Obamacare enrollment surged at end in Indiana

WASHINGTON – Hoosiers’ participation in the federal health insurance exchange more than doubled in the final weeks of enrollment, the federal government announced Thursday.

Through mid-April, 132,432 Hoosiers had selected a plan, up from the 64,972 who had enrolled through February.

That exceeded the administration’s target for Indiana of 125,000.

“We are very pleased,” said Julia Holloway, who ran the outreach and assistance program for Affiliated Service Providers of Indiana, which received the state’s largest federal grant to help people sign up for coverage.

Holloway said helpers worked with clients until midnight March 31, the last official day of the open enrollment period. Anyone who was trying but unable to complete the enrollment process by the deadline was given until mid-April to finish.

“We had people that had called our call center that couldn’t get appointments that day, so we called them afterward,” Holloway said.

Indiana was one of more than a dozen states where sign-ups doubled in the final stretch, federal officials said.

“More than 8 million Americans now have the peace of mind of knowing their coverage can’t be taken away if they get sick and won’t run out just when they need it the most,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday in a conference call.

But the enrollment figures released Thursday don’t show how many of those who selected a plan have followed through and paid the premium.

House Republicans issued a report Wednesday saying that insurance companies told them about one-third of those who signed up hadn’t paid their first premium by April 1.

Indianapolis-based WellPoint, the dominant player in Indiana’s individual insurance market, told investors Wednesday that about 90 percent of people who selected one of their plans have paid.

Company officials also said enrollment from younger customers increased in the 14 states where WellPoint is selling plans.

That was the case in Indiana, where the share of enrollees younger than 45 went up and the share of those older than 55 went down. Because younger people are generally healthier, that could reduce the amount of benefits paid out this year and lower the premium increases that insurers will seek for next year.

About nine in 10 Hoosiers who selected a plan are receiving a subsidy to offset the cost.

Those subsidies are being challenged, however, by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and more than three dozen Indiana school districts. They contend that a quirk in the way the law was written means the subsidies should be available only in states that are running their own exchanges, instead of deferring to the federal government as Indiana is.

The challenge aims to protect large employers in the state from facing penalties if they don’t offer health insurance to their workers. That’s because fines for businesses with at least 50 full-time employees are triggered if a worker, lacking insurance, uses a subsidy to buy individual insurance through the exchange.

The exchange was created by the Affordable Care Act to make buying insurance easier for those who aren’t covered through an employer or a government program such as Medicare.

Although Indiana exceeded the federal target for first-year sign-ups, many other Hoosiers potentially are eligible to use the exchange, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The group ranks Indiana 21st for the share of potentially eligible residents (25 percent) who have selected a plan.

Some who haven’t signed up may have purchased a plan outside the exchange. But others may be staying out, despite the fact that people who don’t purchase insurance could face a penalty when paying their taxes next year.

The Kaiser Family Foundation’s monthly tracking poll found that the most common reason people gave for why they don’t have health insurance is that it is too expensive. About four in 10 respondents in April said that, compared with about one in 10 who said they haven’t gotten around to getting coverage or missed the deadline to apply. About one in 10 said they don’t want or need coverage. And 22 percent gave an employment-related reason, such as being unemployed or working for an employer that doesn’t offer coverage.

The penalty for not having insurance this year is either 1 percent of yearly household income or $95 per person for the year — whichever amount is higher. The maximum penalty is $285 per family for 2014. The penalty increases in later years.

The law makes exceptions for people earning $10,000 or less a year, those with a religious objection and those who would have to pay more than 8 percent of their income to buy insurance.

In addition to facing a penalty, people can no longer enroll in a plan on the individual market for this year unless they have a big life change, such as switching jobs, moving to another state or having a baby.

The next open enrollment period for coverage that starts in 2015 begins in mid-November.

“Our navigators are still working,” Holloway said. “They’re still doing outreach events and are available to come talk to organizations if they want to find out more about enrollment.”

The toll-free number for Affiliated Service Providers of Indiana, which helps Hoosiers sign up for coverage, is (877) 313-7215.

Email Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.