states who also have a monopoly with only one option because of no Medicaid Expansion, here it is BlueCrossBlueShield ONLY in my area, with the cheapest catastrophic at $500 a month, have been told in not so many words, to just die if we get sick. That is what they want.

I will be lucky in my area getting a job that makes that much a month, much less can I turn around and put it on something with a $9,000 deductible. Either way, I will go broke and lose everything if I go to the hospital. It is why I tell everyone around me to never take me there, no matter how bad it is. Let me die, even if it is that bad. I'd rather not lose my home because I needed stitches or something else I can do at home. The "plan" for more serious stuff is to die like they want me to.

I will become a statistic, because they were allowed to opt out then allow only one insurance company to have a monopoly here and they were greedy and charged more than most in my area could ever afford. They did that shit on purpose. If I had 15 different kids by 15 different fathers, though, with the fathers probably still taking turns living with me, I'd have more services than I could ever use, free of any charges. But, I didn't do that, so I get punished. That is what NC considers right. Fuck them and their double standard.

I actually want to be the statistic that one day makes them change it so future generations won't be told to just fucking die for being poor. Democrats at the federal level might get this all changed one day, but probably not in my lifetime. So, fuck this state and the Republican Party. If that is what it takes, so be it. I live alone, have no family on speaking terms or friends (nearby, only a hundred or more miles away) and won't infect anyone if I do get anything infectious anyhow. Fuck it. I have nothing to lose, except a shit life under Republican control forever, with never again any representation for me in this shithole state. "With surgical precision" to discriminate against the black community was how the courts described this gerrymandering, but they didn't fix it anyhow. It is still a shitty new district with Republicans in control forever. I don't want to get old under those circumstances and be miserable and starving for the rest of my life anyhow. Literally, nothing to lose. By the time they find my body, it'll be a skeleton.

Try cremating that and sticking it in an ugly ass square mausoleum with redneck, right wing, Christian Identity extremists, mother. I will haunt you if there is a way to do it and I can find out how.

Goddamn, I am fed up with this shit government in my state and the shit excuse for government we have in America. Meanwhile, in other countries, they can just go to the hospital and not worry about becoming homeless and in debt for more than they can ever pay in the rest of their lifetime. Americans are shitting our own selves as long as we continue to capitulate to Republicans and let them have their way all the damn time. That is the trend though. For the rest of my life, I predict it will stay that way. I resent it. One state north, and the Medicaid Expansion exists for people like me. I live in the southernmost part of my state though. Think about being that close but that far away.

Even if he re-opens it, it is not going to make Blue Cross Blue Shield, assholes that they are, and yes, I have talked to some of their representatives, they work out of our local farm bureau at taxpayers' expense, lower their cost of coverage for catastrophic only. Either way, I will still go homeless. Fuck that. I fought too hard to be able to have a home from the last damn time I was homeless. I'll die in this house before I will lose it to them and their greed.