November 21, 2024
Medicare and Marketplace Open Enrollment Periods are going on right now!
Do you need help enrolling in health insurance, or checking the plans you are on? CCHCC is here to help!
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 Marketplace and Medicaid. Our federally-certified 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!
Our services are provided for free to community members. With your support, CCHCC can provide free, vital direct services to keep our community covered.
Please read on below to learn how to get an appointment with a CCHCC staff member, and to learn more about Medicare and Marketplace Open Enrollments.
Scheduling an appointment with a CCHCC health insurance specialist: You can schedule an appointment with one of our specialists by emailing us at cchcc@cchcc-il.org or by calling us at 217-352-6533 and leaving a voicemail requesting an appointment. Please note: You MUST leave a voicemail and we will call you back as soon as possible to schedule your appointment or answer your questions.
Also, CCHCC has expanded our “walk-in” hours at our office. Please feel free to stop by our office on Tuesdays or Thursdays, from 1 to 4 p.m.
Our office is in downtown Champaign, in the Lincoln Building at 44 E. Main Street, Suite 208, Champaign, IL 61802.
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 check your plan and/or change it for the 2025 plan year, until December 7, 2024. 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 through January 15, 2025. The ACA Marketplace (healthcare.gov) Open Enrollment period is 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.
Even if you have a Marketplace plan that you like, CCHCC encourages you to review the plan for the coming year, to make sure it continues to work for you. We also encourage you to update your information on the Marketplace, since income guidelines for subsidies, which make the plans more affordable, change from year to year. Fortunately, the COVID subsidies are still in place for plan year 2025, which makes insurance on the Marketplace even more affordable!
Good news! The “Family Glitch” in the Marketplace has been fixed! The so-called “family glitch” was a rule saying that family members of employed people are considered to have an offer of “affordable” employer-based coverage – and so are ineligible for financial help from the Marketplace – if the employer offers “affordable” self-only coverage to its workers but contributes little or nothing toward the added premium for family members. The federal government changed this rule last year. For 2025, families who are offered dependent coverage are now able to get subsidies if their premium is considered unaffordable — for the dependents! CCHCC’s federally-certified application counselors can help!
Medicaid enrollment is open year-round. Unlike Medicare and the ACA’s Marketplace, there is no open enrollment period for Medicaid coverage. Medicaid is open year-round, so people can apply for Medicaid at any time in the year. CCHCC helps community members with these applications on a year-round basis. And if you are unsure whether you qualify for Medicaid, or a Marketplace plan with a subsidy, CCHCC can help you sort it out!
CCHCC needs your financial support, and your active and ongoing involvement in our efforts to help our community members get covered. Please help spread the word about our services, and/or make a contribution to help support CCHCC’s ongoing advocacy and organizing efforts, as well as our enrollment work. To make a contribution, click the SUPPORT CCHCC below.
SUPPORT CCHCC!
We thank you for your commitment, and for your ongoing support and involvement!
Sincerely,
Claudia Lennhoff, Executive Director
Champaign County Health Care Consumers