ACA plans for 2015

Sue J

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I have been periodically checking HealthCare.gov to see if any 2015 plan info is available yet. They say it will be available in early November but so far there's nothing.

I've also been checking at www.healthsherpa.com and http://www.buaweb.com which had early info last year.

Today I found that my current insurer and also another local insurer are showing plan info for 2015. Rates are not shown. Looks like they have expanded their Marketplace offerings compared to 2014. For example, my insurer is showing Silver HSA plans for 2015 when in 2014 they only had Bronze or Gold HSA plans They also have a subsidy estimate calculator but it doesn't specify if it's 2014 or 2015.

The BUA link for health insurers is
BUA - Business Underwriters Associates : Health Insurance Carriers

Last year the BUA website was helpful to many of us so check it out if you used it last year.
 
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Thanks for the link, Sue J.

Open enrollment begins Nov 15, before then we should not expect any info on policies or premiums from the exchanges or agent websites. A few insurers are releasing their info, which is unusual. BCBS Fl announced all their 2015 policies and premiums, UHC Fl followed suit shortly thereafter.
 
Well, I got an email renewal notice this afternoon. The sticker price on my exchange policy is going up 9.2%. Since we had a low income year in 2014 we qualified for a subsidy. The subsidy is based on the second cheapest Silver plan available and I guess there are more and cheaper options this year than there were last year. As such, the subsidy available dropped as well. Net-net the after-subsidy premium about tripled. We will not qualify for a subsidy in 2015 due to much higher income, so I was planning to shop for a new plan anyway. This suggests that lots of people will need to shop (perhaps all), since a lot more policy options look to be available and some of them will be much lower cost than in the first year of the exchange. I hope they are ready for the volume when the sign-up window opens 9 days from now.
 
I'm biding my time until Nov 15th. :)
 
Today is the first day of open enrollment for 2015 at megacorp. Our plan cost is up 16.5%.

There are lower cost plans, but a national network is important to us.
 
Last year my health insurance company (Anthem in Ohio) sent me an offer to continue our old HDHP/HSA plan through November of this year - something about it being the latest they could continue my existing plan within current law. I kept this since all the ACA plans where significantly higher in cost to us.

This year, another letter arrived a few days ago. The key parts is:

As a result of new guidance from the federal government about the ACA, you can keep your current health plan (and network of doctors) for another year.

They have raised the rates to $480 per month (about an 18% increase, sigh), but we're keeping it. We like the coverage and the network.

I just looked at the Value Penguin preview info for Ohio mentioned above and the Bronze plans (closest plans to what we have) start at about $1200 and go up from there.

Basically, we're in the same position we were in last year. Keep the current plan, save about $8600 dollars in premiums this year over the ACA plan and keep our fingers crosses that next years "federal guidance" remains the same...
 
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Looks like window shopping should :( be available soon (as of tonight) at heatlhcare.gov

The federal health insurance exchange will go live Sunday night for window shopping — a couple days later than expected — as government officials worked to refine both their technology and their message to one encouraging people to re-enroll to save money when they start buying plans Nov. 15

Healthcare.gov opens for insurance plan shoppers
 
Well, I got an email renewal notice this afternoon. The sticker price on my exchange policy is going up 9.2%. Since we had a low income year in 2014 we qualified for a subsidy. The subsidy is based on the second cheapest Silver plan available and I guess there are more and cheaper options this year than there were last year. As such, the subsidy available dropped as well. Net-net the after-subsidy premium about tripled. We will not qualify for a subsidy in 2015 due to much higher income, so I was planning to shop for a new plan anyway. This suggests that lots of people will need to shop (perhaps all), since a lot more policy options look to be available and some of them will be much lower cost than in the first year of the exchange. I hope they are ready for the volume when the sign-up window opens 9 days from now.


My grandfathered plan went up 9.7%. Blue shield in CA.

Can I get a clarification on something? Do we always use THIS years income to determine NEXT years subsidy? So our 2014 income will determine whether we qualify for 2015 ?


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My grandfathered plan went up 9.7%. Blue shield in CA.

Can I get a clarification on something? Do we always use THIS years income to determine NEXT years subsidy? So our 2014 income will determine whether we qualify for 2015 ?


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Nope. Subsidy for 2015 is determined by income for 2015.
 
I use my best guesstimate for the year that the insurance will apply. So a year ago I projected what we'd have for 2014. I came pretty close.

DH has a pension with a fixed COLA and a small portion not taxable so I know exactly what his pension taxable income will be. My part time job as a school crossing guard has a fixed schedule based on the school year so I can ballpark the income there. Then I guesstimate interest income on some PenFed CDs and an online savings account.

Last year we had more snow days (no school = no pay) than usual and I had surgery over the summer so I didn't work my summer job (concert venue usher $500-$600) but I did some bank bonus checking account offers ($250+$150+$50) so I'm going to come very close to my guesstimate last year.

I've already done a spreadsheet for 2015 so that I know what to put in for estimated income. The only large variable will be if we go for an HSA plan again. I did that last year and left the income estimate at the same level as not using an HSA. We should be getting back something significant because by the end of the year I will have contributed $7550 to the HSA and that will reduce our income for 2014.
 
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I tried the web site a little before 9 this evening. It works! :)
 
Link to the Browse Plans page -

https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/

For my area there are a lot more options than last year, but some of them don't apply to us, like the child plans. There are filters for some things but not that.

Rates have gone up, of course. I'm checking provider networks and not all of them work.
 
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Link to the Browse Plans page -

https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/

For my area there are a lot more options than last year, but some of them don't apply to us, like the child plans. There are filters for some things but not that.

Rates have gone up, of course. I'm checking provider networks and not all of them work.


I am dropped effective end of this year and carrier "for my convenience" was slotting me in a similar off exchange plan for $370. I'm assuming a $5500 deductible but no info available yet. Same carrier is offering a $6300 HSA deductible for $279. I will go with that one as my doctor is on the plan also. The site did mention catastrophic plans but they must not want you to buy them, as I did not see one, or you will have to poke harder to find them.


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The site did mention catastrophic plans but they must not want you to buy them, as I did not see one, or you will have to poke harder to find them.

Catastrophic plans are only available to those under 30 years old or with a special hardship exemption.
 
Since this is the first time a person could just "look in" on premium costs this is also the first time I have actually looked at the website. A low level bronze is less than $200 difference than a gold plan. This is just my musing but the government's definition of gold is different than mine as the differences all things considered are minimal. My definition of gold is my girlfriend's plan. A $150 yearly max deductible. And I could have it also for just $200 a month. The trouble is I would have to get married to get it!


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Catastrophic plans are only available to those under 30 years old or with a special hardship exemption.


No they are practically wide open now. Exemption number 14 (I believe that is the number) allows anyone who has been dropped from a plan to declare the other plans are unaffordable. The individual determines that, so I am immediately eligible come January. The trouble is the reduction in premium may not mitigate the loss of the HSA tax deduction which helps me save 31% on the dollar in HSA contributions.


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No they are practically wide open now. Exemption number 14 (I believe that is the number) allows anyone who has been dropped from a plan to declare the other plans are unaffordable. The individual determines that, so I am immediately eligible come January. The trouble is the reduction in premium may not mitigate the loss of the HSA tax deduction which helps me save 31% on the dollar in HSA contributions.

I wasn't aware of that exemption, I'll have to look into it further since my current plan is also dropping me at the end of the year.
 
Link to the Browse Plans page -

https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/

For my area there are a lot more options than last year, but some of them don't apply to us, like the child plans. There are filters for some things but not that.

Rates have gone up, of course. I'm checking provider networks and not all of them work.

LOL This site is playing peek-a-boo with me. I answer the questions then click on see the plans. The list flashs for an instant then is gone. Guess I'll try again later on the laptop
 
I was able to see my health plan options on the HealthCare.gov site today. Used the link Sue provided several posts back. I have twice as many plans available this year (87). 41 of the plans are PPO type plans with a national network. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out what plan I will be most likely to select. Last year so many of the links like; summary benefits, plan brochure and provider directory, were broken it took me 3 weeks of digging to gather the information to make a decision.
 
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I too was able to look at the plans available in our area this morning when I logged on.

There are many more options available than there were last year, much to my delight!




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The site did mention catastrophic plans but they must not want you to buy them, as I did not see one, or you will have to poke harder to find them.


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When I looked at it briefly over the weekend, I had to put my age in as 29 to get any catastrophic pricing, since the standard rule is under 30 only. So despite there being tons of exemptions, they set up the website without all of the proper info.

So, to get an estimate, you have to enter your age as 29, see what the approximate ratio is between the catastrophic and bronze plans, then input your real age to see what the same bronze plan is at your real age, and then apply your ratio to get a SWAG on what the catastrophic plan might be roughly. Granted, it's a very big SWAG, but a reasonable guesstimate without any other info.
 
When I looked at it briefly over the weekend, I had to put my age in as 29 to get any catastrophic pricing, since the standard rule is under 30 only. So despite there being tons of exemptions, they set up the website without all of the proper info.

So, to get an estimate, you have to enter your age as 29, see what the approximate ratio is between the catastrophic and bronze plans, then input your real age to see what the same bronze plan is at your real age, and then apply your ratio to get a SWAG on what the catastrophic plan might be roughly. Granted, it's a very big SWAG, but a reasonable guesstimate without any other info.


Well this was crazy, MooreBonds. In my locale I put in age 29, and guess what? The catastrophic plan was higher than the bronze! Trouble was the cat. plan came from a different carrier than lowest bronze plan. There was also only one cat. plan even offered and many bronze plans. It just occurred to me that it is possible that a cat. plan may not even be offered in my age range. I took your idea and went the opposite way too. Seeing what I will pay down the road at 5 year intervals...put it this way, my annual COLA in my pension has almost been claimed every year until 65!


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Info for my region just posted on healthcare.gov.
Good news- Finally a few Exchange PPO plans available for 2015.
Bad news- All but the lowest-priced Bronze are already ABOVE "Cadillac Tax" levels. And it ain't 2018 yet.
OUCH!!!!!
 
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