BRATTLEBORO — Vermont Health Connect, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and MVP Health Care have outlined details of the additional enrollment options to give Vermonters peace of mind as they make health care decisions in the coming months.
Fact sheets available at www.VermontHealthConnect.gov provide greater clarity on how to take advantage of the various enrollment channels, according to a press release.
Here are the enrollment options:
• Vermonters can continue to sign up for health coverage for their businesses or themselves through Vermont Health Connect online, by phone or paper, or with the help of an assistant in person.
• Vermont small businesses can enroll in Vermont Health Connect plans directly through either MVP Health Care or Blue Cross Blue Shield. Small businesses will receive a notice from their insurance carrier informing them of the Vermont Health Connect plan that most closely aligns with their current plan.
Should businesses wish to enroll in that plan, they will be billed automatically. Should they wish to enroll in a different plan, enroll directly through Vermont Health Connect, or switch carriers, they need to contact their carrier by Nov. 25.
• Vermonters with individual or small-business health plans will now have the option to extend their current plan for up to three months, until March 31, 2014. They will continue to pay their 2013 premium rate. Deductibles will restart on Jan. 1, as they do for every new plan year.
Taking an extension means that they will have a short plan year in 2014. They will be credited for amounts applied to the deductible after January 1 for their short 2014 plan year, if they continue with the same insurance carrier.
• Vermonters on VHAP and Catamount, who do not qualify for Medicaid in 2014, will have their plans automatically extended to March 31, 2014. They can enroll in a new plan through Vermont Health Connect at any time before March 31, 2014.
MVP and Blue Cross will reach out to all of their small-business clients with instructions on how to take advantage of the available enrollment channels.
Vermont Health Connect staff also plan to reach out to Vermonters to help them sign up for Vermont Health Connect plans.
Medicaid eligible beneficiaries have already been notified that they will be enrolled automatically into the Medicaid program.