COVID-19

Considering the Governor’s decision to remove the mandate for masks because there are fewer deaths, and his decree that schools must open on the 19th,

I will not make a decision, up or down, on removing the mandate in Nashua until we see the number of infections declining over, at least, the next 3 weeks.

Read more about Covid in NH here:

https://www.covid19.nh.gov/dashboard/overview

An Emergency Public Health Order is now in effect in Nashua, requiring the general public to wear face coverings in situations where they cannot maintain social distancing (six feet of distance between themselves and others). First approved by the city’s Board of Health and passed on Thursday, May 21, by the Board of Aldermen, the order is expected to reduce asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of COVID-19 within our community. It is effective immediately and until further notice.

— If your family’s lost coverage was through your employer, but your spouse is still working, you may be eligible for a special enrollment window via your spouse’s employer’s health insurance. But be prepared to act quickly because special enrollment windows typically close 29-60 days after the qualifying event (in this case, your termination). Alternately, if you are single under age 26, your parents may also be able to add you back onto their employer coverage.

— If that is unavailable to you or seems unaffordable, another option is to enroll for coverage in the Healthcare Marketplace at healthcare.gov. As a person who’s lost their job for any reason, you’re eligible for the special enrollment window within 60 days of your last day at work. Subsidies are available depending on the projected level of your annual family income. The lower your projected annual income, the higher your subsidy. You should definitely consider this option if you still have a family income coming in a working family member that’s high enough to disqualify you from Medicaid coverage—but low enough to make paying monthly premium costs unaffordable.

Tools on the healthcare.gov website make it easy to project your premium costs. Should you get rehired or find another job offering employer coverage, the good news is you can cancel your Marketplace coverage at any time.

— If your coverage was through your employer and you have no family income coming in at all or the amount is low enough to meet program guidelines, you may be eligible for Medicaid. If you were a lower-income wage earner to begin with, this is something you should definitely take advantage of as soon as possible. To apply online, start here: https://nheasy.nh.gov/

— IMPORTANT: Depending on your income, you may also be eligible for Medicaid if you have been uninsured or ineligible for employer coverage all along. To find out, start here: https://nheasy.nh.gov/