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There has been a lot of talk on the agent/insurance company side of things about more limited networks for policies purchased through the exchanges than outside of the exchanges. This seems to confirm the system heading in that direction.

Plans outside the exchange will not be medically underwritten (as far as we know under current rules), but if they are not metal plans you would still be subject to the penalty. Pretty stupid to make people with HSA plans pay a penalty and restrict the availability of them to people under age...

The late-2014 renewals are being talked about by a lot of companies. Aetna has already said they will offer this for group policies, so groups may elect to renew in December 2013 instead of their regular renewal date in 2014. This will keep them from getting hit with bigger increases until the...

Looks like pricing varies by dosage. 115mg is $1047/mo according to Humana. Here it is along with a few other fun ones:

They aren't lying, they just don't have the HHS guidance to give you a different answer yet. The law as written states that all non-grandfathered plans must adhere to any and all requirements imposed by the law, including all of the essential health benefits, which your existing plan does not...

x2 States like MA, VT, NY, NJ that already had guaranteed-issue policies will probably see only a slight increase or decrease in premiums. States like VA, DC, MD, OH that have significantly lower average costs will see huge increases for anyone under the age of ~55.

$11.9k deductible HSA plans are not going to be qualify as metal plans. They don't have a 60% actuarial value and the "catastrophic" (a.k.a. HSA) plans available under the metal tiers are only available to people under age 30 or with insurance costs over 9.5% of income. Unqualified HSA plans...

The "rumors and grapevine" I referenced are coming straight from the horse's mouth, they are just not officially published because final guidance from HHS has not been given yet. Each company I sell for has stated either in webinars or over the phone that all non-grandfathered plans will be...

Yep

The price isn't going up for everyone, I never said that. Prices will go up for those with HDHP/HSA plans and younger/healthier people, while prices will generally go down for the older/sicker people who are already paying high rates. The idea of all policies being terminated on 12/31/13 or...

Sorry you didn't like my response. In 2014 there will not be any metal plans for $430/mo for a 54 and 64 year old couple unless they qualify for a subsidy. Average rates for that age are expected to be $600-1000/month or more depending on the plan type. Rumors are that carriers will terminate...

When your policy renews in 2014 and they offer you the option to switch to a "metal" plan or terminate it, $430/mo will look cheap by comparison.

One of my recent clients wanted to buy an individual policy instead of paying for COBRA. Their child takes Solodyn for dry/itchy skin. Solodyn costs over $1,000/month. They pay $50/mo copay for it and had no idea it was so expensive. Third party payments are one of the biggest cost-drivers...

We'll see how long those rates last when all of the young people refuse to pay that much for health insurance. There is no way I could even sell the "catastrophic" plan to younger families @ $700-800/month. Thanks for the link though.

That would be the guy on the right from the race perspective.

Guy on the left needs to work on his conditioning.

That's for one person and factors all age brackets. A $100/mo increase for an individual would mean a $300-400/mo increase for a family. For a younger individual or family paying significantly less than the average, it means a huge increase in premiums.

It's always been obvious that older people and those with health problems will be better off under the law at the expense of everyone else. This doesn't really say anything we didn't already know. Those over 400% of FPL that get no subsidy not only will pay much more for their coverage, but...

Where did you get $100 from? A 32% increase in average claims per insured would be massive. When insurance companies start seeing these trends they will simply stop selling in the states with the highest claims rates. Humana and Aetna have already stated that they will participate in no more...

Group plans are already priced this way. The jump in cost from "employee + spouse" to "family" is usually 50%+ more expensive. That said, I don't know how Humana came up with those numbers.

Grandfathered plans will eventually hit the insurance death spiral since there are no new, healthy people to be added to the plans. I would probably give it 3-4 years before most people with a grandfathered plan end up dumping it. However, since the unhealthy people can now buy policies on the...

Nobody knows yet. Humana usually charges for each child individually, while other companies consider any plan with at least 2 adults plus 1 child on it to be a "family" plan and priced accordingly. It's possible that for 2014 there could be a base "family" rate with an upcharge for each...

The Humana plans posted are designed to comply with ACA and that is why they are labeled as bronze/silver/gold/platinum. You can't actually apply for any of these plans yet. From what I was told, Humana set up test markets in a few counties in Texas, but no further details were given. The...

They are not going to be standardized, they just have to meet the actuarial value requirements and include the Essential Health Benefits, so each company will still have different benefits. Medicare supplement plans are standardized and most people use an agent to buy those too. Few people...

Nobody knows what commissions will be yet. If they are done the same way as Medicare Advantage then agents will still be able to make money, but if states decide that any policies bought through the exchange with a subsidy disqualifies the agent from receiving a commission, there will be a...