Need advice for California Health Insurance-self employed (2015, broker)

[TheLonelyGoatherd]

We just moved here from VA. I am trying to get on some kind of short term health insurance.

But also moving forward we are going to need some kind of marketplace plan or at least something that is ACA approved for 2019.

We are self employed, do not qualify for any subsidies nor are we looking for any. We have had our own health insurance for the past 12 years but it's been going up substantially the past 3 years.

I'm noticing that health insurance in CA is very different from VA. There are way more providers here for one. In 2018 in the county I lived in Virginia, for marketplace health insuarance there was ONLY Cigna. That is it! Prior to that in 2017, our county had 3 different providers so we had a little more choice but not much.
Virginia did not have any kind of state insurance so that is completely new to me.

Here are there are like 10 different companies. I kind of understand what Kaiser is but not really. Then I've had several people tell me to NOT use Cal-Care or California Blue because it will be hard to find doctors to take it. Is that true?


So for self employed people, who is your provider? If you don't mind sharing. I'll take any and all info for self employed health insurance because it's much more complicated here than in VA.

thank you!

[saibot]

We are self-employed and have Blue Shield of CA (PPO). Fully compatible with the ACA, never any problem with finding doctors/specialists/facilities (and we have used quite a few), we always get great care, but our plan is expensive. It's currently $1100/mo for our family of 5, plus an $8000 deductible. I don't even know if this plan is available for new subscribers because we've had it for over 10 years, well before Obamacare.

[TheLonelyGoatherd]

thank you. I would have loved to keep my old health plan but in 2014 they sent us a letter they were ending it. That was when we had Anthem. Since then we've had both Aetna and Cigna and at the end of the year we'd get a letter saying they were cancelling that plan and we'd need another. And all of the new plans just were going up and up.
I was wondering how Calfornia will be different than VA. If more options would provide less expensive or better coverage.

I just remembered it is Covered California that people told me to stay away from. Not Cal-care or California Blue unless those are the same thing.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd

thank you. I would have loved to keep my old health plan but in 2014 they sent us a letter they were ending it. That was when we had Anthem. Since then we've had both Aetna and Cigna and at the end of the year we'd get a letter saying they were cancelling that plan and we'd need another. And all of the new plans just were going up and up.
I was wondering how Calfornia will be different than VA. If more options would provide less expensive or better coverage.

I just remembered it is Covered California that people told me to stay away from. Not Cal-care or California Blue unless those are the same thing.

Yes, the premiums do keep going up and up. Last year we were pleasantly surprised to get a letter saying that the rates would NOT go up this year--first time ever. I think when we first got our current plan it was something like $345/mo. Now $1100.

Unfortunately, I don't think you'll get less expensive coverage here. Better coverage or not, I honestly have no idea.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by saibot

We are self-employed and have Blue Shield of CA (PPO).

Same. Look for a broker. H/she wlll run numbers for you. You pay no fee; it's paid to the broker by the insurance company. And yes, individual policies are expensive.

[TheLonelyGoatherd]

I wanted to like the ACA because I know it's done great things. But it hasn't done anything for us at all. We were paying $300 a month for both of us back in 2014. After that we were forced to look at the market since our plan ended. So by 2015 we were paying $1000 a month. I'm sure it will be more in 2019.

Many people are buying these cheap plans but if you read the fine print, they don't cover anything! A friend of mine had Multiplan for $500 a month. She found out after an ER visit that her plan didn't cover ER visits, surgery or any diagnostic care. She had no idea of this. The salesguy who sold it to her told her it was a great plan. Sure.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd

I wanted to like the ACA because I know it's done great things. But it hasn't done anything for us at all. We were paying $300 a month for both of us back in 2014. After that we were forced to look at the market since our plan ended.

You were very lucky. Back in 2014, we were paying well over $800. The ACA, while far from perfect, exposed most of the "cheap" plans for what they were: useless.

Many people are buying these cheap plans but if you read the fine print, they don't cover anything!

Once the current administration succeeds in dismantling the ACA, premium costs will increase even more.

[TheLonelyGoatherd]

We were only able to pay cheap insurance until 2014 because all of the ACA hadn't kicked in yet. We were getting letters through the year that 2014 was the last year for our type of plan and after that all plans had to be ACA compliant by 2015.

We've been self employed since 2007 and we lived in Connecticut part of that time. From 2007-2014 our insurance was right around $300 and it was fantastic coverage. What made it so cheap was that I was able to leave out maternity, therapists and rehab. I could tailor my healthcare for what I needed it for. Then all of that changed in 2015. Now it's super high premiums or super high deductibles. Take your pick. And more and more doctors opting out of taking insurance. This just isn't sustainable. But I don't have hopes for anything this administration is going to do either. I don't know. I'm scared what 2019 will bring. I was hoping having more options for insurance in CA would bring some lower premiums.