Sunday Edition: Healthcare 101


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Affordable Care Act is creating major reform and new health care options. It mandates everyone in the U.S. get insurance. In this special edition of Sunday Edition we will help you navigate the maze of information.

Segment 1

On Oct. 1, open enrollment begins for the federal Health Insurance Marketplace. Love it or hate it, this health care law is going into effect here in Utah and the rest of the country.

It's confusing. But we want to cut through the politics as much as possible to give you clear information, so you can make the best decisions about health care for your family.

Richard Piatt hit the streets to find out how much people understand about the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The public is going to be hearing a lot more about navigators when open enrollment begins. They are individuals or organizations trained to help consumers, small businesses and their employees as they look for health coverage options through the Marketplace.

Affordable Care Act — Key dates

Oct. 1, 2013: Open enrollment begins

Jan. 1, 2014: Affordable Care Act goes into effect

Mar. 31, 2014: Open enrollment ends

The ACA is going to help 20 percent of the population who have been uninsured get affordable health insurance. Richard Piatt visited with three people to see how the ACA might impact their lives.

The Utah Health Policy Project received federal grant money to facilitate call centers and provide assistance to people who will use the new health care marketplace. Richard Piatt covered the the basics with Jason Cooke, include the four categories of the marketplace.

Segment 2

Many important parts of the health care law apply to businesses with more than 50 full-time employees. Under the health care law, these are considered "large businesses."

Businesses have been huddling with their insurance brokers, trying to figure out strategies for navigating this new insurance landscape. As Peter Rosen reports, there are often more questions than answers.

Avenue H is Utah's health care marketplace for small businesses. Richard Piatt discussed how it works with Jason Cooke from the Utah Health Policy Project.

Segment 3

If someone who can afford health insurance doesn't have coverage in 2014, they may have to pay a fee. The fee in 2014 is 1 percent of your yearly income or $95 per person for the year, whichever is higher.

For true reform to take place, everyone must participate, especially young healthy Americans.

Did you know ...
As part of the Affordable Care Act, federal subsidies are available to those with incomes of up to four times the federal poverty level — that's $45,960 for an individual or $94,200 for a family of four.

Richard Piatt recently sat down with a panel of experts who've spent hundreds of hours delving into ACA. It's tough to boil down the panel discussion to a couple of minutes, but we wanted to the share some of the discussion points — both positive and negative.

The politicking in Washington has created a lot of confusion about the ACA. KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright joined Richard Piatt to cut through the politics.

As we mentioned earlier, navigators are considered crucial to the success of the ACA. They are supposed to help consumers sort through the maze of insurance options but there is already concern over people posing as navigators.

As News Specialist Debbie Dujanovic investigated Obamacare fraud, she discovered only a few local organizations have received grant money to facilitate call centers and provide assistance — but you have to call them first. If you receive an unsolicited call from anybody trying to get personal information, they are most likely thieves.

Here's another sign you're dealing with a health insurance scammer: if that person utters the word "Obamacare," you know its bogus. Legitimate agencies will use the term "Affordable Care Act."

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