Ron Bliss: Time running out for those who need to renew insurance for Jan. 1

If you are a procrastinator, you are about to procrastinate yourself out of insurance coverage for January.

Anyone who has a current healthcare plan who does not re-up by Dec. 15 cannot get a plan for January unless you react and get it done this week. Those who had Prominence, Health Plan of Nevada or Anthem plans in 2015 will be “rolled over,” if they take no action by Dec. 15, but those who were in a plan that will not be offered in 2016 – Nevada Health Co-Op or Assurant – will be without, unless they take action.

At Affordable Healthcare Pros, we are trying to make sure all of those clients are taken care of, but if we haven’t called, you call us.

Though the deadline for insurance in January is Dec. 15, Open Enrollment continues through Jan. 31. Those signing up by Jan. 15 will have a start date of Feb. 1, while those signing up from Jan. 16 through Jan. 31 will have a start date of March 1, 2016.

If you have coverage for nine months of 2016, you will not incur a penalty for 2016, which is $695 per adult, $347.50 per child or 2 1-2 percent of your gross income, whichever is more.

Today is also the deadline for those on Medicare who wish to switch Medicare Advantage plans or get a Part D drug plan for 2016. The Annual Enrollment Period began Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7. Anyone wishing to switch from Medicare Advantage to a Medicare Supplement will have another chance Jan. 1 through Feb. 14, if you don’t make the change by today. That is the Medicare Advantage Dis-Enrollment period and is designed for those who go onto an MA plan but decide it is not for them.

There is no charge for our services. We offer a wide variety of health insurance coverage and can take care of your healthcare needs – both on and off exchanges in both Nevada and California.

Come see us at 2307 N. Carson Street in Carson City or call our office number, 775-883-3414.

You can also call us at 775-450-6769, 775-224-7169, 775-450-7754 or 775-450-6867.

We are not limited to Northern Nevada. You can also call one of our two Southern Nevada lines – 702- 721-3657 or 702-721-3810.

Ron Bliss is a former long-time sports writer who has been doing health insurance since 2009. He is certified on both Covered California and the Nevada Health Link and can sell products on and off both exchanges. Affordable Healthcare Pros also offers a variety of dental plans to include dental-vision-hearing plans in both states, as well as a wide variety of Medicare supplements and other health supplemental products to include critical illness, short-term care, disability, plans to cover in-home or nursing home costs, accidents and hospital indemnity policies.