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Obamacare premiums are going up for 2015. But your Obamacare premium doesn't have to.
Multiple experts have sliced and diced the Obamacare health insurance offerings for 2015, and most, if not all, have found that premiums are rising, on average. They used different criteria for measuring premium changes.
Consumers in the most popular 2014 plan -- the cheapest silver tier plan -- will pay an average of 10% more for the same policy next year, according to Avelere Health, an advisory firm. Related: The Obamacare penalty for being uninsured is set for a steep rise
Looking at premiums for all tier levels by state, the average increase is 5.2%, found Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a consulting group.
Since the exchanges didn't exist before this year, insurers had a tough time pricing their policies for 2014, said Dan Mendelson, Avelere's CEO. Now that they have a better idea of the popularity of their offerings and the health status of their newly enrolled, they can set a more precise premium for 2015.
But all this doesn't mean that consumers will pay more for coverage through the exchanges next year.
Many more insurers are offering plans for 2015 so most consumers will have a wider selection in terms of premiums, deductibles, doctor networks and coverage options, experts said. That's why it's crucial that people browse through all the Obamacare plans available. Related: The Obamacare tax at center of Gruber firestorm
That applies especially to those currently in Obamacare plans. If they do nothing before December 15, they'll be automatically re-enrolled and may find themselves paying a lot more for coverage, even if cheaper policies were available.
Even if their policy's premium doesn't increase, however, they could still wind up with sticker shock for 2015 if they received a subsidy. That's because their subsidy is based on the price of a benchmark, which is the second-cheapest silver plan being offered in their area that year.
The benchmark plan will rise 2% on average, concluded the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit health policy research firm, which examined costs in every county.
That said, if the benchmark plan in someone's area carries a lower premium for 2015, the subsidy levels are recalculated. So consumers who don't check out next year's offerings may find their subsidy for 2015 covers a smaller share of their premium, whatever plan they pick.
"Shopping around is an imperative this year," Mendelson said. "In many cases, they'll be able to find a lower-cost option.
Obamacare premiums are going up for 2015. But your Obamacare premium doesn't have to.
Multiple experts have sliced and diced the Obamacare health insurance offerings for 2015, and most, if not all, have found that premiums are rising, on average. They used different criteria for measuring premium changes.
Consumers in the most popular 2014 plan -- the cheapest silver tier plan -- will pay an average of 10% more for the same policy next year, according to Avelere Health, an advisory firm. Related: The Obamacare penalty for being uninsured is set for a steep rise
Looking at premiums for all tier levels by state, the average increase is 5.2%, found Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a consulting group.
Since the exchanges didn't exist before this year, insurers had a tough time pricing their policies for 2014, said Dan Mendelson, Avelere's CEO. Now that they have a better idea of the popularity of their offerings and the health status of their newly enrolled, they can set a more precise premium for 2015.
But all this doesn't mean that consumers will pay more for coverage through the exchanges next year.
Many more insurers are offering plans for 2015 so most consumers will have a wider selection in terms of premiums, deductibles, doctor networks and coverage options, experts said. That's why it's crucial that people browse through all the Obamacare plans available. Related: The Obamacare tax at center of Gruber firestorm
That applies especially to those currently in Obamacare plans. If they do nothing before December 15, they'll be automatically re-enrolled and may find themselves paying a lot more for coverage, even if cheaper policies were available.
Even if their policy's premium doesn't increase, however, they could still wind up with sticker shock for 2015 if they received a subsidy. That's because their subsidy is based on the price of a benchmark, which is the second-cheapest silver plan being offered in their area that year.
The benchmark plan will rise 2% on average, concluded the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit health policy research firm, which examined costs in every county.
That said, if the benchmark plan in someone's area carries a lower premium for 2015, the subsidy levels are recalculated. So consumers who don't check out next year's offerings may find their subsidy for 2015 covers a smaller share of their premium, whatever plan they pick.
"Shopping around is an imperative this year," Mendelson said. "In many cases, they'll be able to find a lower-cost option.
Like I said, Obamacare is a big mess made so by the insistence that the country's health care system is run by hundreds, if not thousands of insurance companies for their own profit. The unnecessary complexity of the system rivals the complexity of putting a man on the moon.
The United States really dropped the ball on this one...or rather the ball was STOLEN from the American people who remain saddled with a rotten system that few people can even understand. But the propfits are IMMENSE for the unnecessary insurance companies.
yelp has reviews of different plans (remember to search not just by company name but NYC as policies are area-specific). We went through an absolute nightmare with emblem, they wrongly cancelled our plan while I was pregnant and we were outside the enrollment window. So I would not recommend HIP or emblem. I've heard less-bad (but still not good) things about BC BS.
Not every doctor is in every plan. I would suggest seeing which plans your doctor is in, or if you don't have a doctor find one and then see what plan he/she is in. Doctors have reviews on websites so you can evaluate them somewhat even if you haven't seen them. To me, the doctor is the most important part of the insurance.
Color me not impressed. I went onto NY state of health and found I would be paying $308/mo for a bronze plan for a 33 year old male. Thats highway robbery, and a 2% fine at the end of the year is highway robbery too.
Can I just sign up for Medicare for $104 a month? I already pay for it anyways...
Color me not impressed. I went onto NY state of health and found I would be paying $308/mo for a bronze plan for a 33 year old male. Thats highway robbery, and a 2% fine at the end of the year is highway robbery too.
Can I just sign up for Medicare for $104 a month? I already pay for it anyways...
The real highway robbery is that even though you're paying $308 a month, you will still have to pay every time you go to the doctor (and no, not just a small co-pay, you actually have to pay for the appointment) until you reach the rather high deductible on the bronze plan. I think it's around $6000 a year?
Still, I would never advise anyone to go without insurance. If you do get sick or injured, you could be completely bankrupted. It's not worth taking the chance. Also, the amount you pay with your insurance (even though you feel like you are paying the whole bill til you reach the annual deductible) is significantly less than what you'd pay without the insurance. Running it through insurance -- even though the cost gets passed on to you -- means that you get the insurance company negotiated rates, which are much, much lower than what the doctor will say the appointment was worth. Like sometimes 5 times cheaper. The whole thing is insane.
Also, btw, these plans are really not any worse than what was on the open market before ObamaCare. In fact, they may actually be more affordable.
The real highway robbery is that even though you're paying $308 a month, you
will still have to pay every time you go to the doctor (and no, not just a small
co-pay, you actually have to pay for the appointment) until you reach the rather
high deductible on the bronze plan. I think it's around $6000 a year?
So that's $805 per month.
Basically, it is an overpriced catastrophic health plan.
The net effect is that you will NOT see a doctor until an ambulance carries you into a hospital when you will pay them $6000 as you enter the door and THEN they will begin tallyiing your co-pays.
Your best scenario is that you will not need a doctor in 2015 and then you will pay only $3700 for the privilege of staying home.
Virtually EVERY touting of Obamacare seems blissfully to ignore these pricey deductibles.
"Oh goody, I'm only paying $400 a month...for NOTHING."
The government handed the insurance industry BILLIONS on a silver platter and called it "U.S.Health Care."
The real highway robbery is that even though you're paying $308 a month, you will still have to pay every time you go to the doctor (and no, not just a small co-pay, you actually have to pay for the appointment) until you reach the rather high deductible on the bronze plan. I think it's around $6000 a year?
Still, I would never advise anyone to go without insurance. If you do get sick or injured, you could be completely bankrupted. It's not worth taking the chance. Also, the amount you pay with your insurance (even though you feel like you are paying the whole bill til you reach the annual deductible) is significantly less than what you'd pay without the insurance. Running it through insurance -- even though the cost gets passed on to you -- means that you get the insurance company negotiated rates, which are much, much lower than what the doctor will say the appointment was worth. Like sometimes 5 times cheaper. The whole thing is insane.
Also, btw, these plans are really not any worse than what was on the open market before ObamaCare. In fact, they may actually be more affordable.
What kind of plan did you have before OBamacare?
I haven't signed up for anything yet but my last coverage was employee sponsored that ran me ~$100/mo that came out of my check pretax. Very fair price for somebody who basically never used it IMO.
I was all good and ready to hold my nose and sign up for one of those catastrophic plans for ~$150/mo just to stay in compliance, until I came to the angry realization that only people under 30 qualified. (What, only 20-something's have catastrophes?)
Maybe I'm a little out of touch here but I'm not too impressed at all with what has happened to the price of individual plans since I was last paying for one back in 2011. I remember a great plan on par with a "silver" or "gold" plan was LESS than $200/mo for a young healthy guy paying for a plan with Kaiser or BlueCross of Oregon.
Now $308 a month for lousy coverage is what we consider "affordable" in this county? I'm giving a big fat F- to the affordable healthcare act at this point. Like I said gimme the Medicare! I trust the government before I trust greedy for-profit private insurance companies.
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