(Salem) – Members of Oregon’s Health CO-OP have only a few days left to enroll in a new insurance plan.
The special enrollment period for members of the now-closed insurance carrier ends on Thursday, Sept. 29.
“While most CO-OP members have enrolled in new plans, some members have yet to take action,” said
Patrick Allen, director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. “It is important to act before Sept. 29 to ensure you have insurance coverage for the remainder of 2016.”
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Division of Financial Regulation placed Oregon’s Health CO-OP in receivership in July. All CO-OP plans ended July 31. Since then, the department has been working hard to reach CO-OP members and connect them with new coverage. This work included direct mail, email, and phone calls and one-on-one assistance to members enrolling in plans through HealthCare.gov. As a result, 77 percent of the nearly 11,500 individual CO-OP members have enrolled in new plans, according to data submitted to DCBS by carriers.
DCBS worked in partnership with insurance agents to ensure employer groups enrolled with the CO-OP found new plans. More than 9,000 people were enrolled in CO-OP group plans.
If CO-OP members do not enroll by Thursday, they will not have coverage for the rest of the year. The next opportunity to shop for a new plan is Nov. 1, when open enrollment begins. Plans purchased during open enrollment take effect in 2017.
“We strongly encourage any CO-OP member who has not yet found a new plan to call us, and we will walk them through the process,” said Berri Leslie, administrator of the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace, housed at DCBS.
Customers can call the Marketplace at 1-855-268-3767 (toll-free) or email [email protected].
More information and questions and answers are available at http://dfr.oregon.gov/public-resources/Pages/co-op.aspx.
