Heath insurance marketplace extends enrollment period

HealthSource RI, the state’s marketplace for health coverage through Obamacare, has adopted flexibilities to help keep Rhode Islanders connected to coverage for 2025 while the RIBridges system is temporarily unavailable.

The system is offline following a cyberattack that may have affected nearly 65 percent of Rhode Island’s population. According to Gov. Dan McKee, options have been made to make sure its customers are covered from New Year’s Day.

Open enrollment has been extended through February so Rhode Islanders will be able to pick a plan of their choice for an extra month this year, once enrollment through the RIBridges system becomes available. Any plan chosen can be made retroactive to Jan. 1st.

HeathSource RI has arranged for customers with an urgent need for January 1st coverage to enroll directly for January and February coverage with its longtime insurance carriers, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island.

Once the system becomes available to customers again, customers will receive information about how to apply for coverage for the remainder of the year. This will ensure customers are connected with federal financial assistance in the form of advance premium tax credits for March and beyond.

For more information on which customers may benefit from this stopgap option, details on how to enroll, plan options and how to find assistance, visit healthsourceri.com/covered2025. The customer service team at 1-855-840-4774 will be able to assist customers with questions beginning Thursday, Dec. 26.

Aside from these new options for those not yet enrolled, here’s what certain groups of customers in various stages of the enrollment process should know and can do to keep their coverage.

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Coverage will be active for customers whose plan selections for 2025 were already made (through automatic renewal or by taking action to select a plan) and who have either already made a payment or set up auto-payment. They do not need to take any action.

Customers in 2024 plans who previously received notice that they were not automatically renewed but needed to take action to select a 2025 plan will be held in the same plans with the same insurance carriers they had been with in 2024. Once RIBridges is restored, they will have an opportunity to adjust their plan if better suited to changes in their income or other. Such changes may be allowed retroactively to January 1 if needed.

Customers who were automatically renewed but not enrolled in auto-payments or made a manual payment simply need to pay their premium. This guidance is the same for customers who selected a plan by Dec. 12 but had not yet paid. They can do so in person by bringing their barcoded invoice to any CVS except those in Target locations.

They also can do so in person by depositing a check or money order in a 24/7 dropbox at the HealthSource RI East Providence walk-in center, 401 Wampanoag Trail, or by phone through the call center.

“HealthSource RI has been working around the clock to determine ways to keep Rhode Islanders covered as we deal with this cyber incident,” McKee said. “I am pleased that they have quickly created options to meet the needs of all their customers.”

“Our top priority throughout the immediate response to this situation has been how to accommodate those who still need to select a plan for 2025,” said Lindsay Lang, director of HealthSource RI. “The state and our insurance carrier partners hope these flexibilities give customers some peace of mind in the New Year without worrying about how to fill an important prescription or take care of an urgent medical need in the first weeks of the year.”

While HealthSource RI awaits system restoration, its focus remains on keeping customers covered. The exchange has proven an indispensable resource to the state’s citizens, with a record high of more than 47,000 insured through the marketplace in November.