Eight Days Until Open Enrollment -- and Counting

For all the talk about an AIDS-free generation, it will not happen if there is not a healthcare financing mechanism that helps people living with HIV/AIDS and/or at risk of HIV infection access the treatment and care they need and deserve. At the moment our best shot is the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Let's be clear: Without full implementation of the affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion there is no pathway to an AIDS-free generation.

In eight days the implementation of one of the most important components of the ACA will begin. We are now at T-8 days before the start of open enrollment for the health insurance marketplaces (formerly called the health insurance exchanges). By this time next week the marketplaces will be open (check out a quick video describing the federal government's marketplace here). They will stay open through March of 2014, so we have 6 months to enroll, although if you want your insurance go into effect on January 1, 2014, you should plan to be enrolled by December 15th.

Now is the time to start that process--the operative word in this sentence being "start," since those of us considering buying health insurance through the marketplace are going to have to do our homework. And all of us are going to have to do our advocacy work. Remember no progress happens without a struggle.

Today we're going to help you start considering some of the things you need to be thinking about. There's a tremendous amount to contemplate, so we'll continue this conversation next week and in the coming weeks. Here's where I suggest you start:

1. If you already have health insurance through your job, you don't need to change anything. So first thing you need to do is figure out if you have health insurance on your job or not. The second thing you need to do is figure out if you qualify to participate in the health insurance marketplace. Do you meet those criteria?

2. Write down the pros and cons of your current insurance policy--if you have one. What do you like about it? What is the most important feature that you want to make sure you keep. What do you wish to improve upon? If you like your health care providers, and want to keep them, ask them which programs they are participating in. (Note that they may not know yet.)

3. Determine whether the state that you live in is running its own marketplace or whether you should use the federal government's marketplace, which can be found at HealthCare.gov. Go here to learn whether your state is running its own marketplace, referring its residents to the federal marketplace and/or expanding Medicaid.

4. Take advantage of the resources set up to assist you. Use the live chat option at HealthCare.gov or call them at 1-800-318-2596 to get personal assistance. If you want in-person assistance, click here to search for the list of local navigators, expert organizations that are trained to help people in your community apply for coverage. Harvard Law School's Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation has created a health plan assessment workbook to help HIV/AIDS service providers figure out which programs work best for PLWHA and is hosting a webinar on October 1 to teach providers to use the tool.

5. If you are on an AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), you will need to find out which plans coordinate with ADAP. These answers don't exist yet, since the ADAPS don't get to see the plans until October 1, when you do.

We will continue our list of items to follow up on next week. Until then we urge you to check out articles on open enrollment in this week's Black AIDS Weekly, including articles from Kaiser Health News that provide a links to resources that will help you make decisions such as those we list above and that describe the administration's effort to connect the LGBT community with coverage.

Also in this issue we kick off our profiles of the African American HIV University's Science and Treatment College Fellows, and mark Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day this Friday with another installment in our series about living openly with HIV. We are also running a piece on highlights from Day 4 of the U.S. Conference on AIDS (USCA).

Finally, the Black AIDS Institute needs your help to do the work we do—including this weekly newsletter. The Black AIDS Institute is one of three AIDS-focused nonprofits selected by CharitySub.org to be the recipient of this month's subscription proceeds. Please go to here by September 30th and cast your vote for the Black AIDS Institute. And please help us spread the word to family and friends!

Yours in the struggle,

Phill