ACA Rate Increases For 2020

[scrabbler1]

I started a similar thread on this topic last June. I just received a letter from my HI company telling me what they are filing for 2020. Unlike last year, they are filing "only" a 10% increase this time. Then again, with the starting point so much higher than last year, even a 10% increase amounts to a $65 monthly increase for my Silver plan (1 person).

I did not qualify for an Advanced Premium Subsidy this year because I went over the cliff in 2017 (and 2018). If I go over the cliff again this year, I will bite the bullet and greatly alter my stock fund holdings so it won't happen in 2020 (and pay a bundle in cap gains taxes). The value of the subsidy has been growing quickly in the last few years, so not getting it is more critical than before.

Have any of you received preliminary letters regarding 2020 rate changes?

 

[kimcdougc]

No letters received here. We don't usually receive notice until about 1 month before we can choose our next years plan.

It doesn't seem sustainable for the ACA to keep going up 10% or more. Our health care is more than 1/2 of our budget but....to keep working or be retired? We chose retired.

Looks like you are thinking long term if you decide you will have to sell some stock to get the subsidy. We do the same every year. Make sure all the numbers are just right to not have to pay anymore in taxes. It is a game for sure.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[gayl]

I'll get it in October to take effect January. Thinking of trading in my full coverage HMO for the lower coverage one saving $100 a month. Same visit / med cost .... inpatient goes from $100 to a $500 out of pocket per year.

 

[scrabbler1]

No letters received here. We don't usually receive notice until about 1 month before we can choose our next years plan.

It doesn't seem sustainable for the ACA to keep going up 10% or more. Our health care is more than 1/2 of our budget but....to keep working or be retired? We chose retired.

Looks like you are thinking long term if you decide you will have to sell some stock to get the subsidy. We do the same every year. Make sure all the numbers are just right to not have to pay anymore in taxes. It is a game for sure.

Good luck with your decision.

Thanks. I am willing to pay some more in taxes for one year if it will assure me of getting the subsidy every year for the next 9 years (Medicare age). How much more in taxes versus how much I assure myself in subsidies is the balancing act. I considered doing this late last year but I would have lost a lot of money in the sale when the market tanked, so that option seemed worse than forging the subsidy.

Once the cap gain distribution estimates come out in early November, I'll have a better idea as to what to do by the end of the year.

 

[Dtail]

No notices from BCBS until later in the year. 5 more years hopefully on the ACA.

 

[John Galt III]

I just wish I still had the chance to enroll in ACA again in 2020. I'm turning 65 and am forced into Medicare. Way more expensive than ACA, for me. How ironic, no?

 

[Dtail]

I just wish I still had the chance to enroll in ACA again in 2020. I'm turning 65 and am forced into Medicare. Way more expensive than ACA, for me. How ironic, no?

I think a bunch of us in FLA who manage MAGI will unfortunately see the same result.
However at least you don't have to deal with the short term uncertainty.

 

[cbo111]

I continue to be astonished at what you all pay for healthcare. After a 20+yr military career, I pay about $500 a year for Tricare Prime. I feel truly fortunate for this. I never thought this benefit would be so valuable back when I was a butter bar.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Half of your income for HI is horrible! Not on ACA but my retiree HI plus copays is a fourth of our gross income.

 

[foxfirev5]

Thanks for the reminder. Will this be the year that retiree medical is cut ? I see It everyday. Walgreens recently pulled the plug and left the last legacy retirees out to dry. Only two more years to sweat it out. Meanwhile manage to MAGI in case we go ACA. It might be cheaper anyway.

Can someone explain to me again why we're the only society in the developed world with this crap? ��

 

[cbo111]

Thanks for the reminder. Will this be the year that retiree medical is cut ? I see It everyday. Walgreens recently pulled the plug and left the last legacy retirees out to dry. Only two more years to sweat it out. Meanwhile manage to MAGI in case we go ACA. It might be cheaper anyway.

Can someone explain to me again why we're the only society in the developed world with this crap? ��

Simple explanation: Healthcare for profit, and greed. Solution, not so simple.

 

[michelek]

BCBS plan is $1557 /mo for us. Was $121.47 when we had the subsidy but then sold a BIG house and Poof! Now we pay plus have to make up the prior received subsidies of about $8000. Ouch. Plus a $12,000 deductible on top of the premiums. It’s so unfair.

 

[Livefree]

We usually get the notice around October. Next year will be different, as I will be 65 in February and will be on Medicare. My wife is 3 years younger, and will stay on the ACA.


I really don't know what our combined payments will be then. We try to keep our MAGI below 41k for a silver plan, but I believe they will take the full household income and apply to her earnings, and the subsidy will be gone, or greatly diminished. If this is the case, does anyone know what the cut-off is for a single person?

 

[pb4uski]

No letter, but my provider requested a 14% premium increase for my plan. I'm guessing that the regulator will knock it back to 10% or less.

 

[frank]

still wonder where the name affordable health care act came from.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Simple explanation: Healthcare for profit, and greed. Solution, not so simple.

There is also culture of corruption built into the system, based on changes in billing and coding in 1997. Doctors can bill more based on just asking a few irrelevant questions. Only lately they are not even bothering to ask the questions.

Upcoding and churning is rampant and handsomely rewarded.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Simple explanation: Healthcare for profit, and greed. Solution, not so simple.

Well there is a simple solution as the rest of the world is doing it. But just like investing and Saving.
The Solution is simple, but not easy.

 

[VanWinkle]

No increase letter at this time. I am turning 65 this year and will come off the ACA Nov 1 and onto Medicare with a supplement. I will pay more for the Medicare and supplement than I did on the ACA. That is not a knock on Medicare but a compliment to the ACA. My zero premiums were not due to the great plan, but were possible due to my ability to control income. Did I take advantage of a tax law, Yes I did.

VW

 

[jim584672]

Medicare will be a lot more expensive for me when/if I get to 65 as well.

 

[Dtail]

We usually get the notice around October. Next year will be different, as I will be 65 in February and will be on Medicare. My wife is 3 years younger, and will stay on the ACA.


I really don't know what our combined payments will be then. We try to keep our MAGI below 41k for a silver plan, but I believe they will take the full household income and apply to her earnings, and the subsidy will be gone, or greatly diminished. If this is the case, does anyone know what the cut-off is for a single person?

I believe that 400% FPL is 49,960 for a single person.
Unfortunately, they do take the full household income and apply it to the one using ACA.

 

[ivinsfan]

I believe that 400% FPL is 49,960 for a single person.
Unfortunately, they do take the full household income and apply it to the one using ACA.

Kind of accurate but you get a bigger subsidy because they use a household of 2 people with one needing insurance. Not a household of one with one using insurance.

 

[karen1972]

We didn't get one yet, last year we got one early because BCBS had kicked out two major providers and limited to just one medical group and 1 hospital in the area thus lowering the costs and also the level of care. To keep my doctor, a new provider was brought in with premiums $3k/pp higher than BCBS. we were not willing to pay out $6k extra just in premiums.. at least not yet when we don't have any critical illnesses.

I couldnt' find the table, but there is one floating out there that publishes all the avg silver rate plans across the country, it makes me really re-think if we picked the right state and often I can't figure out why there is such a difference. For example Iowas is half the price of Minnesotas.. I had assumed they would be similar. Indiana somehow hasn't really increased rates these last 4 years yet NC has almost doubled.

When you see that some states managed to keep their rates flat, some skyrocketed, some actually fell.. you really have to start wondering what is going on.. similar insurance companies, assume same broad based health issues across the population, same laws.. so how can they be that different?

 

[ivinsfan]

We didn't get one yet, last year we got one early because BCBS had kicked out two major providers and limited to just one medical group and 1 hospital in the area thus lowering the costs and also the level of care. To keep my doctor, a new provider was brought in with premiums $3k/pp higher than BCBS. we were not willing to pay out $6k extra just in premiums.. at least not yet when we don't have any critical illnesses.

I couldnt' find the table, but there is one floating out there that publishes all the avg silver rate plans across the country, it makes me really re-think if we picked the right state and often I can't figure out why there is such a difference. For example Iowas is half the price of Minnesotas.. I had assumed they would be similar. Indiana somehow hasn't really increased rates these last 4 years yet NC has almost doubled.

When you see that some states managed to keep their rates flat, some skyrocketed, some actually fell.. you really have to start wondering what is going on.. similar insurance companies, assume same broad based health issues across the population, same laws.. so how can they be that different?

MN is pricey it didn't used to be as much before ACA kicked but premiums skyrocketed for the first 3 years .And for some reason Iowa has provider issues with providers joining and dropping out all the time. So they have limited options in Iowa.

 

[ivinsfan]

We didn't get one yet, last year we got one early because BCBS had kicked out two major providers and limited to just one medical group and 1 hospital in the area thus lowering the costs and also the level of care. To keep my doctor, a new provider was brought in with premiums $3k/pp higher than BCBS. we were not willing to pay out $6k extra just in premiums.. at least not yet when we don't have any critical illnesses.

I couldnt' find the table, but there is one floating out there that publishes all the avg silver rate plans across the country, it makes me really re-think if we picked the right state and often I can't figure out why there is such a difference. For example Iowas is half the price of Minnesotas.. I had assumed they would be similar. Indiana somehow hasn't really increased rates these last 4 years yet NC has almost doubled.

When you see that some states managed to keep their rates flat, some skyrocketed, some actually fell.. you really have to start wondering what is going on.. similar insurance companies, assume same broad based health issues across the population, same laws.. so how can they be that different?

I think you are generally going to find it's an PPO issue, The states that continue to offer good PPO's are going to have higher rates. In our area NO more PPO offerings for ACA...we had one Medica for 2018 but not for 2019.

 

[Dtail]

Kind of accurate but you get a bigger subsidy because they use a household of 2 people with one needing insurance. Not a household of one with one using insurance.

True good point, but not to the point of making them "whole" again.