Uninsured Hawaii residents have until Sunday to sign up for private health plans

Uninsured Hawaii residents have until Sunday to sign up for private health insurance offered through HealthCare.gov and take advantage of major subsidies that can significantly reduce their monthly premiums, an option all the more important now as COVID-19 cases surge throughout the islands, putting residents at greater risk of needing health care.

Both the Hawaii Medical Service Association and Kaiser Permanente offer individual plans in the so-called marketplace created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Normally, individuals seeking health insurance through the marketplace can sign up for plans only during an annual open enrollment period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 unless they have a qualifying event, such as the birth of a child or job loss. But President Joe Biden implemented a special enrollment period to help people struggling during the pandemic, and tax credits implemented through the American Rescue Plan can reduce the costs of a plan, both for new and returning customers.

In Hawaii those tax credits have reduced the average premium for returning customers to $124 from $198 a month, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In addition to income- based subsidies, people who received unemployment compensation for any week in 2021 can have out-of-pocket costs further reduced.

Hawaii has historically had a low rate of uninsured residents, in large part due to the Hawaii Prepaid Healthcare Act, which requires employers to provide health insurance to employees who work at least 20 hours a week. But with the economic turmoil from the COVID-19 pandemic, many residents have lost employer-based coverage, spurring an increase in demand for the marketplace plans.

From Feb. 15 to April 30, the start of the special enrollment period, 1,936 Hawaii residents signed up for the plans, more than twice the number of people who signed up for the plans during that time period in 2019, when the plans were open to people with qualifying events, according to CMS data.

The state’s unemployment rate was just 2% in January 2020 but soared to 21.9% three months later as the pandemic spurred government-imposed lockdowns and a halt in tourism. The state’s economy is still recovering, with nearly 8% of the population unemployed.

It’s not clear how many residents lost health insurance during the pandemic, as data for 2020 won’t be released until later this year. In 2019 the uninsured rate for those under 65 and who don’t qualify for Medicare was about 5%.

Colin Hayashida, Hawaii’s insurance commissioner, said it was important for local residents without health insurance to review their options.

“Oftentimes when we have life-changing events, we overlook insurance in general and especially health insurance, and that is something that is very important right now,” he said last month during an interview.

The federal marketplace system is also linked to the state’s enrollment for Medicaid, which provides government-funded health insurance to low-income residents. Marketplace applications that may be eligible for Medicaid will be automatically referred for coverage.