HBCBSNJ's letter about ACA 2019 is wrong

[broadway]

This week I received a letter from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ informing me about Open Enrollment for 2019.

It states that the estimated monthly payment for 2019 will be $X which is 11.3% less than 2018.

Yet, when I went on healthcare.gov to enroll and choose a plan, I am getting less premium subsidy for the same income that I estimated when enrolling for 2018.

Has anyone experienced this?

It makes no sense.

[orchid55]

Your subsidy is probably smaller because the benchmark second cheapest silver plan is cheaper than last year. The subsidy is based on that silver plan. If that plan is cheaper but your income is the same, then your subsidy will be lower.

[broadway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by orchid55 Your subsidy is probably smaller because the benchmark second cheapest silver plan is cheaper than last year. The subsidy is based on that silver plan. If that plan is cheaper but your income is the same, then your subsidy will be lower.

I went back in to preview the premiums using my age and county of residence.
The only way I get anything close to the numbers in the letter is if my recollection of what I estimated to be my annual income is wrong. Very likely!

As it turns out, my AGI will be about $10K less than last year, so I am going to to go in and change my application.

[SecondCor521]

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadway I went back in to preview the premiums using my age and county of residence. The only way I get anything close to the numbers in the letter is if my recollection of what I estimated to be my annual income is wrong. Very likely! As it turns out, my AGI will be about $10K less than last year, so I am going to to go in and change my application.

I think @orchid55's explanation is correct.

Your insurance company is probably assuming the same estimated AGI for 2019 as you estimated for 2018. If that is the case, and your SLCSP is less expensive, you'll receive less of a subsidy.

Generally speaking, lowering your AGI (from what it's currently estimated to be) should increase your subsidy (from what it's currently estimated to be) as long as you have a high enough income to avoid Medicaid.

[sengsational]

Fretting about your estimated earnings isn't worth the effort...it will all be equalized when you do your taxes in just over a year from now. True, you might be giving an interest free loan to the treasury, but at under 2% earnings likely, it's probably peanuts.

[SecondCor521]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational Fretting about your estimated earnings isn't worth the effort...it will all be equalized when you do your taxes in just over a year from now. True, you might be giving an interest free loan to the treasury, but at under 2% earnings likely, it's probably peanuts.

True, unless one is close to the ACA 400% FPL cliff (probably not the case with OP). Or unless one has other cliffs which one thinks are worth paying attention to (as I do). Or unless one wants to carefully manage AGI to optimize a tax plan (as I do).