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White House is 'close' on Japan, India tariff agreements but expect them to be light on specifics; Families in limbo following federal energy assistance program cuts- we have reports from NH and MD; NV adopted CA's 'clean car' standard, rule now under GOP examination.

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Educators worry about President Trump's education plan, as federal judges block several of his executive orders. Battles over voting rules are moving in numerous courts. And FSU students protest a state bill lowering the age to buy a gun.

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Migration to rural America increased for the fourth year, technological gaps handicap rural hospitals and erode patient care, and doctors are needed to keep the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians healthy and align with spiritual principles.

Open enrollment is over, but tribal members can still get health coverage

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Tuesday, March 4, 2025   

Open enrollment for health insurance from the online marketplace is over, but Wyoming experts are reminding tribal members that they qualify to enroll at any time.

As a health insurance navigator with Enroll Wyoming, Molly Holt helps people in her district sign up for coverage - including many from the Wind River Reservation.

Over the last seven years, Wyoming tribes have replaced all federal Indian Health Service units with tribally-operated ones.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe operates Wind River Family and Community Health Care facilities in three locations - and the Eastern Shoshone Tribe recently transformed the former-IHS Fort Washakie clinic to Warm Valley Health Care.

Holt said members often don't realize that being insured can benefit the Tribe.

"If you have insurance, then they can do a third-party billing," said Holt, "and so those funds will come back into the organization and it will help everybody."

According to the most recent Department of Health and Human Services report, the uninsured rate among non-elderly American Indians and Alaska Natives nationally was about 20% in 2022.

Tribal members qualify for a special enrollment period, which lasts all year. More information is online at enrollwyo.org.

People without a tribal affiliation may also qualify for a special enrollment period this year. Holt said she and other navigators can help people find out if they qualify.

"Individuals can sign up outside of the open enrollment period if you've had certain life-changing events," said Holt, "which include losing health coverage, moving, getting married, having a baby, or adopting a child. Those are a few of them."

Other qualifying changes include divorce or abandonment through domestic violence, loss of job-based coverage, leaving incarceration, certain changes in residence, or a death that would affect health coverage.



Disclosure: Enroll Wyoming contributes to our fund for reporting on Health Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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