LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor
Since 2004

Tag: American Rescue Plan

  • Time is running out. Get covered by January 15

    Time is running out. Get covered by January 15

    Millions more can get assistance paying for health insurance, thanks to the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act

    Laura Packard – Ohio Capital Journal

    If you don’t have health insurance — or just want to explore your options — go to healthcare.gov on or before Jan. 15 to get covered with affordable health insurance now.

    Having and keeping good quality affordable health care is personal for me. The Affordable Care Act saved my life.

    In 2017, I walked into a doctor’s office with a nagging cough and walked out with a stage four cancer diagnosis. My Obamacare policy paid for the six months of chemotherapy and a month of radiation treatments I needed to be in remission today. As a small business owner, before the ACA I was only eligible for junk insurance. If I still had that policy, I would be bankrupt or dead.

    Nobody knows what our future holds. From an accident to an unexpected diagnosis, we all deserve great health care when we need it. When we are sick or injured, our focus should be on healing, not living through sleepless nights worrying how to pay for it.

    In the past, Affordable Care Act health insurance policies weren’t always affordable for some middle class Americans like me and perhaps you, too. At the time I was diagnosed, I did not qualify for financial help.

    But thanks to Congress and President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan and now the Inflation Reduction Act, millions more can get assistance paying for their health insurance. Your premiums are capped at no more than 8.5% of your income, and you may be eligible for cost-sharing to bring down prices even more. Four out of 5 Americans can find coverage options for $10 a month or less.

    About 260,000 Ohioans with Marketplace coverage are saving an average of about $810 annually on their Marketplace health care premiums from the ARP subsidies that the Inflation Reduction Acton continued.

    These health insurance savings are especially important for self-employed people, small business owners and employees, gig workers, temp workers, and older people who have retired but are not yet eligible for Medicare.

    To find out what discounts you are eligible for (and also whether you may be eligible for Medicaid or other programs in your state), go to healthcare.gov and plug in your estimated income for 2023. If you live in a state with its own state-based health insurance exchange, you will be redirected to the website for your state.

    The deadline for open enrollment is Jan. 15. After that date, you would only be able to sign up if you qualified for a special enrollment period — perhaps you moved, or experienced a life change such as getting married or divorced, or lost health insurance through your employer.

    There is much more work to do, but we have come far on making health care more affordable in the past few years.

    Even if you didn’t qualify for help before, the subsidies available through the Inflation Reduction Act mean that millions more Americans like you and I will get financial assistance. Take a few minutes to go through your options, and figure out what coverage possibilities you’re eligible for.

    If there is more you want to know about open enrollment and your options, check out my CareTalk show and podcast, where experts answer your health insurance questions and talk through larger issues in our health care system.

    Time is running out to ensure you and your family have access to affordable health care this year. The life you save could be your own. Get covered through healthcare.gov today.

  • COVID-19 Funeral Assistance for you

    COVID-19 Funeral Assistance for you

    Under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, FEMA is providing financial assistance for COVID-19 related funeral expenses incurred on or after January 20, 2020.

    Find Funeral Assistance information in your language:

    中文 | Español | Kreyòl Ayisyen | 한국어 | Tiếng Việt |Français | عربي | हिन्दी | Português | Pусский | Tagalog | Bengali

    COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Helpline
    844-684-6333

    Hours of Operation:
    Monday – Friday
    9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time

    Call this dedicated, toll-free phone number to complete your COVID-19 Funeral Assistance application with a FEMA representative. Multilingual services are available.

    If you use a relay service, such as your videophone, Innocaption or CapTel, please provide the specific number assigned to you for service. It is important that FEMA is able to contact you, and you should be aware phone calls from FEMA may come from an unidentified number.

    Get answers to frequently asked questions about the application process on our Funeral Assistance FAQ page.

    Funeral Assistance Policy

    On June 29, 2021, we amended the COVID-19 Funeral Assistance policy to assist with COVID-19 related deaths that occurred in the early months of the pandemic.Policy change FAQ

    Required Documents

    • Official death certificate that shows the death occurred in the United States, including the U.S. territories and District of Columbia.
    • If the death certificate was issued between Jan. 20 and May 16, 2020, it must either 1) attribute the death directly or indirectly to COVID-19 or 2) be accompanied by a signed statement from the original certifier of the death certificate or the local medical examiner or coroner from the jurisdiction in which the death occurred listing COVID-19 as a cause or contributing cause of death. This signed statement must provide an additional explanation, or causal pathway, linking the cause of death listed on the death certificate to COVID-19.
    • If the death certificate occurred on or after May 17, 2020, the death certificate must attribute the death directly or indirectly to COVID-19.

    If you are eligible for funeral assistance you will receive funds by direct deposit or a check by mail, depending on which option you chose when you applied for assistance.

    Additional Resources

    VIDEO: Providing Financial Assistance for COVID-19 Related Funeral Expenses (ASL Video)

    VIDEO: Providing Financial Assistance for COVID-19-Related Funeral Expenses

    COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Individuals and Households Program Policy (Interim) (Version 2)

    Funeral Assistance FAQ

    FEMA to Help Pay Funeral Costs for COVID-19-Related Deaths Press Release |

    COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Flyer

    (Last updated January 25, 2022)

  • Analysis: Child tax credit provides needed stability amid pandemic recovery

    Analysis: Child tax credit provides needed stability amid pandemic recovery

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN and Ohio Capital Journal

    An analysis by an Ohio-based think tank says the expanded child tax credit has given life to families who were already struggling before the pandemic began, but sank further amid job losses and increased child care needs.

    The child tax credit was expanded temporarily in March as part of the federal American Rescue Plan, raising the per-child credit from $2,000 per child in 2020 to $3,600 for each child younger than six, and from $2,000 to $3,000 per child for children age six to 16.

    There is also a $3,000 credit for households with 17-year-old children.

    Monthly payments started going out in July, but the credit is only effective for 2021, with a deadline of Nov. 15 for families to sign up for the tax credit.

    So far, $1.6 billion has been given to more than 2.1 million Ohio children since July 15, federal data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury shows, averaging $437 per month per family.

    The think tank said this expansion brought minority communities and children in rural communities funding they needed and didn’t have even before the pandemic.

    “Years of policy choices have held down wages and limited opportunities for many Black and brown and rural families, draining resources from their communities,” the Policy Matters analysis stated.

    As the pandemic continued, the analysis estimated 1.15 million adults with children reported struggling to pay for basic household expenses before the child tax credit, and after the tax credit, that number decreased by 26%.

    Citing data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Policy Matters said an estimated 84% of households who make less than $35,000 per year used the refundable child tax credit to pay for “basic needs, including food, clothing, rent, mortgage, phone and internet, to support their family.”

    The CBPP said 60% of those making more than $35,000 per year would also be using the credit for the same basic needs.

    Financial recovery from the pandemic is still going on, as is the COVID-19 pandemic, so having the temporary boost has allowed more financial security and stability.

    A report on child poverty by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said child poverty costs America an estimated $800 billion and $1.1 trillion in “lost adult productivity, the increased costs of crime and increased health expenditures.”

    Because of the increased financial stability and food security with the expanded child tax credit, among other reasons, Policy Matters recommended that Congress make the expansion permanent.

    “When we as a society prioritize the health and well-being of kids and families, we all benefit,” the thinktank stated.