The Pennie Podcast Charles Angelo

Maybe you've heard about the American Rescue Plan (Or the COVID-19 Relief Package) passed by congress... Maybe you've seen the stimulus bill in your bank account.  Well, that's not the only way it can affect your bank account.  There are significant changes to the financial assistance available to those enrolling in coverage through Pennie.  Listen to our conversation with Pennie Director of Policy, David Thomsen, as we describes the what, the when, and the how this is going to make a huge impact on reducing the amount of uninsured Pennsylvanians. 

El empleado de Pennie, Juan Valencia, entrevistó a George Fernandez de Latino Connection en español.

Not only were we joined by George Fernandez of Latino Connection for this episode, he also recorded an episode in Spanish with our Pennie Outreach Coordinator, Juan Valencia.  We spoke about the Latino Connection's connection with Pennie, what attracts people (especially Hispanics) to Pennsylvania, why Latinos are considered "hard to reach," and the best place to grab lunch in Harrisburg.  Enjoy! 

How did Pennie come to be?  What was the inspiration and how did Pennie make it through the legislature unanimously?  

We discuss this and much more with Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman.  She also gives the best analogy possible to help understand the Pennsylvania Reinsurance Program at 14:08.

We left some outtakes at the end for fun.  Enjoy! 

In our first Interview podcast, we went straight to the source - our very own Executive Director, Zach Sherman.  He's the first Executive Director for Pennie, and we discussed a number of health insurance marketplace topics and much more.  

0:00 – Introduction

2:06 – Pennie Takeoff

3:30 – Zach’s Experience

6:30 – Why Pennsylvania?

7:15 – The Legislation

9:00 – More People, More Opportunity

10:15 – Covid’s Impact

11:20 – The Pennie Buy-In

12:45 – What’s in a name?

15:50 – The Customer Experience

16:15 – Existing Customers

19:20 – New Customers, Medical Assistance, & CHIP

21:15 – Pennie 101 & Free Help

23:45 – Pennie Landing

How does financial assistance work?  Do you qualify?  How do you even know IF you qualify?  What are the types of financial assistance?

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