A Rush For Health Insurance In Connecticut

A Press Release from Access Health CT

December 23 was a record day for Access Health CT (AHCT), with the highest daily enrollment performance since the Exchange’s launch. More than 6,700 individuals applied for coverage before the deadline of midnight on the 23rd and will begin the year with coverage on January 1st, 2014. This brought the total enrollment from October 1st to December 23rd to more than 62,000 individuals.

Enrollment is still open, and will continue until March 31st, 2014.  In order to begin coverage on the first of a month, individuals must apply online by the 15th day of the previous month, and pay carriers the first premium payment by the end of that month.  

For example, if someone applies for coverage by the 15th of January 2014, and pays their insurance carrier by the 31st of January, they will be eligible for coverage on February 1st, 2014. Enrollments occurring after the 15th will have coverage begin the following month. Again, as an example, if and individual enrolls in January 17th, coverage would be effective on March 1st. 

With the rush of activity occurring on the 23rd, Access Health CT is reaching out to three small groups of enrollees to ensure they were able to complete the applications they began prior to the cutoff. 

The first group is individuals who were on the phone with our call center or waiting in the queue for their call to be answered as of midnight on December 23rd.  

The second group contains individuals who had submitted paper applications on time. Lastly, there are individuals who were initially deemed ineligible for Medicaid, but with new clarification of spend-down rules, may now be eligible for commercial insurance with tax subsidies. 

AHCT staff is currently reaching out to all of those affected individuals proactively to get them enrolled for coverage effective on January 1, 2014. 

For individuals outside of these already identified groups, who believe they should be deemed eligible for coverage effective January 1st, 2014, an appeals process has been put in place.  

Individuals interested in filing an appeal should either call 855-805-4325 or mail their appeal to Access Health CT Appeals, P.O. Box  # 670, Manchester, CT 06045-0670.