Find out how the first day of open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act — or Obamacare, as it is informally known — went this year in the Chicago-area here.
Also, it looks like this was one of the paragraphs that got cut out of my story for space: The federal government said that as of 9 a.m., more than 23,000 Americans submitted an application for health coverage via HealthCare.gov.
You can also view the live tweet I did on Nov. 15 here.
Good overall synopsis for consumers elsewhere here.
The Sun-Times also did an analysis on the prices for Illinois here.
There were a number of factors that could have resulted in the 2015 prices being lower or higher than last year. This year, more insurers in Illinois took part in the marketplace. That likely drove costs down, to keep insurers competitive in a more crowded market. Insurers anticipating having more of a mix of health and sick individuals in the pool also could have brought or kept prices down for 2015.
Yet, on the other hand, broadening networks available for insurance plans may have necessitated higher premiums. And most people – whether getting insurance through their job or through the Affordable Care Act – would end up paying more for health insurance each year, because of underlying health care costs.
