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The deadline to sign up for health insurance coverage on the ACA Marketplace is Jan. 15

A screenshot from healthcare.gov. Two people stand back to back, smiling at the camera. Clickable buttons for "Apply for coverage" and "Get Marketplace basics," "Log in to make changes," "Browse plans & costs," and "Find local help" dot the page.
healthcare.gov

The deadline to sign up for healthcare on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace is Jan. 15. A record 45,000 Wyomingites have signed up already. New this year are enhanced subsidies that could bring monthly payments down to about $10 for many applicants. Also, UnitedHealthcare is now the third company offering insurance in the state.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Nicky Ouellet recently asked our region's director for U.S. Health and Human Services, Lily Griego, what Wyomingites should keep in mind when choosing a plan this year.

Editor's Note: This story has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Lily Griego: We have Marketplace plans that are available as low as $10 a month, and that's really important. Folks can visit healthcare.gov and we have this available in English and other languages as well. It gives consumers a place to do their own shopping if they prefer to look at it.

What we do know is that folks are interested in making sure that they have access to a local doctor, local health care provider – folks that they're familiar with. And so this gives folks an opportunity to search those plans to make sure that they can get what they need.

I want to talk for just a minute about Wyoming having 211 as an option for Wyomingites to call in case they don't have health insurance [and] they don't know where to start. These are your neighbors who are familiar with what Wyomingites experience in terms of drive times, access to care – and we know that we're a really, really remote, rural state. That's the region that we serve here. And we want to make sure that folks are familiar with what they're going to get in terms of healthcare insurance or coverage, in terms of the access to those providers that are on the ground.

Editor’s note: Griego also recommends connecting with Enroll Wyoming in person, by phone or online to better understand Marketplace insurance options, get a free quote and enroll in a plan with help from specially trained, federally certified Navigator.

Nicky Ouellet: Can you remind me who might want to be paying attention to this deadline? I know about 10% of Wyomingites don't have health insurance coverage.

LG: To be very honest, everyone should be paying attention to the deadline. This is the one time during the calendar year that we're doing enrollment. We want to make sure that folks just have access to healthcare. That's been one of the top priorities that [Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier] Becerra has talked about in this entire time that we've been in this administration, but not just having access to healthcare, access to affordable health insurance.

NO: If I signed up on the Marketplace last year, do I need to do anything to re-enroll?

LG: Technically, no. What we would say is please revisit your plan – did you have experiences last year where you visited that doctor for your kiddo who said, “This is not an insurance I accept anymore?” That's one of the concerns that I would have if I were in Wyoming and making sure that I had coverage through the Marketplace, or even through my employer. Do you have the needs met that you had last year? Do you have healthcare changes that have taken place? I can think of a myriad of issues that may come up that are unexpected health emergencies, and we want to make sure that your healthcare coverage is going to meet those either emergencies or changing family needs. And so that's a really good time to make sure that the plan you have is one that you're expecting to carry you through 2025.

NO: You mentioned that folks might be able to find some really, really cheap premium plans this year, but a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found Wyoming has some of the highest average benchmark premiums in the country at $871 a month. What would you say to people who hear those numbers and think, ‘How am I going to afford health insurance?’

LG: This is why the Marketplace is so important. Some plans right now on the Marketplace have no copays [the amount you pay upfront for a medical visit]. It's just really important to make sure that we're reviewing the plans as individuals and relying on the Navigators to help us in these decision making processes that come once a year through open enrollment.

We have broken records through the Biden-Harris administration and made sure that folks across the entire country, to include Wyoming, are having access to healthcare providers. It's up to Congress to review some changes coming up in 2025.

One of those things is that [enhanced] tax premiums right now are life saving and game changing, according to Sec. Becerra, and we want to make sure that your folks in Congress are well informed on the fact that plans that we have now have increased coverage, have increased the number of Americans with health insurance, and what we know is that that's game changer, according to the Secretary, and it's also life saving. When people know that they have the freedom to walk into the doctor's office and the peace of mind to be able to say, “Yes, I have health insurance.”

NO: Those expanded tax credits that get those plans to have those $10 premiums – that's through the Inflation Reduction Act, which is set to expire at the end of this year. More and more Wyomingites are enrolling in Medicare. This is the federal health insurance program for people age 65 and up. Almost 18% of the state used the program [in 2023]. What changes to Medicare or how it's funded might you be anticipating under the incoming Trump administration and a Republican led Congress?

LG: One of the things that we want to celebrate is the historic steps that we have taken to lower prescription drug costs. During the past year, during 2024, the president negotiated through our department lower drug prices for 10 of the most expensive prescription drugs that American seniors are using and that are life saving. Some of these address diabetes issues, heart failure issues – some of the most common issues that our seniors face as they are aging and aging in place, to include folks in Wyoming.

The reason that this is so important is that we are doing two things in 2025. Number one, we're continuing that work through the Inflation Reduction Act. But number two, we're beginning the drug price negotiation for the second set of drugs. And so we leave office Jan. 20 with record numbers of folks covered, with the Inflation Reduction Act delivering on behalf of the American people and we celebrate this work and we're leaving it in a good space for the Trump administration to continue this work.

NO: The Wyoming legislature hasn't passed Medicaid expansion, which would help lower income folks access insurance. What other options are there?

LG: This is something that we have been focused on in the Biden-Harris administration, is encouraging the states to pick up Medicaid expansion. To your east, neighbors in South Dakota passed Medicaid expansion while I've been here in this position. And what I want to comment on this a little bit is to say thank you to Gov. [Mark] Gordon.

He has done some tremendous work in the space, and he and his team and I have been in close communication as it relates to workforce issues, in particular in maternal health in the state of Wyoming. Also, we want to say thank you to the governor and his team and folks across the entire state of Wyoming who are focused on improving behavioral health for the state of Wyoming.

The state Legislature in Wyoming has had discussions in the last couple sessions to try and get Medicaid expansion, and what we have demonstrated at HHS, through not only data but recording and conversations with governors, county commissioners, mayors and the like, [is] that people, when they have access to health care, will use that health care to seek health resources through a doctor, primary care doc, preventative medicine [or] telehealth resources. This strengthens your overall health of a community. What we also know is when your community is healthy, your economy is healthy.

Nicky has reported and edited for public radio stations in Montana and produced episodes for NPR's The Indicator podcast and Apple News In Conversation. Her award-winning series, SubSurface, dug into the economic, environmental and social impacts of a potential invasion of freshwater mussels in Montana's waterbodies. She traded New Hampshire's relatively short but rugged White Mountains for the Rockies over a decade ago. The skiing here is much better.

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