Axed policies total 2,668 on state rolls

The 33,500 people who did not qualify for Medicaid and enrolled for coverage through Arkansas’ health-insurance exchange as of Monday include more than 2,600 whose policies were canceled, according to figures released Friday by the Arkansas Insurance Department.

In addition, 8,234 of the enrollees, or a quarter of the total, had not yet paid their first month’s premiums, which typically must be paid before the policy takes effect, the figures show.

That leaves 22,667 people, or about two-thirds of the total, with active coverage.

The Insurance Department, which gathered the information from insurance companies, had previously reported the enrollment total of 33,569 but had not released figures on how many people had paid their premiums or had their policies canceled.

State Rep. David Meeks, R-Conway, asked the department for the additional information Thursday.

“If we’re going to be honest about the numbers, they need to be reporting those who have paid and those who have actually been covered,” Meeks said Friday.

Insurance Department spokesman Heather Haywood said including people with canceled policies in the state’s enrollment totals mirrors the definition of enrollment used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In reporting enrollment tallies, the federal department counts those who have selected a plan, whether or not they have paid their first month’s premiums. Federal officials have said they do not have complete information on the number of people nationwide who have paid their premiums.

Haywood added that the state Insurance Department is investigating why the 2,668 plans were canceled. The people who signed up for them may have changed their minds about which plan they wanted or may have been determined as eligible for Medicaid, she said.

“We don’t know why they canceled them,” Haywood said.

Set up in every state under the 2010 federal health-care overhaul law, exchanges allow people to shop for coverage and apply for subsidies to help pay for it.

Under Arkansas’ so-called private option, the state’s Medicaid program will pay the full premium for adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level - $16,105 for an individual, for example, or $32,913 for a family of four.

Tax-credit subsidies are available in some cases to those who don’t qualify for Medicaid and have incomes below 400 percent of the poverty level - $45,960 for an individual, or $94,200 for a family of four.

Enrollment through the exchanges began Oct. 1.

While enrollment in Medicaid-funded plans under the private option has exceeded expectations, with almost 150,000 people approved for coverage as of March 22, sign-ups among those who do not qualify for Medicaid has lagged.

President Barack Obama said this week that 6 million people have signed up for coverage through the exchanges nationwide. The national figures, however, do not take into account the number of people who have paid their first premiums.

Max Greenwood, a spokesman for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, said about 5 percent of people who signed up for coverage with the company never paid their first month’s premiums, meaning that the coverage never took effect. The company and its national affiliate, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, are among four companies offering plans on Arkansas’ insurance exchange.

At Little Rock-based Qual-Choice Health Insurance, which is also offering plans on the exchange, about 25 percent of enrollees never pay their premiums, Chief Executive Officer Mike Stock said.

“It’s sort of been implied that all these people have coverage,” Stock said. “That’s just not true.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/29/2014

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