Community Partner
Newsletter
IS S UE N UMB ER 2
November-December 2014
GENDER
HEALTH
CENTER
Connecting
with
the LGBT
population
As the executive director of the Gender Health Center in Sacramento, Ben Hudson recognizes
that his job doesn’t end once an application for health coverage is signed. The small, fouremployee agency (www.thegenderhealthcenter.org) that provides counseling and benefits
advocacy to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is a top-performing
Certified Enrollment Entity, signing up more than 1,000 individuals in Covered California and
Medi-Cal plans. As Covered California gears up for the next open-enrollment period, Hudson had
a few words to share about how the center is successfully engaging the LGBT community.
continued on page 2
A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR
Welcome to the
newest issue of
the Community
Partner Newsletter,
which offers
an inside look
at some of the
people throughout
California who are helping to enroll
individuals in health coverage under the
Affordable Care Act. With this newsletter
I’m thrilled to introduce our new sales
director, Kirk Whelan, and offer some
important updates about the work we’ll
be doing together in the coming months.
In the first year, the fact that health
care is regional, local and personal was
reinforced again and again. We invite
you to read about people on the ground
from Sacramento to Solano County to
Los Angeles who are doing the hard work
to help people get and keep the health
coverage they need.
We worked hard over the summer to
improve our operations — expanding the
continued on page 4
‘Enroll Here’ Signage Available
The much-anticipated Covered California enrollment event signage is now available for order. The sign,
which reads “Enroll Here” and contains the Covered California logo, is available in English, Spanish and
Chinese. Signage is available for pickup at Covered California regional offices located in Los Angeles,
Oakland, Fresno and Sacramento, through the following Covered California staff:
Los Angeles — Claudie Kiti-Bustamante, [email protected], (916) 539-4773
Oakland — Thomas Li, [email protected], (916) 539-5293
Fresno — Athena Fleming, [email protected], (916) 539-4029
Sacramento — Irene Ng, [email protected], (916) 228-8378
The signs can also be ordered online for a nominal cost through Covered California’s print store at http://360.kpcorp.com/coveredca.
2 Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014
Continued from page 1 – Gender Health Center
Q. What kind of unique outreach strategies do you use for the LGBT
population?
A. We’re using the hashtags #OutToEnroll and #OutforHealthCalifornia to brand the cause and
get folks engaged — not only to get enrolled, but also to volunteer to engage other people in
the LGBT community and let them know there are culturally competent people out there who
can help.
Many things when it comes to enrolling an LGBT person in health coverage need to be
considered. How you file your taxes, your marital status — these are all things that are very
relevant and important to LGBT people in California, especially as marriage equality has been
passed. Transgender individuals are now able to get their hormones and many surgeries
[which may be needed for an individual’s transition process] covered under their insurance.
Many trans folks don’t even know that, so there’s a lot of trans individuals in the same sort of
circumstances that many people are, saying “Eh, I guess I gotta [sign up]” or “Maybe I’ll take
the penalty.” We’re able to say, “Do you know that all Covered California and all Medi-Cal plans
cover hormone treatment and many surgeries?” So, all of a sudden, it’s like, “I’m going to sign
up just for that!” Then we’re able to say, “And it comes with insurance!”
Q. What message do you have for other Covered California partners?
A. We really want other partners to know that we’re part of the LGBT community. As such, we
have expert knowledge on enrolling LGBT folks into plans, and we want to be a resource for
our partners to connect with about LGBT folks they may be enrolling. I think this collaborative
effort is really something we all need to think about. We shouldn’t become competitive about
enrolling people. There are more than enough people out there for us all to meet our numbers.
So, how can we really do that and do it the best way possible? If there’s anyone out there
enrolling an LGBT person, and they’re not quite sure how to do their application, we want
them to call us. We don’t want your enrollment, we just want you to connect with us so that
we can help you answer your questions and make sure you’re giving the right information to
those folks.
Update on Payments
Covered California greatly appreciates the
patience of those individuals still waiting to
receive payment for some of the work that
took place during our first open-enrollment
period. We could not have enrolled more
than 1 million people in California if it were
not for the support we received from
individuals working on the ground in
communities.
Covered California’s goal is to have all of
the Certified Enrollment Entity qualified
health plan payments, Certified Enrollment
Entity Medi-Cal payments and Certified
Insurance Agent Medi-Cal payments paid
by the first of the year, with some payments
being made in late November. If you
receive a request for further information
from Covered California, please return the
information to Covered California as soon as
possible to ensure payments can be made
expeditiously. We will continue to provide
updates about these payments in future
newsletters.
RENEWAL
KEY DATES
Consumers who purchased health coverage for 2014 have begun receiving renewal notices urging them to visit CoveredCA.com to renew their
coverage for 2015. When they have completed the process, they will receive a bill from their insurance plans in December. Consumers who take
no action by Dec. 15, 2014, will be renewed into their existing plan and receive a bill with their new premium and tax credit lowering their monthly
payment. (Those receiving Medi-Cal should not renew on CoveredCA.com, but should wait to hear from Medi-Cal about next steps.)
2015
2014
2014
2014
2015
2014
2015
2
FEB
OCT
NOV
DEC
JAN
DEC
FEB
O
15 15 15
Renewal notices start going
out to encourage consumers
to renew their coverage on
CoveredCA.com and update
their information.
15
Last day to change your plan
selection to avoid any gap in
coverage.
15 26 15 1
Premium must be received by
your plan by Dec. 26 to avoid
any gap in coverage.
Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014 3
Introducing Kirk Whelan
Kirk Whelan, director of the Individual and Small Business Sales Division at Covered California, knows
firsthand the importance of having comprehensive health insurance. Whelan is a father of three, and his youngest
child, now 17 years old, was born with Down syndrome and also is a four-year cancer survivor.
For Covered California, Whelan, 51, leads the agency’s Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) and Individual
Sales program, including all sales channels: Certified Insurance Agents, Navigators, Certified Enrollment Entities and
Certified Enrollment Counselors, Certified Plan-Based Enrollers, and Outreach and Education Program grantees.
Whelan comes to Covered California from Kaiser Permanente, where he worked in a variety of positions since 1996.
Most recently, he was the sales manager for Kaiser’s valley territory in Northern California, responsible for large- and small-business membership
sales, and was the leader of Kaiser Permanente’s California small-business strategy team.
“Our health care industry is going through a historic transformation, and California is helping lead the way in moving the nation toward better
population health, outcome-based medicine and affordable care,” Whelan said. “The opportunity to play a sales leadership role with our exchange is
very exciting and one that I felt would only come along once in a lifetime.”
FAST FACTS:
School — Whelan graduated from California Polytechnic State University,
San Luis Obispo, with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural
business management, concentrating in marketing and sales.
Family — Whelan is married and has three children.
Giving back — For the past five years, he’s been involved with
fundraising for Okizu, a camp in Oroville, Calif., for children being treated
for cancer and their families.
Sales philosophy — “Work hard to stay at the top of your game,” he
said. “Help your sales force sell more, faster. The organization matters.
Develop a team of “A” players through coaching, empowerment and
engagement. Model the way.”
After hours — “I am an avid golfer and skier. I’m interested in good
health, running two or three half-marathons a year,” he said. “I also enjoy
road biking during the summer in preparation for the annual Tour De
Tahoe 72-mile ride around Lake Tahoe in September.”
Certified Insurance Agents — Whelan said they are “established and
trusted professionals in communities across the state, and they are
crucial to helping consumers and employers enjoy the benefits of the
Affordable Care Act. The law is going to trigger many changes in the way
care is organized and delivered in California. Agents and other Covered
California partners will be on the front lines of making this new era of
care a success.”
OPEN ENROLLMENT
KEY DATES
Open enrollment is the next opportunity for all Californians to benefit from new insurance rules, including the requirement
that insurance be offered regardless of health status. This is the window of time when Californians can buy subsidized coverage
starting in 2015.
2014
20142014
NOV NOV
NOV
20142014 2014
2014
DECDECDEC
DEC
2015
JAN
20152015
JAN
JAN
2015
FEB
2015
2015
2014
FEB
FEB OCT
2014
2014
OCT
OCT
151515 15151515 15 1515 15 151515 1515
Open enrollment begins.
Last day to enroll for
coverage starting Jan. 1.
First premium must be
received by your plan by
Dec. 26 for coverage to
begin Jan. 1.
Last day to enroll for
coverage starting Feb. 1.
First premium must be
received by your plan by
Jan. 27 for coverage to
begin Feb. 1.
The last day to enroll for
coverage starting March 1 and
the final day of open enrollment
for 2015 coverage. First premium
must be paid by Feb. 24 for
coverage to begin March 1.
4 Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014
BE HI ND THE CU B I CL E
Julia Is Ready to Rock and Enroll
Covered California will start open
enrollment for 2015 coverage with more
than 1,300 Service Center representatives
helping consumers over the phone,
by Web chat or by processing their
paperwork.
Julia, 26, is one of the hundreds of
representatives at the Rancho Cordova
Service Center location assisting
consumers. She has been with Covered
California since February, while 2014
open enrollment was still underway,
and said the first few months were
overwhelming but rewarding.
ered California
v
o
C ENROLLMENT
2 million
1.7m
2015 goal
1.12m
to date
Julia breathed a sigh of relief when talking about all the additional staff that have been hired —
many of them bilingual — to help people get through the process. While the vast majority of
consumers are served in their own languages by Covered California staff, the capacity of the
Service Center will be expanded more in order to serve callers in Spanish, Chinese and other
languages.
“We have hired a lot of new staff, and I was honestly a little mortified before that. We beefed up
our staff a lot, and it makes me feel confident, especially with the new people, because they seem
to be catching on. I’ve been helping them as much as I can, because it will make my life easier.”
While Julia’s main focus now is reading up on processes and being sure she has all relevant
information at hand, she said she’s ready for the calls every day when she arrives. She begins her day
at 11:45 a.m., which is typically a busy time, given that it is during the lunch hour for many people.
Service Center hours have been expanded to accommodate consumers after hours, with
representatives now available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 6
p.m. on Saturday. The Center will also be open on Sundays from Nov. 16 to Dec. 14.
With the historic first open enrollment behind Covered California, Julia seemed at ease about how
the next few months would go for her and her colleagues. “It’s not going to be as crazy, because
this is the second time around, and we’re more familiar with everything. I feel like we’re more
organized.”
To add to that, she said most of the people she talks with over the phone are understanding.
“People are always grateful because we can really talk with them and explain things to them. They
seem to really appreciate our help.”
1 million
500k
0
“It’s definitely been interesting, and everyone’s really tight-knit,” she said. “They all maintain a
sense of humor, and it’s important because we’re all in this together and trying to figure out the
best way to do things.”
During the next open-enrollment period, about 2 million consumers are expected to call into
Covered California’s Service Center offices in Rancho Cordova, Fresno and Concord, as well as a
newly opened Service Center location in Sacramento.
1.5 million
continued from page 1 —
Director’s Message
number of Service Center representatives,
extending Service Center hours and
redesigning the website, among other
things. But our work is far from over.
Open enrollment is shorter this year —
running from Nov. 15 to Feb. 15 — and
there’s much to do. Last year we made
history; let’s do it again this year and enroll
even more uninsured Californians in health
coverage for 2015.
Questions or comments
about this newletter?
Please send an email to:
[email protected]
Our next issue will be out in
January 2015.
Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014 5
Se Habla Seguro de Salud (Health Insurance Talk)
As a Certified Insurance Agent with Covered California, Jackie Luna speaks
two valuable languages: insurance and Español.
A mother of five and owner of JM Luna Health, Financial, and Insurance Solutions
(http://jmluna-solutions.com), she enrolled hundreds of individuals and their families into
health insurance plans in their native language during Covered California’s first openenrollment period. And because 95 percent of her clients are Spanish-speaking, Luna has
mastered the art of selling insurance to Latinos, and it boils down to one word: simplicity.
Step 1: Elementary, my dear.
“HMO vs. PPO. I keep it simple. HMO is the insurance where you need to
select your primary care physician, and in order to go to see a specialist,
you need to get an authorization. PPO is having the freedom to go
and come as you please as long as you stay within the network of the
insurance carrier.
“The biggest obstacle was that many people don’t know how health
insurance works. Once I show them the value, they are happy to sign up.”
Step 3: Guide them to choose the best plan for their
budget and needs.
“I then explain what a deductible is and where it applies. I normally tell
them that the deductible would apply if they have a surgery or stay in
the hospital.”
“People have different ways of understanding. So, as an agent, I need to
be able to help so people aren’t resistant and help them understand —
in simple terms — the benefits of having health insurance. Because if I
tell them, ‘It is the law,’ they don’t like that.”
Step 2: You insure your car, so why not yourself?
Final thoughts on misconceptions?
“When they give me the objection as to what is the need to pay for health
insurance, I do the car insurance comparison. We all need car insurance,
right? You pay for car insurance. When your car breaks down, you take it
to the mechanic. Well, if you break down, you go to the doctor.
“There are still misunderstandings and misleading information out there.
For example, my sister said, ‘All the benefits that they are giving me, they
will come back one day and take it back.’ Or ‘I don’t want to share my
information, because they will use it against me.’”
“When you need a tune-up, the car insurance doesn’t pay for it; you
have to pay for it. So, think of that as your doctor visits. If you get into a
major accident, you have to pay a deductible in order for the insurance
company to cover the cost of the accident. The same thing goes with
health insurance.
Luna noted that managing home life, managing a business and helping
with a local radio station can be a juggling act for most. Mix in the
upcoming Covered California open-enrollment period, and she said she
already has a de-stress plan in the works: “Meditation, reiki and walks in
the park!”
Are You ‘In’?
We are encouraging everyone who
is already “In” by having coverage —
whether through Covered California,
their job or any other source — to spread
the word to their friends and neighbors by
using social media to share the message. Visit CoveredCA.com
and click on the “Tell a Friend” icon for more information.
6 Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014
COVERED C ALIFORNIA STOREFRONTS
Shoes, Desserts, Vitamins and … Health Care?
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall,
Los Angeles
As Covered California readies for the fall openenrollment period beginning in November,
partners up and down the state are slated
to open more than 200 storefronts in retail
locations to help educate, enroll and renew
consumers.
Crenshaw Health Partners
President Dr. Brownell
Payne (left) with Dr.
Charles Loeb, Director of
Education and Enrollment
Center Manager at the
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw
store.
During the historic, first open-enrollment
period, consumers relied on a variety of touch
points, including in-person assistance, to
successfully complete enrollment. In June,
Crenshaw Health Partners, a Covered California
Certified Enrollment Entity, opened the doors
to an enrollment center on the second floor of
the mall, which has daily foot traffic of 14,000
people.
The effort is led by Crenshaw Health Partners
President Dr. Brownell Payne and Director of
Education and Enrollment Center Manager
Dr. Charles Loeb. The enrollment center is
open every day, providing health insurance
enrollment for the community year-round.
Since its opening, hundreds of people have
taken advantage of the free, in-person
assistance.
Operators of the Crenshaw Healthcare
Enrollment Center offered advice to Covered
California partners entering similar business
ventures:
1. Business 101: Create a solid business plan.
2. Define your organization: Develop an effective mission statement and live by it.
3. Location, location, location: Choose a location that has built-in foot traffic.
4. Back to basics: Be friendly and engaging with clientele.
5. Resources: Simply put, “If you don’t have it, don’t spend it.”
6. Staffing matters: Employees should be knowledgeable, diverse and bilingual.
7. Learning never stops: Conduct ongoing training sessions and refresher courses.
8. Community presence: Participate in events outside the center.
9. Increase visibility: Include marketing and public relations in your strategy to raise awareness.
10. Have a heart: During the ups and downs, glitches or hiccups, remember the cause. “Whatever
the question, love is the answer,” said Payne.
Loeb added, “As a physician, I’ve delivered thousands of babies, yet this is the most valuable
thing I’ve done. It has made the biggest difference in my community. This is God’s work.”
DON’T FORGET
If your consumers are
enrolled in or are eligible
for Medi-Cal, enrollment
continues year-round.
Medi-Cal will send them
information about renewing.
Have
Medi-Cal?
You don’t need to
renew until you hear
from Medi-Cal about
your next steps.
Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014 7
Redesigned Website for CoveredCA.com
Covered California has upgraded its website
to make the consumer experience both
easier and more intuitive. Enrollees will find
CoveredCA.com and the California Healthcare
Eligibility, Enrollment and Retention System
(CalHEERS) application portal now have a
unified look.
The new CoveredCA.com website design
includes an updated top navigation bar and
bottom page content that are consistent on
every page throughout the website, including
the pages within the CalHEERS application.
The redesign also allows consumers to
navigate back and forth between
CoveredCA.com and the CalHEERS portal
so that enrollees can find answers to health
insurance questions while applying.
In addition, to meet high consumer demand,
Covered California spent $22.6 million to
upgrade the enrollment portal infrastructure to
allow more consumers to access the website
without delays or performance issues. The
improvement allows for speedier page loads so
that consumers do not have to return later to
complete their application.
slides take users directly to a page where
they can take action, such as enrolling or
renewing, or they will be able to read additional
information to help them apply or use their
coverage. Consumers now can start applying
from any page of the website.
New to the CoveredCA.com website are home
page sliders. These clickable informational
ACE ♠ AGENT: Simon Chew
Simon Chew is a household name within Chinese-American
communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. He started his insurance
business 25 years ago, and he and his six trusted insurance advisers
have helped thousands of families obtain health insurance through
Covered California.
Agents from Chew’s eHealth-Plans Inc. — located in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland
and Fremont and online at www.simon888.com — were among Covered California’s
top-producing Certified Insurance Agents in the state during the first open-enrollment
period. Covered California recently sat down with Chew and asked him to share some of
the secrets to his success.
Q. You’ve been in this business long
enough to know what works and what
doesn’t work. What’s your top tip for
Covered California enrollers — Certified
Enrollment Counselors (CECs) and
Certified Insurance Agents — to help them
reach target populations?
A. Be present in your community. Host
seminars — large and small. Make sure
people know you are there to answer
questions. Get to know your community and
the people you are trying to reach. The idea
of “health care for all” is still relatively new.
Over the years, I’ve learned to work with
Chinese media outlets to reach the Chinese
communities, educating families on the
financial impact of not having insurance. Most
people have assets they want to protect.
Once they understand that, they are pretty
open to ways to protect their assets.
Q. What are you doing differently during
the 2015 open-enrollment period?
Q. Is there a different approach enrollers
should be making while targeting Asian
communities?
A. We’d love to do more enrollment events
with local grantees and CECs. Agents and
counselors bring different skill sets and
knowledge to the table. The only way we are
able to succeed in getting coverage for all
in California is if we — agents and CECs —
work together. I want to do more events with
San Francisco Bay Area Navigators. This is
absolutely essential this time around. We need
to work together to approach and engage the
hard-to-reach populations.
A. Speaking from my own personal
experience, Chinese communities like to
enroll face to face. We set up seminars so they
are able to meet my team and me in person.
It’s extremely important to build that trust.
Once we meet in person, then we are able to
establish that physical commitment. Maybe
it is a cultural thing. I have four offices where
clients are able to walk in at any time during
our business hours. My clients know that I’m
here to stay. They know where to find me and
my advisers.
8 Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014
Solano Coalition for Better Health, Making a Difference
Baron reported that since the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act took effect,
school districts within Solano County have
seen insurance coverage jump to 80 percent
to 90 percent among children 18 and younger.
with sufficient information. As enrollment
counselors, we need to stay positive, be patient
and be persistent. It takes time to break down
barriers, but we’ll get there.”
“That’s an impressive coverage rate,” said
SCBH veteran counselor Maria Rios, noting
that approximately 91 percent of preschool,
elementary and high school students
The SCBH counselors said they are ready
to “make history again” and have ambitious
plans for Covered California’s 2015 openenrollment period. These plans include:
increasing outreach efforts to local faith-based
“People are motivated to increase their
quality of life, and they are getting covered.”
Fatima Bustos, a health access specialist
from Solano Coalition for Better Health,
during a recent tabling event at Solano
College in Fairfield, Calif.
Solano Coalition for Better Health (SCBH,
online at www.solanocoalition.org) operates
and thrives under the belief that healthy
people build a more productive community.
With that mindset going into the first openenrollment period, SCBH’s eight Certified
Enrollment Counselors worked diligently in
Solano County to enroll 500 consumers into
Covered California health insurance plans and
more than 1,000 additional people into the
expanded Medi-Cal program. By the end of
the enrollment period, SCBH ranked among
Covered California’s top 50 high-performing
Certified Enrollment Entities.
“We love what we do, because at the end of
the day, we are providing a sense of security,”
explained SCBH Certified Enrollment
Counselor Shai Baron.
“There’s definitely a sense of satisfaction
knowing that you’ve made a difference,” added
another counselor, Luis Reynoso.
in Vacaville now have health insurance.
Compared with a 60 percent to 70 percent
student health coverage rate during previous
years, the SCBH counselors believe it is evident
that the Affordable Care Act and Covered
California are working.
The counselors are also noticing more active
participation from parents in Solano County
since Covered California launched, and they
are seeing families actively involved in ensuring
their children have health coverage.
“That’s what we want!” exclaimed Rios. “People
are motivated to increase their quality of life,
and they are getting covered.”
SCBH has faced some obstacles, though, most
notably with enrollment of families with mixedimmigration status.
“We have a large number of mixed-status
immigrant families in Solano County who are
afraid to provide lawful presence verifications
because of the implications it may cause [with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement],”
Rios said. She continued, “These mixed-status
immigrant families are harder to reach. We
really need to educate them and provide them
organizations and colleges in an effort to enroll
more families and millennials, and partnering
with the Mexican Consulate’s mobile services
to better reach Spanish-speaking communities
in Solano County. In addition, SCBH will also
use its offices as a storefront enrollment
location and will be extending office hours
during weekends and evenings to provide
enhanced services to consumers.
The SCBH counselors said a little bit of
patience and optimism goes a long way
during enrollment periods. They keep binders
of their success stories to remind themselves
of the difference they’ve made and the lives
they’ve changed.
Reynoso shared a story of a woman who lost
her husband unexpectedly and came to the
SCBH office with her children two weeks after
his death. “It was really sad,” he recalled. For
the next couple of hours, Reynoso sat with her
and sensitively helped her select health plans
to cover her entire family. At the end of this
appointment, the woman managed a thankful
smile. “She was still sad, but she smiled,”
Reynoso said. “I made a difference that day —
one family, one person at a time.”
Community Partner Newsletter Nov.-Dec. 2014 9
Fresno Resident Says
Covered California
Saved Her Life
CoveredCA.com
Enroll by February 15, 2015
@CoveredCA
Last January, 59-year-old Diana Parret thought
something might be wrong with her health, because
she was having a gynecological problem. She’d lost her
health insurance the month before, when she was laid
off from her job, and now she couldn’t afford to go to
the doctor.
2014 Open Enrollment Bus Tour
(tentative schedule)
Mon., Nov. 10
Sacramento, Petaluma, San Francisco and
San Jose
While taking her mother to an appointment at Kaiser
Permanente in Fresno that January, she stopped at a
Covered California kiosk at the hospital and spoke with
a Certified Educator who encouraged her to enroll
in a subsidized health plan. The following month, Parret picked a Kaiser Permanente Silver plan
with a $207 monthly premium. She paid her first premium at the end of February and had her first
doctor’s appointment on March 3, 2014.
Tues., Nov. 11
Gilroy, Fresno, Bakersfield
Wed., Nov. 12
Pasadena, Riverside, Palm Springs,
Moreno Valley
Thurs., Nov. 13
San Diego, Santa Ana,
downtown Los Angeles
Fri., Nov. 14
Los Angeles
“That solution saved my life.
It gave me a new lease on life.”
Sat., Nov. 15
San Bernardino, Anaheim, Santa Ana,
Carson, Los Angeles
“The subsidy was a godsend,” exclaimed Parret.
Soon after her appointment, her doctor called and said she had a “nasty, fast-growing, aggressive
uterine cancer.” The doctor wanted her to take care of it right away. Parret had surgery in early
April 2014 and is now recovering well.
She said she loves Covered California and is helping spread the word about affordable health care.
“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me. It is a gift,” she said. “I had a problem, but I had a
solution. That solution saved my life. It gave me another opportunity. It gave me a new lease
on life.”
Sun., Nov. 16
Los Angeles (churches/faith-based)
Mon., Nov. 17
Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles,
Salinas
Tues., Nov. 18
Yuba City/Marysville, Chico, Redding
To make her even happier, Parret has just learned that her premium is going down in 2015.
CoveredCA.com
Enroll by February 15, 2015
@CoveredCA
“I’m an advocate of Covered California. This has been wonderful for me. The plan was affordable. If
I didn’t have this, I would be upside down physically and upside down financially. This was a gift!”
ABOUT COVERED CALIFORNIA
Covered California is the state’s marketplace for the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Covered
California, in partnership with the California Department of Health Care Services, was charged with creating a
new health insurance marketplace in which individuals and small businesses can get access to affordable health
insurance plans. Covered California helps individuals determine whether they are eligible for premium assistance
that is available on a sliding-scale basis to reduce insurance costs or whether they are eligible for low-cost or nocost Medi-Cal. Consumers can then compare health insurance plans and choose the plan that works best for
their health needs and budget. Small businesses can purchase competitively priced health insurance plans and
offer their employees the ability to choose from an array of plans and may qualify for federal tax credits. Covered
California is an independent part of the state government whose job is to make the new market work for
California’s consumers. It is overseen by a five-member board appointed by the governor and the Legislature.
For more information about Covered California, please visit www.CoveredCA.com.
CONTACT US:
CoveredCA.com
(800) 300-1506
GET COVERED
Open Enrollment 2015
NOV. 15, 2014 – FEB. 15, 2015
Open Enrollment is the ONE TIME during the year when most Californians who
need insurance cannot be denied by a health plan and when millions can get
subsidized health insurance for the upcoming year.
(Individuals who have limited income may enroll in Medi-Cal year-round.)
Shop Smart
Key Dates
2014
2015
NOV
2014
2015
2015
DEC 2014
2015
0
FEB
JAN
15 15 15 1515 15
JAN
FEB
OCT
2014
OCT
15 15
Open Enrollment starts Nov. 15 and continues
through Feb. 15 and offers all individuals — sick or
healthy — the opportunity to get the health
coverage and care they need. In California, coverage
is offered through Covered California at
CoveredCA.com, the state marketplace. If you do
not want a subsidy, buy directly from a health plan.
The new Covered California website offers interactive
shopping tools that allow individuals to pick a plan
that is right for them. Consumers can shop and
compare their options based on their age, where they
live, their household income and number of people in
their household. These factors determine their
premium and amount of any subsidy they may receive.
Find Help
Consumer Choice
BRONZE
60%
Health insurance can be complicated. Consumers
can seek free, confidential assistance from more
than 28,000 individuals in California who stand ready
to help them enroll or by visiting CoveredCA.com.
Click on “Find Local Help” to search for a Certified
Insurance Agent, Certified Enrollment Counselor or
county eligibility worker.
SILVER
70%
GOLD
80%
PLATINUM
90%
Covered California offers a range of choices of
private health insurance plans. Consumers can
choose the health plan and level of coverage that
best meets their needs and budget. At Covered
California and in the individual market, consumers
can compare based on standard benefit designs and
know that all essential health benefits are covered.