Thousands in NC buy health insurance during emergency enrollment. See how to sign up.

Tens of thousands of North Carolina residents have purchased health insurance during a special enrollment period for the federal government’s exchange, the White House told McClatchy this week.

More than 55,000 North Carolinians bought insurance through healthcare.gov between Feb. 15 and April 30. Citing the coronavirus emergency, the Biden administration opened a special enrollment period that extends through Aug. 15. The Biden administration said about 1 million people have signed up so far in the enrollment period, including 940,000 by April 30.

North Carolina is one of 38 states that participate in the federal exchange, using its eligibility and enrollment platform. You can visit healthcare.gov to begin the application process or quickly look for plans that fit your needs. If you choose to start an application, you’ll have to create an account.

In the last two years, under former President Donald Trump, the enrollment period has only been available for in November and December. At the end of the 2020 enrollment period, more than 505,000 North Carolinians had health insurance through the exchange, according to federal data. Nationally, more than 11.4 million people had insurance through the federal or state-based exchanges at the end of 2020.

Christen Young, deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council for Health Care at the White House, said in an interview that the high number of new enrollees are an indication that “barriers have been worn down” by temporary new subsidies that were introduced by the COVID-19 relief bill, known as the American Rescue Plan, signed into law earlier this year.

States with more people uninsured

“One thing that has been really interesting as we have been operating the special enrollment period is that the states with the highest levels of uninsured are the states where we are seeing the most activity with the special enrollment period,” Young said. “So states like Texas, and Florida, and South Carolina and North Carolina are among the states that have been doing the best in terms of getting new consumers in who are finding affordable coverage on healthcare.gov.”

Florida had more than 264,000 people buy insurance on the exchange between Feb. 15 and April 30. Texas added nearly 180,000 people. South Carolina had about 27,000 sign-ups.

North Carolina had more than 1.1 million people without health insurance, according to 2019 data released by the U.S. Census Bureau data in September.

“These places that have historically had high uninsured rates are really seeing a large number of families come in, take a look at their options and find a plan that works for them and their budget,” Young said.

Young credited the American Rescue Plan for helping lower the costs of premiums and deductibles for Americans shopping on the exchanges.

“The COVID relief bill has had a tremendous impact when it comes to lowering premiums for families that are shopping on healthcare.gov,” she said. “Four out of five people that are shopping can get a plan for less than $10 per person per month. Premiums are about 40% lower on average than they were prior to enactment of these lower-cost options. And families are seeing $50 per person per month lower. So that’s savings of hundreds of dollars per year.”

A family of four (two adults and two children) in Raleigh making $100,000 would have qualified for an estimated $697-per-month tax credit, according to a test on healthcare.gov. With the credit, plans started with a $268 monthly premium and a deductible of $17,000. Another option had a $954-per-month premium with no deductible. There were 50 plans to choose from.

The same family making $75,000 would have qualified for an estimated credit of $1,027 per month. The same family making $50,000 would qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program for the two children and an estimated $782-per-month tax credit for the adults.

The Biden administration is now pushing for a permanent extension of those subsidies in its proposed American Families Plan.

“We think it’s critically important that Congress extend those enhancements so that families can continue to benefit from lower health insurance premiums now and into the future,” Young said.

The health care exchanges were a centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act signed into law by former President Barack Obama in 2010, designed to let individual consumers shop for private health insurance plans.

But enrollment in the exchanges lagged during much of former President Donald Trump’s time in office, coinciding with Trump’s unsuccessful vow to repeal the law known as “Obamacare.”

The American Rescue Plan included incentives for North Carolina and the other 11 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper remains in favor of expansion, but the Republican-controlled state legislature does not want to expand — an issue that led to a budget impasse in 2019.

“We really think that states should take a look at their options and really think about what expansion would mean for them and their residents. And we stand ready to have conversations with any states that are interested about what expansion would look like in their state, and how we could work together to make that happen,” Young said.

McClatchy White House correspondent Alex Roarty contributed to this report.

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