Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options

Workforce 3One

Transcript of Webinar

Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Transcript By Federal News Service Washington, D.C. GARY GONZALEZ: Good afternoon, or morning, depending on where you’re located in the country. My name is Gary Gonzalez, and welcome all of you to today’s webinar. Here we go. SECRETARY TOM PEREZ: (From video clip.) Hello. This is Labor Secretary Tom Perez. I’m sorry I can’t join you live, as I did last year from the American Jobs Center in Las Vegas, but I’m very glad to have the chance to kick off this important webinar with a short message. First, let me thank you for the remarkable work you do every day to connect job seekers with job opportunities. At the grassroots level, person by person, you provide the help they need to punch their ticket to the middle class.

In each of the last few years, about 20 million people annually have turned to the public workforce system for employment services. The nation’s ongoing economic recovery wouldn’t be possible without your extraordinary efforts. As you well know, when people are out of work, it impacts so many facets of their lives. Many of them need food stamps. Others need information about transportation assistance. And you know exactly how to direct them to the help they need. And of course, the unemployed are very often the uninsured. That’s why you play such a critical role as we continue our efforts to enroll people in the health insurance marketplace.

The first enrollment period was an astounding success: 7.3 million people signed up for marketplace plans, paid their premiums and access quality affordable coverage; and additional 8.7 million now have coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Plan. This would not have been possible without your efforts.

But we have more work to do. There are still at least 33 million uninsured people in the United States, people living every day with the fear that an accident or illness could wipe them out. We’re counting on you to spread the word about the benefits of this law and the additional choices available to them in the 2015 marketplace. This next open enrollment period begins in just three days, on November the 15th, and it lasts only three months, until February 15th. The information in this webinar will give you the tools to engage your customers, share the relevant resources and help people get the health coverage that will give them peace of mind.

Last year at the Las Vegas AJC, I helped a man named Omar figure out how to sign up, and if I can help someone else navigate an online tool, I assure you that anyone can. We’re asking you to emphasize the importance of health coverage during the orientation process. As soon as someone walks through the door of an AJC, let’s make sure they know, from a member of your staff or available brochure, about the options available through the marketplace.

I encourage you also to connect with your HHS regional partners about organizing an enrollment event or establishing office hours where application assisters can come in and sign up customers. You work on the front lines every day helping people manage a difficult time in their lives. I have every confidence that you will handle this important responsibility with the same skill and expertise, picking up right where you left off during the initial enrollment that began last year.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 2 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 Thank you so much for your help in this important effort, and thank you for everything you do every single day.

MR. GONZALEZ: OK. That video should have finished loading for you. So what we’re going to do now is I’m actually going to bring the PowerPoint up and introduce our first speaker today. And our first speaker today is Catherine Oakar. She is the director of public health policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. Catherine, take it away.

CATHERINE OAKAR: Thank you, and thank you to Secretary Perez for that important message and for investing in preparing the workforce – the Public Workforce System for the second open enrollment period, which starts in just three days. The Department of Health and Human Services is really excited to work with you again and join you for this webinar and thanks you for being such a tireless advocate not only for our nation’s workforce but also for the Affordable Care Act. So again, we’re excited that in three days, open enrollment starts.

As Gary mentioned, I am Catherine Oakar, director of public health policy in the Office of – (inaudible) -- the Department of Health and Human Services. And today I’m going to give you a brief overview of what the Affordable Care Act is, of what it does and what the marketplace is and what it does. There will be time for questions after, at the end of the entire webinar presentation, after my colleague Robert goes. At any time during the webinar if you have a question, use the chat window at the bottom of the screen to enter in your question. So let’s get started.

As you’ll see on our agenda, I just wanted to lay out kind of what we’ll be talking about today, so I’ll try to give you some context. We’ll largely be talking about the health insurance marketplace, but we’ll also be talking a little bit about what the Affordable Care Act does and how it helps Americans. I’ll be giving you a brief overview of what the shared responsibility of this law is and means, talk a little bit about Medicaid, and then really dive into what the health insurance marketplace is and why it is such an important part of the law. And then we’ll talk about ways to enroll, or re-enroll if you enrolled last year, and then what our next steps are.

So as you can see, before the law, what did the health care landscape look like? Well, a number of things. Insurance companies could refuse to cover you, or charge you more due to a pre- existing condition. And that means, whether it be asthma, acne, cancer, or even just for being a woman, you could be charged more. Premiums were going up, as they typically do, but in some cases they were more than doubling over the last decade. Our Medicare Trust Fund, which is a huge funding source for the Medicare program for seniors, was slated to run out of funds in 2017. Small businesses were paying more for the exact same coverage that their large business

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 3 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 competitors had. They were paying, in some cases, 18 or 20 percent more than their competitors for the exact same coverage.

Our health care system was rewarding quantity of services versus quality of care. And tens of millions of Americans were uninsured or underinsured or afraid of losing their coverage, and 50 million Americans had no insurance at all.

So what does the law do? That’s one of the top questions we get, why did we need to pass the Affordable Care Act? And so, obviously there were a number of problems with our system, and so this is what the law really strives to do. It strives to make health care and health coverage more affordable, more accessible and make health care of higher quality. So when we talk about affordability, we talk about health insurance not only being more affordable, but because we have greater transparency with what our rates are, so no longer will one year you have a rate of $100 a year, and then – or $100 a month, and then the next year you see it go up by 10, 20 percent with no justification. We’re bringing greater transparency to those insurance rates.

We’re also, as we’ll talk about later, allowing people to get tax credits for buying coverage in the marketplace. We’re also strengthening the Medicare program and helping seniors with their prescription drugs and making it easier for them to get preventive services.

In terms of access, millions more Americans, including you and me, who, many of us who have insurance already, are benefiting from a number of consumer protections. No longer is being sick a reason for not being able to get health coverage. You can no longer be denied health coverage because you’re sick or because you’re a woman. Annual lifetime dollar limits have been eliminated, meaning that no longer can an insurance company say, you’ve hit your $200,000 lifetime limit; we’re no longer going to provide coverage for you.

We’re making it easier for you to get preventive services and for our fellow Americans to get preventive services, by eliminating those co-pays and deductibles for things like flu shots and mammograms and PAP smears. And we’re giving new options for coverage by either expanding the Medicaid program or, as we have done, created the marketplace in every state, so there are more options for getting coverage, while improving health care as delivered, meaning we’re really striving to emphasize not quantity of services, but quality of care.

And so some of the accomplishments that we’ve already seen with the Affordable Care Act are, since our last open enrollment period, which was our first, over 10 million uninsured adults have gained health care coverage; 10 million people gained coverage that didn’t have it before. That’s

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 4 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 a 26-percent reduction in the number of uninsured adults in this country, 26 percent, in one year. And we have a lot to do, but it’s a tremendous step in the right direction.

And I want to point out that the law is benefiting those with coverage, as well. For example, as I mentioned before, millions can get preventive services without having to pay a co-pay or deductible. You also have a number of consumer protections, in that your insurance rates are more transparent; no longer can you have an annual or lifetime dollar limit; the list goes on.

And I should note the law is not perfect, by any means, but it is a huge step forward in improving our health care system and giving insurance to millions of Americans who need it and deserve it.

So before I kind of dive into the marketplace and the various coverage options that the law provides, I want to talk a little bit about what shared responsibility means. And so starting in 2014, everyone must have, one, either minimal essential coverage, which is basically Medicare, Medicaid, an employer-based plan, any number of health insurance plans that folks get, VA coverage – you either have to have minimum essential coverage, you have to have an exemption from what’s known as shared responsibility payment or fee, or you have to pay a fee. You can get an exemption for a number of reasons – if you’re homeless, if you don’t file taxes because you’re below the income filing threshold, if you’re a member of a federally recognized tribe. But largely for the most part, most Americans will have to either have coverage or pay a fee.

And what does that fee look like? So it increases a little bit each year. Last year, it was 1 percent of your income, or $95, this year it’s 2 percent of your house – annual household income, or $325 per adult. And I should note that, yes, maybe it’s only $325, but that means you’re not getting health coverage. That means peace of mind and security that comes with coverage is not afforded to you. It means that you’re taking a chance and risking having to pay $2,000 for a sprained ankle out of pocket if you have to go to the emergency room, or worse if something – if a diagnosis happens or something more serious. So I should note that.

And really the point of the individual shared responsibility provision or the individual mandate, as most folks call it, is because we want people to have coverage. We want people not to have to put their lives on the line and face medical bankruptcy. We want people to have the peace in mind – peace of mind and security that comes with coverage.

So one of the ways that we’re making it easier for people to get coverage is through Medicaid expansion. And so as you’ll see on the slide, Medicaid eligibility in 2014, the health care law, or the Affordable Care Act, really allows states an opportunity to expand their Medicaid program. Because of the Supreme Court, they don’t have to expand their Medicaid program, but many states are opting to do so, and we hope more will do it.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 5 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 Adults 19-64 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or about 16,000 for an individual, can qualify for Medicaid. And some states – some states have opted to expand their Medicaid program to this and some states haven’t. The law also ensures that children up to that percentage of the federal poverty level are able to get coverage. But I should note – and we’ll see in a couple slides why this is so important, because some states aren’t expanding and some states are – meaning that some people, the poorest of the poor are often left out of health coverage.

But I also wanted to note that you can apply for Medicaid through the marketplace application. If you go to healthcare.gov and say you’re not sure if you qualify for the marketplace coverage or for Medicaid coverage, you can go to healthcare.gov and you’ll be directed appropriately.

So as you can see on the next slide, you can kind of find where your home state falls in, in terms of Medicaid expansion. So we have about 26 states plus D.C. who have decided to expand. And I should note Pennsylvania will be expanding starting January of 2015. But we have a long ways to go. And this is not only about the Affordable Care Act. It’s not even about the Affordable Care Act. It’s about giving people the – most often the poorest of the poor a chance to get affordable coverage.

Some people – many people who live in states that don’t expand, if they’re single, childless adults they often don’t qualify for any coverage. So they may be making 10,000 (dollars) or $15,000 a year and don’t qualify for Medicaid, ad so we have a lot of work to do. We’ve already made a lot of progress thus far, but really this is a good thing for states to do, and we’re hopeful that eventually this entire map will be green.

So I know I’m throwing a lot of numbers at you, so I wanted to kind of give you a picture of how this all fits together. So if you look at the green part on the kind of left-hand column, for one person these are kind of the income ranges if your state is expanding. If your state doesn’t expand, that whole income range of people often have no coverage unless they have dependent children. So if you’re a single, childless adult, as I said – and largely this is a lot of men – you may be taking a risk and not having any health coverage at all.

And so this is really why it’s so important and why we’re so glad that some of these states have expanded Medicaid. And so if you look at the kind of blue and dark blue pieces, that’s where the marketplace comes into play, and so that’s where that – that’s the gap that the marketplace fills in. And so I’m going to talk a little bit about that right now.

And so what is the health insurance marketplace? I know we throw that term around a lot and it kind of is confusing, or people aren’t sure. So it’s really a two-pronged – two-pronged marketplace. There’s a marketplace for individuals and families and there’s a marketplace for small businesses. And this is where people can go to directly compare their private health insurance options. Let me repeat that. This is private health coverage and these plans are what are known as qualified health plans.

You can go onto healthcare.gov and compare by benefits, by plan, by price, by quality and a number of other factors, side by side, what your plans might look like. It’s much more

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 6 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 complicated than this, but just to give you a visual, if you think of Orbit or Expedia, where you can kind of compare flights side by side, this is similar to what healthcare.gov does. So it might say you are eligible for an Aetna plan with this amount of premium. You’re eligible for this Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan with this premium and deductible.

So it’s allowing you to see what your options are side by side. In the past that was often not the case and you maybe had to call one insurance company to see what they could offer you and then call another insurance company to see what they could offer you. It was really hard to see side by side what your options were. So that’s really why the health insurance marketplace is so great. And this is also possible for small businesses. As I mentioned before, they often got the short end of the stick in terms of applying for coverage and getting affordable coverage. And so there’s also a marketplace for small employers to provide coverage to their employees.

So just building on what the marketplace is, is a way to shop for health coverage. As I mentioned, you can explore all of the qualified health plans that are in your area, and you can use one application. So if you’re like, I’m not sure if my colleagues or staff or the people who are coming to our organizations all apply for Medicare in the marketplace, that’s OK. They can go onto the healthcare.gov and they’ll be directed into the appropriate spots. It offers clear options with apples-to-apples comparisons, as I mentioned, that side-by-side comparison. And this is key: Most people who are eligible for the marketplace will be eligible to receive lower cost on their premiums, meaning that 90 percent of the people who are uninsured in this country and eligible for the marketplace will save via tax credits, via basically subsidies from the government, to help them pay for their coverage. In 2014, the average monthly premium dropped from $346, just regular on the market before tax credits, to $82 after those tax credits across health plans. So people really can get a good chunk of change helping them pay for those premiums. So in terms of what’s going on in your state, states have an option to do their own marketplace or they can default to the federal government to run their own, or they can kind of fall in the middle. So you can kind of see – this is a map from last year; we had a couple changes, but it largely looks the same – in terms of what each state is doing. So you can see on one side of the spectrum, some are state-based marketplaces, meaning that they’re doing their own thing. They’re doing the plan management, they’re working the outreach, they got it. So places like California are really in control. And we’re working with them to do a lot of kind of ensuring that they’re on track, but they’re really managing a lot of the outreach and plan management. They’re working in the outreach. They’ve got it. So places like California are really in control, and we’re working with them to do a lot of kind of insuring that they’re on track, but they’re really managing a lot of the outreach plans management. On the other side of the spectrum, the federal government -- the federally-facilitated marketplaces are where the federal government is really ensuring that there are (as ?) consumer outreach, and that the plans are in place for those respective states. And then, there are some states that are in the middle, and kind of say, we want to do our own consumer outreach, or we want to work with the plan. Whatever the case may be, every state has a marketplace in some way, shape or form. So even if your state says, we don’t want any part of

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 7 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 the Affordable Care Act, there is a marketplace in place for those consumers. So that is the bottom line.

So when we talk about qualified health plans, what do we mean? They cover what are known as potential health benefits, which is essentially what it sounds like: the benefits that you would expect to be included in a really good, quality, comprehensive plan. So that ranges from hospitalization to prescription drug to lab serves to preventive services. But I highlighted and bolded two that I think are really important -- maternity newborn care.

Previously, a lot of small and individual group market plans didn’t cover maternity care, or covered it at astronomical rates. Similarly for mental health and behavior health services, meaning that it was even harder for folks to get those service in the past, and so we’re saying, every single plan in the marketplace has to cover these services. So we’re really making sure that we’re trying to make strides in not only giving people access to coverage, but really quality coverage.

So I wanted to just point that out. So when we talk about -- and I’ve already kind of mentioned this a little bit -- when we talk about lower -- (audio break) – premium – (audio break) – option. They would be – they would not be on the hook, however, for that individual fee that I mentioned before, because their state isn’t expanding, so they would be able to get an exemption from that. Certainly we’re eager for all states to expand so we don’t have to go that route, but I just wanted to raise that in case you’re in a state where Medicaid is not being expanded and folks are worrying if they’re going to be on the hook for that.

So how can you enroll in this marketplace, and when can you enroll? So as I mentioned before, the open enrollment period is – just starts in three days, which we’re super excited about. It goes for three months. So it’s November 15th to February 15th. And if you enroll by December 15th, your coverage can begin as early as January 1st. There are special enrollment periods available, and I put some of those circumstances down.

So, say in come May you graduate from school and you no longer have student-based health coverage, you can enroll in the marketplace. You have what’s known as a special enrollment period. Say you get divorced in April and it’s out of the open enrollment period. That for you may trigger a special enrollment period. So there’s a number of ways that people can enroll outside of the -- outside of the open enrollment period. But again, we really encourage you to check out your options through this open enrollment period. There’s three months, which is a pretty long time to do it. So, again, we encourage you to do that.

Certainly one key note for – and I’m sure many of you already know this – people can apply for Medicaid or CHIP at any time during the year, so you can go online or go into your state Medicaid office at any time throughout the year if you would like to apply for Medicaid.

One of the great things that we have is window shopping available. And so we just launched this this past weekend. So you can go on without having to fill out the application and look at your options. You can see it’s basically window shopping for health insurance. So you just answer a couple questions and you can see all the plans and the benefits that are available in your area and

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 8 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 what that might look for you cost-wise. So this is without having to take a number of additional steps in terms of filling out the application. It’s really fast, really easy and gives you a sense of what you might be looking at in terms of health coverage and the cost for that.

To apply, so starting this Saturday, November 15th, what you need to do is create an account, then you can apply, pick a plan and enroll. But this is going to obviously take a number of steps more than that window shopping, but we’ve really tried to make the application much more streamlined this year, much more user-friendly, much more intuitive, and we’ve reduced considerably the number of clicks that people have to do to get through the application. So we’re trying to make it as easy as possible.

When I talk about enrolling in the marketplace, there are really four ways to get marketplace coverage. So you can go over the phone. There’s a call center that’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number is 1-800-318-2596. And again, it should be in your PowerPoint, and of course it’s all over healthcare.gov, as well. Again, 24/7, with language assistance in over 150 languages.

You can also go online, healthcare.gov. For some, they won’t need any assistance. They won’t need the call center or anyone else. They can just go through the application and decide for themselves.

There’s also in-person help available, and this is a really critical piece. And we’re happy to work with you to ensure that in-person help comes to your organization or whatever is most helpful for you, but there are people who are trained in your local communities to help people enroll in health coverage. If you go to localhelp.healthcare.gov, you can just type in your zip code and you’ll be able to see the number of organizations that have assisters available, and even if they speak languages other than English. So this is really a tremendous opportunity. And then I’m hopeful that some of you are even on there as assisters and have received that training, but if not, there are people in your community who are happy to work with you and help the people who come into your organizations enroll in coverage.

Certainly you can also fill out applications on paper. That’s the slowest method. And so if you can do it via any of the other ways, I would recommend it. But people are certainly welcome to fill out the paper application. You can find that on healthcare.gov as well.

So I wanted to talk just briefly about this in-person assistance. So this is really key because obviously we know health insurance is complicated, and it’s scary, especially if you’ve never had it before. You may not know or trust or understand what all this information means. And I do it every day and I still find it confusing. So I can see why so many people would want to utilize in-person assistance. And our in-person assisters are really tremendous and well-trained.

So we have a number of folks. Some are funded through HHS, or through the Department of Health and Human Services. Those are the navigators. But we also have organizations who do this all the time and they help people enroll in coverage and get other public services all the time. And those are the certified application counselors. They're really essentially trained in different -- the navigators have very extensive training. Certified application counselors have a lot of

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 9 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 training as well to help take somebody through the application and help them make the choice that best fits their needs and budgets.

And again, as I mentioned before, to find help in your area, go to localhealth.healthcare.gov.

And if you are interested in becoming a certified application counselor organization, you can visit marketplace.cms.gov -- or .gov. And I'm hopeful that some of you already have or are planning to do so.

So I wanted to mention briefly, once you're enrolled, then what? I think we're very cognizant of the fact that a lot of the folks that we're trying to reach have never had coverage before and they don't understand the benefits of coverage. And so we've developed what's known as Coverage to Care and the Coverage to Care Initiative. And this really is a road map of materials that help people, say, understand what it means to have health care or a health insurance card, what it means go get a primary care doctor, what it means to go to the doctor instead of the emergency room, what a deductible means, what a copay means.

And so there are some great materials online. And so if you're interested in them we can also send some to you. But I'd encourage you to go to marketplace.cms.gov/c2c.

I also wanted to mention briefly, for those who already have Marketplace coverage, as you may or may not know, we enrolled over 7 million people in the Marketplace last year and now they need to renew their coverage. So we're really trying to make it as easy as possible for them to do that. And so we've done kind of a quick and dirty five steps to staying covered and we're really encouraging people to, one, review their current plan, go in, see if it's meeting your needs, see if it's meeting your budget needs, seeing if it's meeting your health care needs.

Update your Marketplace information -- this is probably the most important piece and the reason for that is if you -- maybe your income changed, maybe you might qualify for a better deal, you might qualify for more tax credits, and so we don't want people to miss out on those. So really, we'd encourage you to update your Marketplace information.

Then you can compare your health plans, choose the health plan that best meets your needs and enroll. And we're encouraging people to do this by December 15th so their coverage is seamless, so it can start on January 1st.

If people don't go in and they don't update their information, they will be automatically enrolled in that coverage as long as that plan is still available to them.

So I did want to point that out. If people -- it's very similar to if you don't update your information, at least in the federal government, you're kind of just rolled into that plan for the next year and that's similar to how we'll be doing it in the Marketplace itself.

So what are the next steps? I've given you a ton of information. And so I wanted to give you some key points to remember.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 10 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 One, we are building on the health care system pieces that work. So employer-based coverage, job-based coverage, that continues, Medicare continues, it's just getting stronger. And really, we're trying to create this Marketplace for individuals and families and small businesses who haven't been able to get affordable coverage in the past. That's what the Marketplace is meant to do.

And this is the only place that people can get premium tax credits and what are known as cost- sharing reductions which just means less co-pays, less deductibles. The Marketplace is the only place where you can essentially get financial assistance paying for your coverage.

As I mentioned before and have said probably about 25 times, open enrollment is from November 15th, this Saturday, to February 15th, so that's three months to enroll, check out your options and get covered. Small employers also have the option of going to the SHOP Marketplace. Again, people may be eligible. The large majority of people who are eligible for the Marketplace are eligible for lower costs via financial assistance. So I want to keep pointing that out because the majority of people who are eligible don't realize it.

Our studies and experts show us that most people don't realize that they can get financial help paying for coverage. And so really, that's a key point because we've seen people get coverage for $7 a month or $50 a month. Most people can get covered for under $100 a month. And so really, we're trying to get the word out about that as much as possible.

And finally, there is local in-person help or assistance available in your communities. And we're happy to work with you to ensure those connections are made.

So I wanted to point out some kind of key websites for you. So healthcare.gov or, in Spanish, cuidadodesalud.gov, are really the websites for people to enroll. There's some very broad-brush information there, but really, even if you do one thing, if you know somebody is interested in health care coverage or wants to at least check out their options, point them to healthcare.gov.

If you and your organization need materials or need training materials or just want more information, go to marketplace.cms.gov. That's where we have our drop-in articles, our fact sheets, our Power Points. We have information for -- (inaudible) -- on there. And so I'd really encourage you to go there. There's a lot of great resources on that website.

If you need materials, say you want to hang a poster in your organization, which we would love for you to do, or you want to have little postcards at your front desk, or you want fact sheets, you can go to this product order site, productordering.cms.hhs.gov. And I kind of included the kind of pathway to doing so.

So you go to that site, you fill out some information. It takes about a day for them to process it. And then once they kind of accept you and give you and approve your user name and password, you can go onto this site and order any number of materials. Some are out of stock, obviously, but there's a lot of materials that -- (inaudible) -- send you at no charge if you're interested in those.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 11 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 I'd encourage you to, if you are interested in getting materials, to do that.

Alternatively, if you need materials like right now, today, I would encourage you to go to marketplace.cms.gov and you can print them on your own. As I mentioned before, we have posters, widgets, fact sheets, brochures, really anything you can imagine, videos, lots of resources there available for download and usage as you please. So I'd encourage you to use those because we have a lot.

Or if you need something, please let us know and we're happy to help you create something that fits your needs.

And so finally, some of the ways to connect with the Marketplace, and my colleague is going to talk about that as well. You can sign up for updates on healthcare.gov and we'll send you updates about when you can enroll, things you need to do to enroll, perhaps checklists to enroll. Certainly, we're on Twitter, we're on Facebook, we're on YouTube, we blog all the time on healthcare.gov.

And there is training available. So if you're interested, again, in becoming a certified application counselor organization or you just want to see what it's like, you just want to see the training, we have that available for you to look at. And I'd encourage you to go there.

So I really hope you'll join us in this effort. And I know Robert is going to talk a little bit more about ways you can engage with us.

But in the meantime, I will say thank you and look forward to your questions.

Robert, I will turn it over to you.

ROBERT KIGHT: Thank you, Catherine.

We're really excited. The workforce system can play such a pivotal role in their open enrollment process.

Again, as a reminder to the webinar audience, at any time during the webinar if you have a question, please use the chat window at the bottom of the screen to enter your question.

My name is Robert Kight and I'm the director of the WIA Adult Services and Workforce Systems here at the Department of Labor.

Catherine has just shared with us some great information on where to go to sign up for coverage, who is eligible for coverage and how to apply. And I'm sure at this point many of you are wondering how can you apply this information in your day-to-day work with customers that walk through an American Jobs Center.

In my presentation, I will share some of the strategies that I think can help you with that process.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 12 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 But first of all, over the next two days I'm going to assign some homework to you as you prepare for the open enrollment, again, on November 15th, one, we need you to review the Training and Employment Notice, the TEN, 13-14, the 2015 Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment Period. It's posted on doleta.gov. The TEN provides more detailed information on the points that I will discuss during my presentation.

Number two, as Catherine mentioned, we need you to plug into the loop with the Health and Human Services. So we want you to sign up for Marketplace update to stay informed at signup.healthcare.gov. Again, we want you to sign up for Marketplace updates to stay informed at signup.healthcare.gov.

Next, we want you to encourage other staff to take ACA training. This webinar will be archived for later viewing, because it's important that we have as many of our staff as possible within our AJCs that are having this conversation with our clients over the next several months so that we can touch -- (inaudible) -- and inform as many -- (audio break) -- clients as possible.

(Audio break.)

Catherine mentioned -- (audio break) -- workforce partners and navigators on enrollment outreach.

We ask that the American Jobs Centers make every effort to provide clients an opportunity to enroll in ACA. Make your computers available for enrollment sign-up beginning this coming weekend. Co-host enrollment sign-up events at the center. Become a certified application counselor to assist with clients with enrollment sign-up. Visit marketplace.cms.gov/help-us/cac- apply.

Through the American Jobs Centers network, we can truly make a different helping those who need health coverage the most secure it.

I'd like to thank you for your time and your participation today to today's webinar. Thank you.

MR. : OK. We're going to be transitioning now to the Q&A portion of today's webinar. I think we already have some questions in queue. But if you do have any burning questions you haven't entered in, now is the time. Please enter any questions or comments that you might have in that Q&A window taking up the majority of the bottom of your screen.

I think I will just take a quick maybe five to 10-second break and we'll be right back with you.

(Break.)

OK. So we are back. Thanks for staying with us. We're going to transition now, as I said, to today's Q&A portion.

The first question we have is for Cat. The question is, “I have COBRA and it's too expensive. Can I drop it during open enrollment and enroll in a Marketplace instead?”

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 13 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 MS. OAKAR: In short, yes, you can drop your COBRA coverage and get a plan through the Marketplace. Instead -- oh -- (chuckles) -- after open enrollment ends, however, if you voluntarily drop your COBRA coverage or stop paying premiums, you will not be eligible for a special enrollment opportunity and will have to wait until the next open enrollment period.

Only when your COBRA coverage is exhausted will that -- (inaudible) -- trigger a special enrollment opportunity.

So in short, yes, you can drop your COBRA coverage, but you need to do that during the open enrollment period. And as it gets exhausted after the open enrollment period, then you are eligible for a special enrollment period. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until the next open enrollment period to enroll.

MR. : OK. And the next question we have reads, “Will the website work on Saturday? How have you improved it?

MS. OAKAR: Great question. So we are very confident in the website this Saturday. Will there be bumps in the road and will the website have some downtime for maintenance, as most websites do? Absolutely. But we're confident that the website is working and we've made a number of improvements to ensure that not only the website is working better, but really the consumer experience is better and it's been enhanced and that our technology infrastructure has really been significantly expanded.

We're ready to handle more consumers with greater reliability. And essentially, we've made the website and the application much simpler and faster and more intuitive.

How have we done that? Essentially, if you're re-enrolling, about 90 percent of your information will already be pre-populated. So again, we're trying to make it as easy as possible.

We're making the website and we've made it faster so we've reduced the number of the screens by about 75 percent, so what that means is you'll have to click fewer times to get through the application and to really navigate the website.

And we've made it more intuitive, so we've made it more user friendly for consumers. We're trying to make it have a simpler navigation and built-in help along the way.

And of course, you can always call the Call Center or use in-person assistance if you should have trouble along the way.

MR. : OK. And the next question we have is, “What are the three key messages from HHS that people should take away from this webinar?”

MS. OAKAR: So I'll give you four. One, open enrollment starts this Saturday, November 15th and runs three months through February 15th. So I know that is through the holidays, but you can give the gift of health care, you can be thankful for health care. And so I'd encourage you,

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 14 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 even when you're eating turkey or celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah or anything else to think about health insurance and explore your options. That's one.

Two, if you had coverage last year, go in and update your information. You may be able to get a better deal and better cost savings.

Three, many people, meaning the majority of people who are eligible for the Marketplace, are eligible for financial assistance, meaning through tax credits and other financial help they can pay their premiums and do so with greater ease.

And finally, local, in-person help in your communities is available. And you can simply go to localhelp.healthcare.gov to find somebody in your community.

MR. : OK, thank you, Cat.

And the next question we have is, “I'm eligible for health benefits at work, but want to see if I can get a better deal in the Marketplace. Can I do that?”

MS. OAKAR: In short, yes; however, anybody can shop in the Marketplace, anybody can look, but assuming you don't meet any other eligibility requirements, generally if you have job-based coverage you are not going to be eligible for tax credits, so you're not going to be eligible for that financial assistance to get a better deal on your health coverage. You can certainly shop in the Marketplace, you can even buy coverage there, but more than likely if you already have health benefits through your job you're not going to be eligible for those premium tax credits/financial assistance I mentioned before.

MR. : OK. And the next question we have is, “I live in one state, but drive across the border every day to work in a different state. What Marketplace should I use to buy coverage?”

MS. OAKAR: Generally, you should buy coverage in the Marketplace in the state that you live. So as I mentioned before, if you live in Michigan, but drive to Indiana to work every day, you're going to buy coverage in Michigan, so you're going to buy coverage in the state that you live.

MR. : OK. And the next question I have is, or that's been submitted, “What are some of the key challenges you face this open enrollment period?

MS. OAKAR: That is a tremendous question. So a couple of things. We have less time to enroll people. Last year we had six months to enroll everyone; this year we only have three months and that's during the holiday season and during a tough time of year when people don't really want to think probably about health insurance. But we really hope that they do.

We have less resources to do a lot of outreach. And we have a harder-to-reach population because, let's face it, last year we were able to reach 7-million-plus people, but the people that we're trying to reach this year, they're going to be harder to get to because they may not know about healthcare.gov, they may not realize that they can get a better deal and they're going to be a tougher population to get to.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 15 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 And so that's why we're really relying on folks like you to help us enroll people because you really know your communities the best. You can reach those hard-to-reach populations.

MR. : OK. We're going to take another quick five, 10-second break. We'll be right back with you.

(Break.)

And we are back. Thanks for sticking with us.

The next question we have teed up is, “Individuals who don't qualify for either Marketplace or Medicaid, do they have to pay a penalty fee?”

MS. OAKAR: So this is a bit of a tricky question because it's very broad. So if you, I mean, say, “don't qualify for the Marketplace,” I'm not sure if you mean don't qualify for tax credits or if you're in employer-based coverage or what that means. But I'll give you a couple of answers.

One, if you are in an employer-based coverage, if you're getting coverage through your job, you're good to go, you will not be on the hook for the fee.

If you are not eligible for Marketplace tax credits and you're not eligible for Medicaid, you will not have to pay the fee. So this is largely in states such as Texas, Florida and those other states that are not expanding their Medicaid programs.

Those folks who really run in that gap of not qualifying for Marketplace subsidies and not qualifying for Medicaid do not have to pay the penalty. They will not be on the hook. They will be what is considered exempt.

MR. : OK. The next question we have is, “How is the income figured? What they made last year, what they are making now?”

MS. OAKAR: So essentially, when you fill out your application you're going to be asked what your income was for last year and that will calculate what your premiums will be based on that. So it will calculate the tax credits based off of your income from last year.

If you made a little less or made a little more, it will be reconciled on your taxes the next year. So you may have to pay a little bit more or you may get a little bit back if you over or underestimated how much you make.

But in general, it will be based off of what you made last year.

MR. : OK. And I think I'm going to get one more question for you and then we're going to get a little bit of a break and I think we'll switch over to Robert, “So just to make sure, if you're not a citizen of the United States you are not eligible?”

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 16 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 MS. OAKAR: So essentially as I mentioned a little bit before, people who -- there are various immigration statuses that do qualify for the Marketplace. So most people in the following groups are eligible for coverage: U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals and lawfully present immigrants, this includes a variety of statuses including refugees, you are a battered spouse or a child or a parent, if you are an individual with a non-immigrant status such as a worker visa or a student visa, and a number of other statuses.

I would encourage you to go to healthcare.gov and in the search box you can just type in “immigration” or “immigrant” and it will pop up for you the whole list of statuses that do qualify for Marketplace coverage. But there are certainly some.

MR. : OK. Thanks, Cat. We're going to give you a little bit of a break.

And I'm going to pivot now to Robert. And the question we have for Robert is, “Is there an AJC currently that is already doing some of this outreach to help with the ACA promotion and enrollment?”

MR. KIGHT: This is our second year of being involved in this initiative. And the AJCs all across -- there have been AJCs all across the country that have been involved in this promotion in the outreach work to ensure that our clients are aware of services through ACA.

MR. : OK. Thanks, Robert.

I just want to remind everybody we are recording today's webinar. We're going to post that recording in approximately two business days to Workforce3One(.org). Please look for the email to come as we wrap up today's webinar to avail yourself of that recording. And we'll let you know once it's posted, again, within approximately two business days. The recording and a transcript of everything that is said will be posted to Workforce3One(.org) in approximately two business days.

And all right, we have our next question, and it reads, “I'm an American Jobs Center manager. How can I tell who's a legitimate Affordable Health Care counselor when they approach me to offer services in the AJC versus a company looking for business?”

MS. OAKAR: So that is a great question. If an assister or a counselor comes -- a counselor should not come up to you unless you have already reached out to them. They will not be kind of floating around offering their services in the community unless you have reached out to them.

More than likely, somebody who kind of approaches you, they could be an agent or a broker and that's fine to work with them, but keep in mind that they are likely going to be biased in terms of what products they're selling.

More than likely to get to an assister, you will need to reach out to them and say come to my AJC and help me enroll people. More than likely, they will not be just coming to you door to door and offering their services because they'll be quite busy doing any number of enrollment events.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 17 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 So I would say if you have any questions, though, feel free to call the Call Center or simply look them up on the localhelp.healthcare.gov tool and you'll be able to see if their organization is there.

But I would say generally they will not be kind of cold calling or approaching you blindly without having had you already reach out to them.

MR. : OK. So we will -- we're getting a lot of great questions coming in. We're looking through them. We'll be back in just a moment.

(Break.)

OK, and we are back. The next question we have is, “Please provide links to documents that Robert is recommending. Thank you.”

MR. KIGHT: OK. For those brochures and fact sheets that I mentioned, you can go to marketplace.cms.gov, that's marketplace.cms.gov. And as I mentioned earlier, you can go there, you can find the one-page guide to the health insurance Marketplace, you can find the brochure about the health insurance Marketplace, and you can also find another on how the Marketplace works infographs.

MR. : OK. Thank you, Robert.

And just a reminder, you can use that chat window at the bottom of your screen to type in any questions or comments that you might have. We are placing them in a queue and will try to address as many question and comments as we can during today's webinar.

We have approximately 27 minutes left, so hopefully we can get through a lot of questions today. OK.

So the next question we have for our speakers reads, “My wife has a plan under affordable health care. We received a notice of letters we are to get from the insurance provider and healthcare.gov. When should we expect these letters?”

MS. OAKAR: So you should expect to receive those any day now. Already we have been, from HHS perspective, and insurance providers have already been reaching out to folks to tell them to re-enroll and/or update their information. So those should be coming soon.

If you are not getting that information and have questions and want to renew your coverage, I would encourage you to call the Call Center. But you should be getting those any day and so I would encourage you to stand by. But if not, you've plenty of time to update your information and re-enroll for next year. And the Call Center is available for you at any time.

MR. : Thank you, Catherine.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 18 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 And again, just want to remind everybody we're recording. The transcript posted in two business days. The Power Points you have access to in the file show window at the bottom left-hand of your screen. You can download it now or you can download it from Workforce3One(.org) at any point.

And the next question that we want to take reads, “How can I obtain coverage for my family from December 1st, 2014 until January 1st, 2015? Coverage for my family through my employer's plan will stop on this November 30th.”

MS. OAKAR: So you have two options, I would say, two main options. One, you can get COBRA which is often quite expensive, so you can keep that employer plan for another month. Alternatively, and this is one of the great things about the Marketplace, is you will qualify for a special enrollment period. So you can go on to healthcare.gov right now and see. There should be a link that kind of indicates if you can enroll now if you're eligible for a special enrollment period. If your coverage is dropped prior to open enrollment starting, which is your case, you are eligible to shop in the Marketplace prior to open enrollment beginning.

So I would encourage you to go on healthcare.gov and either find special enrollment period options or call the Call Center and they can talk you through it. But in short, you will be eligible for a special enrollment period now for the Marketplace.

MR. : And the next question we have reads, “For those who are going through a layoff event, can they opt to enroll in a plan on healthcare.gov and bypass COBRA altogether?”

MS. OAKAR: Yes. So basically -- so essentially, that is one of the great things about the Marketplace is you are absolutely able to bypass COBRA. And in fact, when you are notified that you're becoming eligible for COBRA, you should also be getting a notification in that letter that you can shop on the Marketplace and see what your options are there.

So yes, you absolutely can look in the Marketplace.

MR. : And the next question we have reads, “If an individual loses their job after the open enrollment period and is offered COBRA but can't afford it, are they not eligible for the program until the next open enrollment period, even if they didn't accept COBRA?”

MS. OAKAR: Yes, absolutely. So if an individual loses their job after the open enrollment period and is offered COBRA but can't afford it or wants to see what other options they have, absolutely this is what the Marketplace is for. The Marketplace is for individuals and small businesses and families who have either lost their jobs or don't want to stay in their job and are scared to leave it because they wouldn't want to lose their health coverage. That is for those people. This is what the Marketplace is for.

So absolutely, if you lose your job, the Marketplace is there for you.

MR. : OK. And the next question we have teed up is, “What if I work part time and not eligible for coverage through my employer and pay for the coverage out of pocket? Amy I

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 19 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 eligible?”

MS. OAKAR: Yes, definitely. So if you're -- oh, where did the question go? Sorry.

MR. : Sorry. I'll bring it back in just a moment.

MS. OAKAR: OK.

MR. : But the question reads, “What if I work part time and not eligible for coverage through my employer and pay for the coverage out of pocket? Am I eligible?”

MS. OAKAR: Yes, you should be eligible. I would say generally you would be eligible, especially if you are working part time, your employer is not on the hook to provide coverage for you and so you may be able to get a better deal on the Marketplace. So I would encourage you to go ahead and look at your options. You can do that now via window shopping and when open enrollment begins on November 15th.

MR. : So the next question we have is, “Are certified application counselor opportunities available in the greater Los Angeles, California?”

MS. OAKAR: I would imagine yes. So California is known as a state-based exchange or a state-based Marketplace meaning they do a lot of their own consumer outreach and consumer assistance. So I would encourage you to go to the Covered California website and there should be an opportunity to help there. If not, please reach back out to us and we'll be able to connect you with folks. But there should be ample opportunities given that L.A. is such a huge component of the state and has many uninsured folks.

MR. : OK. And the next question we have is, “For someone turning 26 and going off of parent's health care coverage, how far in advance of that date should that individual start researching health care options in the Marketplace?”

MS. OAKAR: So I would say give yourself plenty of time. I would say start about 60 days, 60 to 45 days, because it can take a little bit of time for you to fill out the application, there is going to be a lot of options available to you and then to go through the process, so you're not rushed at the end. But you will have time. Once your coverage is dropped, you'll have a window of time in terms of your special enrollment period.

But I would say start early. So I would say give yourself at least 30 to 60 days to kind of check out your options, think about, because it's a big decision and you want to make sure you're doing what's best for you.

MR. : OK. The next question we have is, “Do they have to apply for the exemption or is it automatic? How do they apply for the exemption?”

Ms. OAKAR: So the exemption is not automatic. If you go to healthcare.gov, you should find a spot that talks about exemptions. Or if not, you can simply type in “exemption.” And you have

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 20 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 to apply, you have to fill out an exemption or you can check it on your -- you can do so via your taxes.

But we encourage everyone to fill out the exemption form prior to tax season just in case you don't qualify for an exemption. We don't want you to get dinged with that individual fee, individual mandate fee or individual responsibility fee. So I would encourage you if you think you qualify for an exemption and you're not going to get coverage, go onto healthcare.gov, fill out the exemption form and submit it to make sure you qualify for that exemption.

MR. : OK, we're back. So the next question I have reads, “I might have missed this one or forgot. What is considered a small employer?”

MR. KIGHT: A small employer is one who has 50 or fewer FTEs, OK? And tax credits may be available if open enrollment is year round. In the shopping Marketplace, you can call the help desk for employers at 1-800-706-7893. We strongly encourage you to call the SHOP Marketplace Help Desk for employers at 1-800-706-7893.

MR. : OK, thanks, Robert.

And the next question we have reads, “If someone has experienced a job loss, but has wages in the previous year that may make them not eligible for Medicaid or a tax credit, is there a way for them to show current circumstances to be taken into consideration for lower premiums?”

MS. OAKAR: Yes. So this is a circumstance where I would encourage you to use the Call Center. I know I keep harping on the Call Center, but really, it is a tremendous resource, especially for circumstances like this where it can be a bit complicated and it may not be easily reflected on your application online.

So I would say when you start applying and once you kind of know that you want to enroll in the Marketplace, call the Call Center right away, explain your circumstance and let them help you walk through the application.

Alternatively, you could certainly use an in-person assister to help you with this as well. So I would essentially encourage you to use somebody that's one of the resources available to you to kind of help you parse through this unique circumstance because this is definitely something that we expect to happen, but we want to make sure that your information is accurately represented in a way that ensures that you get the deal that's best for you.

MR. : OK. So I think we have a couple of more questions that we want to address. The next one reads, “I was providing at substantial expense insurance coverage for my adult son who is age 23. Starting January 2015, he won't be covered by my insurance anymore. Will he be able to sign up for coverage during this open enrollment period?”

MS. OAKAR: Yes, absolutely. This is, again, what the Marketplace is for. He should be -- I should note, one of the things that the law did was say if your employer provides coverage and it provides dependent coverage, they must cover children up to when they turn 26. So if you wish

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 21 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 to have him on your plan, you can continue up until he turns 26. But if it is really costly or he wants to go on the Marketplace and shop on his own absolutely he is free to do that and can do so once open enrollment starts or come January.

MR. : OK.

MS. OAKER: I would encourage him -- oh, sorry. I would encourage him now if his coverage ends January 2, 2015. He should go and enroll sooner than that. He should do that before December 15th so his coverage starts right away on January 1st so he can ensure that he has a seamless coverage. You don't want any gaps in his coverage. So he's going to need to enroll by December 15th of this year to make sure that he has no gaps.

MR. : OK. So just want to let you folks know that if you can stay with us, please do so. After we wrap today's webinar we're going to change layouts for this Q&A so you can provide feedback within the webinar (room ?) itself about what you thought. And then after we close out of the webinar you'll receive an email where you can expand on your thoughts and tell us or go into a little bit of a deeper dive of what you liked, how we can improve, what worked, what didn't.

All right. So the next question we have reads, “If a mother is age 20 and only makes $15,000 a year per year and has a child that is 10, how come it will cost her $260 per month for coverage? What am I missing? Please advise.”

MS. OAKAR: So a couple of things. One, she could be -- she may be just under the federal poverty level that qualifies her for Marketplace tax credits, so she would not be eligible for that financial help I was talking about before.

Alternatively, she may be in a state that does not expand Medicaid, so she may not be eligible for Medicaid. In this case, if she was in a state that expanded Medicaid, she would likely be eligible.

So what I would encourage you to do, because we've heard stories like this, is go online and either call the Call Center or go to somebody in person and have them help her apply because she may be eligible for Medicaid and may not realize it, especially because she has a dependent child. And so she should at least apply and have somebody help her apply, because the website may be not popping up what her accurate price is or it may just not be populating correctly or maybe something is being entered incorrectly.

But just to double check, I would encourage you to use those resources via the Call Center or via find local help to make sure that she is in fact getting -- that accurate premiums are being brought up and/or understanding if she's eligible for Medicaid or if not.

The reason that she may not be eligible for Medicaid in this instance is perhaps because her state isn't expanding Medicaid, so this just speaks volumes to why it's so important for those states to expand because people who are making $15,000 a year are not able to get coverage.

That being said, she may be eligible, so I'd encourage you to use those resources I mentioned.

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 22 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 MR. : All right. The next question that we have is, “How often do you expect people to change plans from year to year? Do you anticipate many premium increases this year?”

MS. OAKAR: Great question. So people change plans. Plans change, people change plans. I know I often change plans, like, from year to year, but sometimes I really like it and I've stuck with the same plan for years in a row. So I think it just depends on personal preference. But it's not uncommon for people to change from year to year. You know, you have to see what fits your needs and what fits your budget.

In terms of premium increases, I should note that every year premiums have been going up. That's just kind of the nature of the biz. That's how health insurance works. We are not expecting premiums in the Marketplace to go up substantially, modest at best, and the initial premiums that have come in have seemed very modest increases. And so we're not expecting them to go up largely.

But I should note that they go up. That's just how it works. And so we're at least providing people the options, more options so they can see, hey, my premium went up for this plan, maybe I'll check out another plan and get a better deal or have lower costs. And so that's what really the Marketplace is all about.

MR. : And we're back. Sorry for that little interlude. The next question I have read, “I preregistered for this informative webinar, but had an emergency that caused me to miss too much of this training session. Will any of this presentation be available later? Thank you.”

So good question, and the answer to that is yes. We have been recording today's webinar. We're going to post that recording to Workforce3One(.org) in approximately two business days. The Power Point you have access to right now in the lower left-hand of your screen. You'll notice there's a file share window where you can download the Power Point.

But again, the recording, which will have the audio and the visuals synced together, you'll be able to watch within two business days and there will be a transcript of everything that's been said, rather faithful to what we've been saying, which you can access, which you can download and read through if you like. OK.

So the next question we have is, “If coverage ends due to job loss or other events like divorce and aging out of parent's insurance, how long does the special enrollment period last?”

MS. OAKAR: So from the date your coverage is dropped, about 60 days, so you have a good chunk of time to kind of see what needs you have and see what your options are.

Certainly if you know that this event is happening, I would encourage you to kind of check out your options prior. But you have some time, on average about 60 days, for a special enrollment period.

MR. : OK. So as I was saying, we are recording or have been recording today's webinar. We

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 23 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014 might be taking one or two more questions. I think that we are coming to the end of our time. So I do think we will take one more question, and that question reads, “For customers that are receiving unemployment that apply and are eligible during the open enrollment period, when their unemployment comes to an end and have not obtained employment, would they still be eligible for this health coverage?”

MS. OAKAR: It depends. I think probably yes. It depends on your income. So anybody, as I mentioned before, can shop in the Marketplace. But to get tax credits, to get that financial assistance, you have to be at a certain income level. So it depends where their income level lands pre and post unemployment benefits.

But what we tell people is to just apply, just see, because you never know if, you know, $1 could make a difference and you could be eligible. So we'd encourage you, instead of saying, oh, I don't think I'm eligible, to go ahead and try and use the resources that we have available to see if you can enroll in coverage.

But I would say, generally, yes they should be eligible for health care coverage. It will just depend on their income how much financial help they're able to get.

MR. : OK. So I want to thank Catherine, I want to thank Robert for joining us today.

So with that we are going to conclude today's event. As I've been saying ad nauseum, we have been recording today's webinar. That recording will be posted in approximately two business days to Workforce3One(.org). You'll receive an email notifying you of its

Helping Job Seekers & Workers Access Affordable Health Insurance Options Page 24 of 24 Wednesday, November 12, 2014