Category Archives: Open Enrollment

September 2026 – Open Enrollment Season for Medicare and Marketplace!

Save these dates – CCHCC is here to help!

September 14, 2026

Medicare and Get Covered Illinois Marketplace Open Enrollment Periods are right around the corner! Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is here to help you with Open Enrollment!

CCHCC staff are the most experienced enrollment counselors in Champaign County for Medicare, ACA plans through the Get Covered Illinois Marketplace, and Medicaid insurance plans. Our services are provided for free to community members. With your support, CCHCC can provide free, vital direct services to keep our community covered.

Health insurance enrollment – We’ve got you covered! Health insurance enrollment work requires increasingly specialized knowledge and skills – whether for Medicare, or for the ACA plans offered through the Get Covered Illinois marketplace, and Medicaid. Our federally-certified and state accredited Navigator staff are the most experienced enrollment counselors in our community. This means that anyone – young or old or in between; employed or unemployed; retired; low-income, middle-income, high income, or no income; currently insured or uninsured – can contact CCHCC and we will help them figure out what coverage is available to them, and we will help them get covered!

Medicare Open Enrollment – from October 15 through December 7. If you would like to change your Medicare Advantage plan or Part D prescription drug plan, you will have the opportunity to change for the 2027 plan year, starting October 15, until December 7, 2026. CCHCC staff can help you compare plans and complete those enrollments. Even if you already like your plan, it is important to review it carefully during Open Enrollment to make sure it will remain the same for the following year and will continue to cover your prescriptions and providers.

Will you be enrolling in Medicare coverage for the first time? If so, CCHCC can help! Many people who are new to Medicare get overwhelmed by the process of signing up to begin Medicare coverage. CCHCC’s experienced staff can help you learn about Medicare and help you choose the kind of coverage that best meets your needs.

Programs to make Medicare coverage more affordable. In addition to helping people sign up for Medicare coverage, CCHCC can also help evaluate each client for their eligibility for programs to help make Medicare coverage more affordable. Both the Medicare Savings Program and the Medicare Extra Help Program are underutilized, as most people who qualify for these programs do not even know about them. CCHCC can help screen individuals for eligibility for these programs, and help with the applications.

Affordable Care Act’s marketplace Open Enrollment – November 1, 2026 through January 15, 2027. The State of Illinois is now directly operating its own ACA marketplace, called Get Covered Illinois (GCI) at getcovered.illinois.gov. The Open Enrollment period for Get Covered Illinois is from November 1, 2026 through January 15, 2027 for people who are seeking an individual health insurance plan – usually individuals who do not have coverage through their employer – and for those who need to renew their Marketplace plan.

READ ON FOR MORE AND MEETING DATES!

Update on ACA Marketplace enrollment

December 23, 2025

Given the horrendous uncertainty about ACA Marketplace plans, we at CCHCC wanted to provide you with some important updates. These updates are for individuals and families who get their health insurance through the Marketplace.

1. Illinois residents should now be shopping for health insurance Marketplace plans at Get Covered Illinois!
The state of IL is now running its own Marketplace, and is no longer using the federal Marketplace known as Healthcare.gov. Illinois residents who are shopping for Marketplace plans will now shop at https://getcovered.illinois.gov/

2. Congress has failed to extend the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits that helped make Marketplace plans more affordable for millions of Americans.
Unfortunately, both the House and the Senate failed to pass legislation that would extend the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits for ACA Marketplace plans. And Speaker of the House Mike Johnson sent the House members home early, so no vote is expected any time soon.

These Enhanced Premium Tax Credits first went into effect in 2021, and they helped increase enrollment in Marketplace plans from 11 million Americans to over 24 million Americans. That’s how helpful this form of financial assistance has been!

CCHCC will continue to join with local, state, and national organizations from across the country to continue to advocate for the passage of legislation to extend these tax credits. We will keep you update on any developments in the new year.

3. Premium tax credits ARE still available for Marketplace plans, depending on enrollees’ incomes.
Some people will STILL benefit from the standard Premium Tax Credits, even though the Enhanced credits were not extended. It still worth shopping around to see what you might be eligible for.

4. It is STILL worth shopping for Marketplace plans to see what is available. Amazingly, some Gold plans in our area are extremely affordable.
Much to our amazement, we have seen that some Gold plans are extremely affordable, depending on people’s incomes. So, if you are shopping for a Marketplace plan, please be sure to look at ALL the metal tiers of coverage. Many Silver plans are exceedingly expensive (because the government subsidies for those specific plans have gone away), but even if a Silver plan is very expensive, it does not mean that a Gold plan will be.

READ ON!

Medicare Open Enrollment – Important Updates

November 25, 2025

CCHCC has important updates for anyone who is looking for help with Medicare Open Enrollment. The last day of Medicare Open Enrollment is December 7, 2025.

No more appointments are available with CCHCC or other SHIP sites – What you need to do instead:

SHIP stands for State Health Insurance (Assistance) Program. CCHCC is one of two SHIP organizations in Champaign County, and both are totally full and have no more appointments available this year.

For those who are still needing help with Medicare Open Enrollment, we are now recommending that you call the Medicare Helpline at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) / TTY 1-877-486-2048.

We are disheartened to have to be turning community members away due to lack of appointment availability and we continue to strive to help every person we possibly can. Please see below for important information.

If you end up in an Advantage plan that does not work for you, you CAN change plans!

Here is a little known fact:  Anyone who ends up in a Medicare Advantage plan that does not work for them, has the option to switch advantage plans during the “Annual Enrollment Period” from January 1 to March 31.

To anyone who wasn’t able to obtain an appointment with CCHCC or another SHIP counselor this year, and to anyone who is generally nervous or uncertain of your decision: Please don’t hesitate to call us at the first of the year in 2026 to review your plan and double-check that it’s the one you that will work for you. Our community is going through a huge shift next year, and it can be nerve-wracking to switch insurance companies. We are more than happy to look over your decision during the Annual Enrollment Period and help you obtain some peace of mind.

Regarding Health Alliance Medicare Advantage plan members:
We have received several inquiries about the time you have available to choose a new plan for 2026 if you are a current Health Alliance Medicare Advantage plan member.

There are some special circumstances that apply to Health Alliance Medicare Advantage Plan members, since Health Alliance is going away.

READ ON!

Wednesday at 3pm – Rep. Budzinski and CCHCC ACA Open Enrollment Webinar

November 4, 2025

Tomorrow – Wednesday, November 5 at 3 p.m. – U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski is hosting a webinar focused on ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment in Illinois.

Congresswoman Budzinski will be present for the webinar and she will share her thoughts and insights regarding the termination of the enhanced premium tax credits, and about the ACA marketplace Open Enrollment.

The webinar will also feature Adani Sanchez and Claudia Lennhoff from CCHCC, to present information on how to navigate ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment in Illinois.

The webinar will be held over Zoom.

Please see below for details:

You are invited to a Zoom webinar on the ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment.
When
: Nov 5, 2025 03:00 – 4:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Rep. Budzinski ACA Open Enrollment Webinar
 
To join the webinar:
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ushr.zoomgov.com/j/1612042135?pwd=J6cX0e5aNOdupg5dNQT0k0v1i58taz.1
Passcode: 103790

We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,
Champaign County Health Care Consumers

Marketplace Open Enrollment Meeting – THIS Wednesday, October 29 at 7 p.m.

October 27, 2025

ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment is about to begin on November 1, and the partisan budget bill signed into law on July 4 of this year did not extend the enhanced premium tax credits that helped make Marketplace plans more affordable for millions of Americans. In fact, the partisan decision to not extend the enhanced premium tax credits will make it harder for Americans to afford their monthly health insurance premiums. Meanwhile, health insurance prices are expected to go up by an average of 30%.

These are indeed tough times. These are mean policy decisions that will only inflict pain on everyday Americans.

Collectively, we must do the best we can to meet the moment, and provide valuable information, and do everything we can to help people be able to maintain their health insurance coverage.

Please see below for more information:

ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment Community Meeting:
As we do every year, CCHCC will be holding a Community Meeting for ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment, where community members can come and learn about the Marketplace and what options are available.

Please note that even though the partisan budget bill signed into law on July 4 did not extend the Enhanced Premium Tax Subsidies – that’s the financial assistance to make health insurance premiums more affordable based on your income – the regular Premium Tax Subsidies are still available, and folks might be able to find coverage that works for them.

We encourage community members to attend this meeting if they are eligible for Marketplace coverage!

WHAT: Marketplace Open Enrollment Community Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Champaign Public Library; 200 W. Green St., Champaign

AMENITIES: Free parking; accessible; and refreshments.

READ ON!