(Soumya Karlamangla)
With Obamacare in its second year, health officials are still working
out the kinks in expanding health coverage to millions of Californians.
In the latest fix, members of a health plan for low-income Los
Angeles County residents now can pay their premiums with cash at
neighborhood stores, a more convenient option for some people without
bank accounts.
“It really is a testament to how far we’ve come in terms of the
implementation of the ACA that now we’re really addressing these
on-the-ground, everyday issues and barriers,” said Amy Adams, senior
program officer for California HealthCare Foundation’s Improving Access
team.
Roughly 4 million Californians have become insured under the national
health law, which required nearly everyone to have health insurance
starting in 2014. The state’s uninsured population has dropped by half
to 11%.
Consumer advocates have long pushed for easier ways for the working
poor to pay their insurance premiums. A report released before the
implementation of Obamacare last year found that 27% of Americans and
19% of Californians who were uninsured and eligible for subsidies didn’t
have bank accounts.
The insurance plan that rolled out the neighborhood cash payment
system this month, L.A. Care Covered, is among those offered to patients
who are eligible for government subsidies through the state’s health
coverage exchange, Covered California. Members can pay their premiums at
1,953 stores in California, including all 7-Elevens, by scanning a bar
code linked to their account.
“We’re very excited,” said Laura Jaramillo, an L.A. Care Covered
official. “We feel that that’s going to make it extremely easy and
convenient for them to pay their premiums.”
Jaramillo said officials hope a few thousand of the plan’s 17,000
Covered California members will use the new payment option. It’s not
clear how many members lack bank accounts, she said, but about 40% mail
in a money order, cashiers’ or personal check, instead of paying with a
credit card online. An additional number also pay with a prepaid debit
card online, she said.
Before the Affordable Care Act took effect last year, Obama
administration officials ordered health plans to accommodate people who
don’t have bank accounts by accepting paper checks, cashier’s checks,
money orders and prepaid debit cards. They opted not to require that
they accept cash, saying it would be too complicated. Managers at
Covered California also discussed requiring health plans to accept cash
payments, but decided against it.
Danny Shader, founder and chief executive officer of PayNearMe, the
company partnering with the Los Angeles health plan, said that
low-income people without bank accounts haven’t been able to benefit
from innovations in online payments. “They’re, in fact, shut out of the
digital economy,” he said.
Health plan members without bank accounts have typically had to wait
in line and pay a fee to get a money order or a cashier’s check. With
the new payment system, members pay no fees when they use cash to make a
premium payment at a participating store. Instead, the health plan is
charged a fee equivalent to a payment for a credit card transaction.
“It’s as quick as buying a carton of milk,” Shader said.
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