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Maryland HIX Expands Options for 2014 Enrollment

The new website will allow people to browse options anonymously, allowing people to see different plans and make comparisons.

Maryland health care consumers will discover a better website and more health insurance options this year, according to state program directors and local community organizers.

The Asian American Center of Frederick will take a lead role again as the uninsured and the insured explore their options to meet the requirements for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, said Elizabeth Chung, the center's director.

“We haven't stopped,” she said Wednesday.

Locally, the Door to HealthCare Western Maryland will coordinate the state's enrollment efforts through the Asian American Center, the Frederick Community Action Agency, Frederick County Health Department and Department of Social Services, said Eric Masten, Healthy Howard's director of health policy and advocacy. Door to HealthCare is a Healthy Howard program that is the western region's official connector organization for the insurance marketplace.

Nov. 9, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange will roll out an improved Maryland Health Connection website marketplace, Masten said. All consumers shopping for health insurance on the exchange for the 2015 calendar year — even those who currently have a qualified health plan through the exchange — should re-enroll between Nov. 15 and Dec. 18, Masten said.

“It is clearly easier to use," Masten said.

The exchange is a public corporation and an independent unit of Maryland state government that administers Maryland Health Connection.

Last year, Chung's center reached out to minority groups — including communities that speak more than 20 languages and anyone in search of answers — as they navigated their new insurance options, the law's requirement and a troubled website. Door to Healthcare navigators and assisters will be available again to help consumers through the process.

Last year's first round with the state's online marketplace did not capture all of the estimated 20,825 in Frederick who had no health care coverage.

“We still have work to do,” Chung said.

The first round did get 2,367 Frederick County residents enrolled in qualified health plans, and 7,544 were added to Medicaid, which was expanded to include more people, Masten said. For 2014, Maryland enrolled 72,207 in qualified health plans, with 11,145 of those coming from the western region of Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard and Washington counties.

Again this year, Chung said her center intends to set up enrollment stations, with multilingual assistants, in various community locations.

Exchange representatives announced that Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. is the newest carrier in the marketplace for 2015. Cigna joins CareFirst, Evergreen, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealthCare, all of which offered plans in the exchange in 2014.

The new website will allow people to browse the options anonymously, allowing people to see different plans and make comparisons, Carolyn Quattrocki, executive director of the exchange, said in a news release.

©2014 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.)