Open enrollments for Medicaid, Medicare and federally subsidized health-insurance plans will be available very soon
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
Open enrollment to make changes to Medicaid, Medicare or federal-state subsidized Marketplace health-insurance plans is just around the corner.
Experts encourage participants in each of these programs to review their health-care and prescription-drug coverage yearly to make sure their plans still meet their health-care needs.
Medicaid: Medicaid open enrollment gives Medicaid members a chance to change the insurance company that manages their care, called a managed-care organization or MCO. Open enrollment for Medicaid opens Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 1, for coverage starting Jan. 1.
Medicaid members who chose to not participate in open enrolment will keep the same MCO that they are currently enrolled in.
Kentuckians can enroll in Medicaid through their local Department for Community Based Services office or through Kynect.ky.gov, the state-run insurance marketplace.
Medicaid is a state and federal program that provides health insurance for low-income adults and pregnant women, the disabled and children who meet certain income qualifications.
Kentucky Medicaid covers more than 1.6 million people, more than half of them children who are covered under Medicaid or the Kentucky Children’s Health Plan, or KCHIP. About 625,000 Kentuckians are covered by Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Medicare: Medicare open enrollment starts Oct. 17 and runs through Dec. 7 (not the date shown in the accompanying graphic). To compare your current coverage with other options go to Medicare.gov/plan-compare. Medicare also offers a publication called Medicare and You Handbook 2023 for more information.
Medicare open enrollment allows those covered by original Medicare to reevaluate their existing coverage and make changes if they want to do so. Those who choose to not make any changes will keep their existing coverage in 2023.
Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people who are 65 and older. and certain younger people with disabilities.
Open enrollment for private Medicare Advantage Plans runs Jan. 1 to March 31, 2023.
Marketplace: Open enrollment for a federally subsidized health insurance plan, often called Obamacare, is available through Kynect beginning Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 15, for coverage that starts Jan. 1.
Marketplace coverage is available to people who don’t have health insurance through a job, Medicare, Medicaid or the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program, or another source that provides qualifying health coverage, with a few exceptions.
Plans and prices for 2023 will be available to preview shortly before Nov. 1.