Preview of 2018 ACA plans is LIVE

[Texas Proud]

https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines
Looks like the FPL for family of 4 is 24600, so 200% would be 49200.

Thanks... I had put in $55K to see what happened and it was much higher cost.... I will make sure I am below... probably in the $40K range like this year...

 

[UtahSkier]

Reporting in... My bronze HSA plan went up, but not as much as expected. The subsidy more than doubled. One bronze plan is being offered for $1.22 a month for DW and I.

This doesn't seem right, so now I have to figure out what is going on between the silver and bronze plans.

It looks like my subsidy exceeds the cost of the bronze plan(cost = 1,033.66) by $300. But they will still charge me $22.00 per month.

So, this means I can get a better plan(cost = 1,399.69) with 1/2 the family deductible for $56 per month.

Comparing 2018 to 2017, I will spend $300 per month less and get a Bronze HSA plan with 1/2 the deductible.

I wonder if the insurance companies are gaming the prices of the silver plans to force the government to spend more on the plan subsidies?

 

[Sue J]

Reporting in... My bronze HSA plan went up, but not as much as expected. The subsidy more than doubled. One bronze plan is being offered for $1.22 a month for DW and I.

This doesn't seem right, so now I have to figure out what is going on between the silver and bronze plans.

It looks like my subsidy exceeds the cost of the bronze plan(cost = 1,033.66) by $300. But they will still charge me $22.00 per month.

So, this means I can get a better plan(cost = 1,399.69) with 1/2 the family deductible for $56 per month.

Comparing 2018 to 2017, I will spend $300 per month less and get a Bronze HSA plan with 1/2 the deductible.

I wonder if the insurance companies are gaming the prices of the silver plans to force the government to spend more on the plan subsidies?

When I reduce our estimated income due to an HSA contribution, I see the same thing. The subsidy is more than the cost of the plan, yet there is a small charge, in my case it's $7.85. I'm wondering if it's a minimum admin fee or something like that.

Curious....

 

[RunningBum]

When I reduce our estimated income due to an HSA contribution, I see the same thing. The subsidy is more than the cost of the plan, yet there is a small charge, in my case it's $7.85. I'm wondering if it's a minimum admin fee or something like that.

Curious....

$0.91 seems to be as low as I can get by lowering income while keeping everything else accurate for me. I get the subsidy more than the plan cost, and other plans drop in price including a couple to under $1, but none lower than 91 cents.

 

[MBSC]

The subsidy is more than the cost of the plan, yet there is a small charge, in my case it's $7.85. I'm wondering if it's a minimum admin fee or something like that.

The SLCSP in eastern South Carolina for a 62 yr old is $1154. Our state directed the insurer to apply the additional CSR costs only to on-exchange Silver plans. Off-exchange Silver plans are 18%-20% cheaper.

Premium subsidies cannot be applied toward the cost of non-mandated (value added) benefits such as "free" gym memberships or vision discounts.

The premium tax credit cannot be applied to the portion of a person’s premium that is for non-essential health benefits. For example, a plan may offer a dental or vision benefit that is not considered to be “essential” by the state or federal definition. In that case, the person would have to pay for a small portion of the premium without financial assistance. Similarly, if the person smokes cigarettes and is charged a higher premium for smoking, the premium tax credit is not applied to the portion of the premium that is the tobacco surcharge.

Reference: https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/explaining-health-care-reform-questions-about-health/

 

[wrl11]

My maryland bluecross bronze 6550 ppo is going up from $1600 month to $2700 month for family of 5 (too much investment income for subsidies). Crazy. We are going to have to switch to the BCBS HMO bronze (will be $1700 month now).

The maryland site says 90% of people who apply are eligible for subsidies, so under the obamacare act we are paying for probably 10-20 maryland families healthcare costs. [mod edit]

 

[HGTVfan]

Wow, not good news for me here in Florida. Even with a big subsidy, my BlueOptions plan is jumping from $424 to $957 and it looks like none of the BCBS plans include my specialist. Sad because I’ve really been happy with BCBS.

Ambetter and Molina are the other two options. Ambetter includes my specialist and I’ll check my other doctors and local hospitals. I need to really examine their plans.

SLCSP for 63-year-old woman in my area, $1037.

 

[MichaelB]

Wow, not good news for me here in Florida. Even with a big subsidy, my BlueOptions plan is jumping from $424 to $957 and it looks like none of the BCBS plans include my specialist. Sad because I’ve really been happy with BCBS.

Ambetter and Molina are the other two options. Ambetter includes my specialist and I’ll check my other doctors and local hospitals. I need to really examine their plans.

SLCSP for 63-year-old woman in my area, $1037.

Your specialist is in the BCBS BlueOptions network for 2017 but not in network for 2018? I have that same network and have not been advised of any changes. Something else to look into.

 

[easysurfer]

Previewing, looks like I'll be okay with the choice of one plan. PCP in-network, HSA eligible, lower premium, lower deductible, but higher co-insurance. Max out of pocket is similar to 2017 plan high deductible before coverage kicked in at 100%.

Overall, pretty much a wash.

 

[ivinsfan]

Wow, not good news for me here in Florida. Even with a big subsidy, my BlueOptions plan is jumping from $424 to $957 and it looks like none of the BCBS plans include my specialist. Sad because I’ve really been happy with BCBS.

Ambetter and Molina are the other two options. Ambetter includes my specialist and I’ll check my other doctors and local hospitals. I need to really examine their plans.

SLCSP for 63-year-old woman in my area, $1037.

Well this is good example of the cost share benefit of silver driving up the out of pocket price..

 

[USGrant1962]

My maryland bluecross bronze 6550 ppo is going up from $1600 month to $2700 month for family of 5 (too much investment income for subsidies). Crazy. We are going to have to switch to the BCBS HMO bronze (will be $1700 month now).

The maryland site says 90% of people who apply are eligible for subsidies, so under the obamacare act we are paying for probably 10-20 maryland families healthcare costs. [mod edit]

Hmm, in MD too and I'm seeing $3018/mo for unsubsidized BluePreferred PPO HSA Bronze 6550 for only 4 people. The difference must be the age adjustments and maybe the county.

Seriously, someone making $100K (just over the 4-person 400% FPL) is expected to pay a $36K premium and a $13K deductible? Since when is 49% of your gross income for health insurance/health care affordable?

Hey, it could be worse - the unsubsidized Silver PPO with vision is $3969/mo and $14700 out of pocket. That's only $62K!

If I go ACA I'm going to have to turn down some consulting work next year, and take withdrawals from my portfolio this year, so I can get 2018 subsidies. We've already checked and some of our docs don't take the HMO, and best we can tell no docs take Kaiser Permanente.

OK, done ranting.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

This is just crazy. Our subsidy (we're in our early 60s, MAGI in the low $40s) apparently will nearly double to over $2000 a month. A gold plan with a $3K family deductible ($6K max OOP) with our current HMO will cost $90 a month after subsidy. Silver plans are in the $350-$450/mo range. The bronze plan with HSA and $13K OOP would be free of charge and would probably net us a tasty income tax refund.

These are interesting times.

 

[Texas Proud]

This is just crazy. Our subsidy (we're in our early 60s, MAGI in the low $40s) apparently will nearly double to over $2000 a month. A gold plan with a $3K family deductible ($6K max OOP) with our current HMO will cost $90 a month after subsidy. Silver plans are in the $350-$450/mo range. The bronze plan with HSA and $13K OOP would be free of charge and would probably net us a tasty income tax refund.

These are interesting times.

Are you saying that the credit is refundable? I have never read this....

 

[Sue J]

The subsidy credit is not a refundable tax credit but maybe he's talking about the tax refund for reduced income from the HSA contribution.

 

[ivinsfan]

That lower tax bill could be completely negated by the 13k OOP ....

 

[RockyMtn]

Not much changes next year for me, still only one provider (BCBS-AZ) with 4 plans to choose from. Premium for the same Bronze HSA plan I currently have went up about 1%, looks like the subsidy went up the same amount.

Looks like the same for GF here in Az. One provider (Ambetter) with five plans to choose from. Same Silver plan as last year shows premium up small amount, tax credit and cost sharing up slightly as well. Net/Net small increase from last year.

Now to make sure all of her Dr's are still in network.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

That lower tax bill could be completely negated by the 13k OOP ....

We've had the Bronze 13K OOP plan for the last three years ... This year the premium has been $106/month after subsidy. We're reasonably healthy and liked having the HSA option, so the high-deductible plan gave us the catastrophic coverage (and negotiated rates we've had to pay) that we were looking for.

I was not aware that the subsidy tax credit was non-refundable. All the more reason to go for the gold this year ...

 

[kevdude]

Not a big surprise here, Washington's marketplace (Washington Healthplan Finder) will not have any pricing available until Open Enrollment begins. At which point I'm pretty confident the site will be down for a number of days, as has happened in the past. It's a good thing this state is not known for having talented software programmers...

 

[RockyMtn]

Looks like the same for GF here in Az. One provider (Ambetter) with five plans to choose from. Same Silver plan as last year shows premium up small amount, tax credit and cost sharing up slightly as well. Net/Net small increase from last year.

Now to make sure all of her Dr's are still in network.

The flip side is that my retiree health benefits from former employer are increasing 25%! Five more years till medicare.

 

[BrianB]

We're in MN and just got our renewal info. MN has a state exchange and did expand Medicaid. DW & I are MFJ, early retired, and have no other dependants. We use Health Partners because their clinic is ony 1/2 mile from our house and the affiliated hospital is less than 5 miles from our house.

For 2017 we had
"$2250 Silver Cost Share Reduction Plan": $2250 deductible each; $11400 family max OOP; monthly premium for both of us (57 / 58 yrs old) = $1416.83

For 2018 we are being offered
"$2200 Silver Cost Share Reduction Plan"; $2200 deductible each; $13200 family max OOP; monthly premium for both of us (58 / 59 yrs old) = $1318.86

So, a slightly lower deductible for each but a slightly higher max OOP, with monthly premium $97.97 LESS each month.

All of these premium numbers are before tax credits.

 

[Texas Proud]

The subsidy credit is not a refundable tax credit but maybe he's talking about the tax refund for reduced income from the HSA contribution.

OK, that makes more sense...

 

[HGTVfan]

Your specialist is in the BCBS BlueOptions network for 2017 but not in network for 2018? I have that same network and have not been advised of any changes. Something else to look into.

I think something might be weird with the BlueOptions and other FloridaBlue networks. Maybe with this early look. I put in the main hospital I would use and my primary care doctor and neither is in network.

 

[jarts98]

We're in VA. Our income is too high for a subsidy.

Our premium is going up 86%. We are losing access to any HSA-compatible plan. We are losing insured access to 3 of the 4 doctors our family currently uses.

 

[MichaelB]

I think something might be weird with the BlueOptions and other FloridaBlue networks. Maybe with this early look. I put in the main hospital I would use and my primary care doctor and neither is in network.

For individual plans there are only 3 options - HMO, restricted network, and expanded network. BlueOptions is the expanded nationwide network. Their tool to see if a provider is in network is not the friendliest. It might be worth a phone call.

 

[RunningBum]

My maryland bluecross bronze 6550 ppo is going up from $1600 month to $2700 month for family of 5 (too much investment income for subsidies). Crazy. We are going to have to switch to the BCBS HMO bronze (will be $1700 month now).

The maryland site says 90% of people who apply are eligible for subsidies, so under the obamacare act we are paying for probably 10-20 maryland families healthcare costs. [mod edit]

I understand your frustration and that's a crazy premium, but that last paragraph is not at all accurate. The full amount goes to the insurance company, whether it comes from the insured or insured+govt subsidy. Whether that rate is fair is another question, but you aren't paying the insurance company extra so that someone else can pay them less. The subsidy comes from the government. I'm not sure exactly how that is funded, but it's not from money you are paying directly to the insurance company.

I find it hard to believe that the cliff is getting higher yet remains in place. I guess not enough people have gone over the cliff to be a significant force to demand change.