Are you planning to shift to New Mexico, or have you been living in the state for some time now? The first thing that you will have to consider, of course after you have found yourself a decent accommodation, is- what different issues will impact your health. You may even wish to find out how the state covers its residents with affordable health care and coverage. Well, it is true that NM remains infamous when counting on its people insured however, things are changing ever since the new Obamacare has been implemented.
Of course, before you jumped into conclusions about health insurance in New Mexico being pitiable, you need to look at the challenges it faces:
- It has the highest percentage of children and uninsured living in complete poverty
- Rate of drug deaths are really high
- Rate of school graduation quite low
- State funding on public health lowered by 10 percent
- High rate of violent crime and preventive hospitalizations
However, not everything about this state is bad. This state is possibly one with very low amount of air pollution. You will rarely find obese people and binge drinking is not a practice here. Moreover, affordable medical insurance New Mexico plan was initiated in 2014, to increase the access and affordability of health insurance to its residents.
The implementation of Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, amidst major differences between the republicans and democrats (remember the Ryan-Biden debate), actually changed the marketplace of health insurance across the USA:
In 2012- 2013, around 24% New Mexicans within 25 and 60 were uninsured- 4th highest in USA.
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In 2014, the rate fell to 19.6% non-elder NM residents remaining uninsured.
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In 2012- 2013, about 20.2% of the New Mexicans of all ages were uninsured.
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Come 2014 end, the rate dropped to 15.3% remaining uninsured.
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- Bronze Plans- Comes with lowest monthly premiums, where 60% of the medical cost gets borne by the insurance company.
- Silver Plans- The actuarial value is 70%, which means the company bears 70% of the medical expenses.
- Gold Plans - Premiums go higher with higher metal value. Gold has 80% actuarial value. Hence, your insurance company will pay 80% of the medical bills.
- Platinum Plans-You pay more monthly premium, you get more coverage on your medical bills. This health insurance plan in New Mexico gives 90% actuarial value, which means 90% of your health coverage is covered by the insurance company.
- Catastrophic Plans- Exclusive plans for those aged below 30 and they come with low premium, essential benefits and high deductibles.
Now that you are aware of the different health insurance coverage under Obamacare, the next thing you will want to know is the plan that will fit you. It is not at all a difficult process to find an affordable health insurance in New Mexico. Just fill in your essential details like your birth date, vital statistics (Height/weight), gender, basic health data, and your contact details. There will be available plans shown to you based on your location and the kind of health profile you possess. From there you can either choose to take a health insurance agent who lives nearby or connect to the resource center online. Certain basic questions will be asked to you in the resource center, like:
- Do you wish to take an individual plan?
- Do you have a small business here?
- Do you fall under pre-existing conditions?
- Do you come uninsured in New Mexico?
- Do you already possess a New Mexico health insurance?
- Do you wish to get an Obamacare exchange?
- Do you wish to get an exclusive Obamacare quote?
- Do you need the guide to New Mexico Obamacare?
Depending upon which section you fall under or, what specific information you wish to gather, you can collect all the materials you require. Once you have decided with your plan and need to execute the process of getting your medical insurance, you can visit the official healthcare site for filling in your details.
How impactful has ACA been in New Mexico?
With all the above values shown and execution path described, an extremely relevant question will arise on how much impact has Obamacare or affordable medical insurance New Mexico been able to make. You must ensure your safety and protection before you get into any kind of long term investments, especially when it concerns your health plus, a sumptuous amount of your hard earned money.
More affordable, accessible and high quality
According to the reports available, ACA has managed to create more affordability to the US citizen in healthcare. The plans are of high quality, highly accessible, and designed after carefully observing the demographics of the people of New Mexico.
High numbers re-enrolling into health coverage
There were 52,358 customers of NM who got re-enrolled automatically into the new scheme. Throughout entire USA, about 11.7 million people were enrolled automatically in this marketplace.
New Mexico gets $123,281,600 grants under Obamacare
The state has total grants of $123, 281, 600 to implement in the researching, planning, development of IT, followed by its implementation in the health insurance marketplace. While all open enrollments had been time-capped, enrollment for CHIP (children Health Insurance Program) and Medicaid is open all year round. The aim behind ACA was to reduce the total number of uninsured people in USA. New Mexico alone saw some 4.9% increase in its health insurance number in just one year’s time.
Retain children insurance till 26 years age
Moreover, there are new options of coverage made available to the young adults. Children are allowed to keep their insurance under mostly all conditions till they reach 26 years of age. This has reduced tremendous pressure on students who are graduating from colleges and universities and have an added burden of paying their education loans.
Medicaid coverage expanded
With new ACA, states now can expand their coverage through Medicaid. Those with family income under 133% of the poverty level, or earning less than $32,253 per annum (four people in the family) will get extra coverage from Medicaid. The plan includes even non-elderly adults who don’t have dependent children. This category was earlier not covered under Medicaid.
To add more to the platter:
- 74% consumers of NM who signed up were given a tax credit of $196/month using the marketplace.
- Of those who enrolled in the NM marketplace, 49% got coverage paying $100 or less, if they had applicable tax credits. 84% of the total consumers were given the option to use.
- Earlier in 2014, consumers could choose from only 4 plans. In 2015, another issue got added and consumers can now choose from 5.
- There were a total of 36 health plans in 2014, which has been increased to 43 health insurance plans- more options for the consumers of NM.
- 29% or 15,143 consumers under 35 years are signed for medical insurance in New Mexico, and 21% or 10,965 consumers within the age of 18 and 34 years signed up.
With the new presidential elections coming round, which party and who comes to live in the White House will probably decide if Obamacare stays or has to exit. However, the changes it has made into an average American’s healthcare situation are phenomenal. For states like New Mexico and others who have been rather not adequately catered to by the federal government, Affordable Care Act or Obamacare sure looks like a healthier lifestyle choice.
