Meetings to cover insurance options

Health-care shift saves, agency says

State insurance officials will be holding town hall meetings in every county, starting this week, on the insurance options that will be available under the 2010 federal health-care overhaul.

Separately, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Tuesday that another part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has saved Arkansas Medicare recipients $57 million in prescription drug costs since it was enacted.

Starting Oct. 1, Arkansans will be able to enroll in private health insurance plans through an exchange being set up by the federal government under a partnership with the state.

The state’s Medicaid program will pay the premiums of Arkansans with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level - $15,860 for an individual or $32,500 for a family of four.

Those with incomes of up to 400 percent of the poverty level - $45,960 for an individual or $94,200 for a family of four - will be eligible for tax credit subsidies to help with their premiums.

The law has also provided subsidies to help Medicare recipients pay for prescription drugs in the so-called doughnut hole - the gap in coverage in the private plans that provide the Medicare drug benefit. Nationally, Medicare recipients have saved an average of $1,061 on prescription drugs since the law was enacted, according to the Medicare agency.

The town hall meetings are being sponsored by the Arkansas Insurance Department and University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s Partners for Inclusive Communities, which conducts research and disseminates information on issues facing the disabled.

On Thursday, meetings will be held at 2 p.m. at the Petit Jean Electric Cooperative at 270 Quality Drive in Clinton, at 4 p.m. at the Polk County Library at 410 Eighth St. in Mena, and at 5 p.m. at the All Saints Episcopal Church at 501 S. Phoenix Ave. in Russellville.

On Friday, meetings will be held at 9 a.m. at the Garland County Library at 1427 Malvern Ave. in Hot Springs and at 5 p.m. at the Marvin Vinson Center at 1611 Oakland St. in Clarksville.

Other meetings have been scheduled this month in 21 other counties. Additional meetings will be scheduled in the state’s other counties, Insurance Department spokesman Heather Haywood said. Details of the meetings are posted on the department’s website for consumers, www.arhealthconnector.org.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/31/2013

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