#openenrollment — Public Fediverse posts

Day 53 of #healthcare #openenrollment.

Today is the deadline for people in the U.S. to select or renew their health insurance choice in order to have access to #health care beginning 1 Jan 2026.

During the past 43 days, millions of people have spent many hours evaluating the hundreds (or thousands!) of plans available where they live, understanding how this choice could impact which physicans can be seen, and factoring how much more money might have to be spent for this access in 2026.

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Day 39 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

I awoke from a #nightmare about #health plan access in the U.S. The setting was realistic yet weird:

While at an unidentified high school trying to decide which approach to choose for 2026 #healthcare access, the school’s entire competitive #cheerleading squad visited my hallway desk in all their glittery, make-up-y-ness. What did they want? Why was I at a high school? I wanted to leave. They followed me out to the parking lot, so I awoke myself.

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Day 38 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

This story from NPR considers the impact of shifting #health costs and service price management to the individual, noting “as deductibles became widespread over the last 20 years, medical prices in the U.S. skyrocketed… At the same time, patients have been left with thousands of dollars of medical bills they can't pay, despite having health insurance. About 100 million people in the U.S. have some form of health care debt” » https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/12/08/nx-s1-5629249/hsa-high-deductible-health-plan

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Day 29 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

Today I researched “catastrophic health insurance”, a term I learned recently from conversations in a closed group of tens of thousands of #women business owners. Many, similarly impacted by exorbitant premium increases, are considering other potential avenues for #health access plans in the U.S.

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The MA Health Connector website is utter hot garbage. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out a way to compare monthly PREMIUMS during Open Enrollment. The most important cost… how can I compare it? I can’t figure it out. #healthcare #openenrollment #mapoli

Pluralistic: Google steers Americans looking for health care into "junk insurance" (25 Nov 2025)

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/25/open-season/

Pluralistic: Google steers Americans looking for health care into "junk insurance" (25 Nov 2025)

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/25/open-season/

Pluralistic: Google steers Americans looking for health care into "junk insurance" (25 Nov 2025)

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/25/open-season/

Pluralistic: Google steers Americans looking for health care into "junk insurance" (25 Nov 2025)

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/25/open-season/

Pluralistic: Google steers Americans looking for health care into "junk insurance" (25 Nov 2025)

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/25/open-season/

It must be noted, again, in this thread that to be uninsured in the U.S. and to experience a catastrophic #health event is how many people end up bankrupt, houseless, and/or destitute.

Certainly I’m not advocating being uninsured in the U.S., but, the option to be uninsured is one model to consider during #health #insurance #openenrollment “season”.

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Day 24 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

I’ve received a response to my inquiry about cost as a self-pay or direct-pay patient at my medical provders’ facilities. The reply includes ranges of prices for typical services and encounters which I, as the patient, might expect to pay as an uninsured person.

Because costs for #medical services in the U.S. are ranked according to a complex, tiered system of type and duration, these initial results are approximate yet informative.

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Quick update on #openenrollment HDHPs / HSAs: benefits from employers seem to be broadly getting worse. And this has implications for whether an HDHP will pay off.
https://pcherry.io/posts/2025_11_14-open_enrollment_evaluate_hdhp

Day 14 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

I received an engaged reply to my message and there was an informative exchange. I was also able to chat with someone by phone and learn more about how premiums are facilitated for insurers and consumers statewide.

This person has offered to make an inquiry on my behalf to understand why the premium increase is higher than anticipated. 🤞🏻

While the outcome isn’t known, it’s encouraging to have someone willing to help to understand.

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Day 12 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

Sent a message to the state insurance access bureau to inquire about the status of limits, if any, to #health insurance premium increases year over year. I reread this notification letter several times each day wondering if, somehow, I have misread or misunderstood what it says. (I have not. I can read and do basic maths.)

I’m hoping there will be a considerate response to my inquiry. 🤞🏻

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Day 10 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

It’s interesting to wake to news of a potential change in the Congressional impasse » https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-congress-trump-641e7e2324f261da72395b604d9540e8

This “test vote…is the first in a series of required procedural maneuvers”. It’s a “move toward passing compromise legislation to fund the government and hold a later vote on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1.”

Notably, the “agreement does not guarantee the #health care subsidies will be extended”, but…

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Day 9 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

Today I researched financial penalties for being without #health insurance.

One model under consideration for 2026 is going without health insurance, paying all financial penalties, and paying for all care as a “self pay” patient. It is possible a person in very good health who pays the penalties and pays for all care directly could still pay less than a person who pays:

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Day 7 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

I contacted the billing department within in the business office at the medical practice I’ve attended for 15 years to understand what a complete year’s worth of medical services could cost if paid directly by a patient. Fascinating details were learned:

• there is no available list of prices for services; no such list exists

• cost estimates for services can be provided if the “billing code” for each service is known

But wait, there’s more… 🧵

Day 6 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

Today I communicated with my physician to learn what would happen if I

• select a less-expensive insurance plan the practice does not accept
• go without #health insurance altogether

In both cases, I *should* be able to continue to visit the practice but would pay for all appointments, services, and laboratory tests as a “direct pay patient”. To gather more data and evaluate costs and pricing, the business office phone number was provided. 🧵

I contacted my current #healthinsurance provider to verify that the notice received, which indicates a 36% increase in plan premium cost for CY2026, is correct. According to their sales department, it is, even though:

• the plan has not changed
• the coverage has not changed
• the model has not changed
• services have not changed

Apparently, everyone included in this plan received such an increase — an increase which was set through a filing with the state. 🧵

#openenrollment

Day 5 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

As a member of SAG-AFTRA, the #union that represents approx. 160,000 media professionals, I was interested to see this news item indicating it has filed a formal complaint against an insurer which applied a 40.5% increase to its premium. While this action doesn’t impact me, I’m glad the union is engaged in protecting #news anchors and #reporters • https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-condemns-405-health-premium-hike-harvard-pilgrim-7news-employees

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Day 4 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

I emailed the company that provided quotes for products which do not fulfill my requirements. An email response was received that required the creation of an account to access their secure messaging platform. The contents of the reply housed therein?

“Please contact our Sales Department at 800-XXX-YYYY for additional quote requests. Thanks so much.”

Evidently a consumer-oriented, low-friction, product selection environment is not their focus. 😑

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I'm sure everybody is sick up to the gills with all the #OpenEnrollment commercials splattering all media outlets like pigeon shit splattering a city--which is a case of health care making sick people. Anybody notice that it's all for #MedicareAdvantage and not for #ACA open enrollment, also currently active? The first A in ACA is likely the reason.

So all you newly retired people getting sucked in by enrolling into any Medicare Advantage program should keep in mind where the money for buying a lot of prime time AND off-prime time spot space comes from, because that's the same reason why they like to habitually deny coverage once you've been caught as a customer.

Day 3 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment szn. Today I’ve spent two hours researching/contacting the 15 listed #health insurance entities my current medical practice accepts.

• four do not offer coverage in this state
• two only offer supplemental coverage for specific medical conditions
• five are “middlemen”, offering some form of health plan design/administration/networking
• two are owned by a single, larger parent organization
• three offer individual plans only through marketplaces

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#OpenEnrollment gets more dystopian every year I sit through it.

The health insurance plan I’ve held for 2025 will still exist in 2026 (😅 sometimes plans are closed) but the premium price has increased 36%, coming to within a few dollars of my monthly housing cost.

(n.b., In the U.S., the premium paid only opens the door. There are other out-of-pocket costs such as copayments; deductibles; in-network fees, out-of-network fees, facility fees, lab and test fees, and more which must be met before insurance coverage begins) 🧵

#healthinsurance #openenrollment

Employers typically offer a handful of plans to full-time employees through one or more providers and may shoulder a portion or majority of the monthly premium cost.

But those who are a freelance #actor and #performer (like me!), often acquire insurance directly from a provider or through a state-maintained exchange. I have never yet qualified for insurance through my #union-covered work with SAG-AFTRA, but hope to one day.🤞🏻

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#healthinsurance #openenrollment

The least desired season of the year has arrived, again, in the United States: so-called “open enrollment” (a.k.a. “annual enrollment”). For those unfamiliar, it’s a period of approximately 53 days during which people are permitted to make changes, if desired, to their health insurance benefit by selecting a different plan and/or provider. 🧵

#healthinsurance #openenrollment

From $479 to $2,800 a month for ACA health insurance next year

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/08/22/nx-s1-5511182/aca-tax-credits-health-insurance-open-enrollment

#HackerNews #ACAhealthcare #healthinsurance #taxcredits #openenrollment #healthcosts

Cheers to my fellow peeps observing the great American pastime of changing health insurance policies who forgot to stockpile necessary prescriptions beforehand, and are now unmedicated while we wind our way through the pre-authorization process with our new insurers 🍾🥂🎉

#openenrollment #healthcare

I'm just a girl, standing in front of a computer, trying to make a decision about #OpenEnrollment for 2025 since there is not a single Exchange plan that includes all four of my important, long-term, healthcare providers in-network.

Our premiums are going up nearly 30% year over year, for ✨less coverage✨ with ✨fewer covered providers.✨

(My mental health tracking app prompted me to check in immediately after typing that. Good timing, app. Well done.)

As the ACA hits a record enrollment of 3.3 million in Texas, state Republicans are backing a fresh effort to defund the program, which marks its 14th anniversary on Saturday.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/affordable-care-act/2024/03/22/481273/texas-enrollment-in-the-affordable-care-act-hits-record-3-3-million/

#AffordableCareAct #HealthScience #News #Politics #Texas #CentersForMedicareAndMedicaidServices #Congress #DonaldTrump #HealthCoverage #ObamacareInTexas #OpenEnrollment #PresidentJoeBiden #RepublicanStudyCommittee #XavierBecerra

As the ACA hits a record enrollment of 3.3 million in Texas, state Republicans are backing a fresh effort to defund the program, which marks its 14th anniversary on Saturday.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/affordable-care-act/2024/03/22/481273/texas-enrollment-in-the-affordable-care-act-hits-record-3-3-million/

#AffordableCareAct #HealthScience #News #Politics #Texas #CentersForMedicareAndMedicaidServices #Congress #DonaldTrump #HealthCoverage #ObamacareInTexas #OpenEnrollment #PresidentJoeBiden #RepublicanStudyCommittee #XavierBecerra

As the ACA hits a record enrollment of 3.3 million in Texas, state Republicans are backing a fresh effort to defund the program, which marks its 14th anniversary on Saturday.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/affordable-care-act/2024/03/22/481273/texas-enrollment-in-the-affordable-care-act-hits-record-3-3-million/

#AffordableCareAct #HealthScience #News #Politics #Texas #CentersForMedicareAndMedicaidServices #Congress #DonaldTrump #HealthCoverage #ObamacareInTexas #OpenEnrollment #PresidentJoeBiden #RepublicanStudyCommittee #XavierBecerra

As the ACA hits a record enrollment of 3.3 million in Texas, state Republicans are backing a fresh effort to defund the program, which marks its 14th anniversary on Saturday.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/affordable-care-act/2024/03/22/481273/texas-enrollment-in-the-affordable-care-act-hits-record-3-3-million/

#AffordableCareAct #HealthScience #News #Politics #Texas #CentersForMedicareAndMedicaidServices #Congress #DonaldTrump #HealthCoverage #ObamacareInTexas #OpenEnrollment #PresidentJoeBiden #RepublicanStudyCommittee #XavierBecerra

As the ACA hits a record enrollment of 3.3 million in Texas, state Republicans are backing a fresh effort to defund the program, which marks its 14th anniversary on Saturday.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/affordable-care-act/2024/03/22/481273/texas-enrollment-in-the-affordable-care-act-hits-record-3-3-million/

#AffordableCareAct #HealthScience #News #Politics #Texas #CentersForMedicareAndMedicaidServices #Congress #DonaldTrump #HealthCoverage #ObamacareInTexas #OpenEnrollment #PresidentJoeBiden #RepublicanStudyCommittee #XavierBecerra