Covered California Website Updated for 2022

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

The Shop and Compare tool appears to be ready to go for 2022.
They have added an extra provider to my area, Ambetter by Health Net offering both HMO and PPO plans.
The quoted price for my Kaiser Silver plan comes out to be around 8% of my estimated yearly income.

I'm need to run my estimated taxes for 2021 soon and I'm hoping that I can make a Roth Conversion that I did not allow for. I seem to remember there was a cap on what you might have to pay back if you under estimated 2021 income. I haven't been able to find that information anywhere yet but I think it was part of the American Rescue plan.If anyone has a link, I would appreciate it very much.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I believe the payback waiver was for 2020 only. I don't believe it was for 2021.

 

[Freedom56]

There is only one true PPO offered on the Covered CA exchange which is Blue Shield PPO. Ambetter PPO is just Healthnet and doesn't even cover the three major hospitals and their doctors (UCLA, Cedars Sinai, and USC Keck) in network. Blue Shield is now charging $1590 for a Bronze PPO for myself and my wife without subsidies for 2022.

 

[Scuba]

I’m not sure of the current status, but I recall when Covered CA was first launched, every one of my docs had a big sign in their waiting area “We do not accept Covered CA.”

For this reason, I’ve never had a Covered CA plan.

 

[Alex The Great]

If you never used marketplace insurance in CA (which is reasonable when your income is too high to get subsidy), may I ask what health insurance do you use?

 

[tb001]

There is only one true PPO offered on the Covered CA exchange which is Blue Shield PPO. Ambetter PPO is just Healthnet and doesn't even cover the three major hospitals and their doctors (UCLA, Cedars Sinai, and USC Keck) in network. Blue Shield is now charging $1590 for a Bronze PPO for myself and my wife without subsidies for 2022.

Wow, that’s good to know. We’re on blue shield through cal-cobra but are looking at switching to aca this year. I’ve been looking at the BS plans because it’s what we had and seemed like the easiest transition. I clearly need to make sure I’m doing my due diligence before we make the switch!

 

[Bustergordon]

I’m not sure of the current status, but I recall when Covered CA was first launched, every one of my docs had a big sign in their waiting area “We do not accept Covered CA.”

For this reason, I’ve never had a Covered CA plan.

I'm also curious what kind of plan you have. My husband and I are retiring next year, so I'm looking at plans, and not a single one of these Covered CA plans covers any of our doctors (2 primary care, 1 dermatologist, 1 gyn). What other options are there? This is depressing.

EDIT: I should add that I'm not particularly concerned about cost of plan or deductible - I am more concerned about not having to find all new doctors. Primary care doctors are like unicorns here in my part of Los Angeles - almost no one is taking new patients.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I’m not sure of the current status, but I recall when Covered CA was first launched, every one of my docs had a big sign in their waiting area “We do not accept Covered CA.”

For this reason, I’ve never had a Covered CA plan.

That was about eight years ago and a there has been a lot of changes since then, I think all for the good.
Curious if these doctors still have the notice posted in their waiting areas?

 

[RetiredHappy]

I'm also curious what kind of plan you have. My husband and I are retiring next year, so I'm looking at plans, and not a single one of these Covered CA plans covers any of our doctors (2 primary care, 1 dermatologist, 1 gyn). What other options are there? This is depressing.

EDIT: I should add that I'm not particularly concerned about cost of plan or deductible - I am more concerned about not having to find all new doctors. Primary care doctors are like unicorns here in my part of Los Angeles - almost no one is taking new patients.

You need to buy private individual off-exchange plan. A broker should be able to find the list of available off-exchange private individual plans. I have been buying such plan in Nevada because the ACA plans here are so crummy that none of my doctors take them. You may also be able to find such information on your CA health and human services site.

 

[rodi]

I'm also curious what kind of plan you have. My husband and I are retiring next year, so I'm looking at plans, and not a single one of these Covered CA plans covers any of our doctors (2 primary care, 1 dermatologist, 1 gyn). What other options are there? This is depressing.

EDIT: I should add that I'm not particularly concerned about cost of plan or deductible - I am more concerned about not having to find all new doctors. Primary care doctors are like unicorns here in my part of Los Angeles - almost no one is taking new patients.

You should ask the doctors' offices what plans they accept.
Most of the gold plans have pretty extensive doctors lists - at least here in San Diego county. It varies county by county on what plans/lists are.

 

[Freedom56]

We used an off-exchange EPO (Circle EPO) from Oscar Health that covered all major hospitals that their on-exchange EPO did not cover such as UCLA, Cedars Sinai, USC Keck, Hoag, and many others. We switched to Blue Shield PPO which covers all major hospitals in network plus many in Florida (and other states) where we spend a few months of the year. The problem with the Covered California on-exchange insurance is that other than the Blue Shield PPO (bronze, silver, gold, platinum), the other plans are HMOs that only cover lower tier hospitals and doctors. You can get Kaiser but that limits you to Kaiser hospitals and doctors. If we had to choose an HMO, then Kaiser would probably be the best option. We always had an employer paid PPO and liked the flexibility of choosing our doctors and specialists without any referrals. So since retiring we stayed with EPOs and PPOs in the individual market that covered doctors that we have been seeing for decades.

 

[Scuba]

If you never used marketplace insurance in CA (which is reasonable when your income is too high to get subsidy), may I ask what health insurance do you use?

DH has a pre-ACA Anthem Blue Cross policy he first enrolled in while working in 2013. His employer at that time didn’t offer health insurance, and my employer’s plan was cost-prohibitive for spouses. When I retired, I went on his insurance. It’s a PPO plan with a high deductible and OOP maximum, and it isn’t HSA-compatible, but we get a very broad PPO network that seems to include all of the high-quality providers in our area. Expensive, but we value choice.

 

[Scuba]

I'm also curious what kind of plan you have. My husband and I are retiring next year, so I'm looking at plans, and not a single one of these Covered CA plans covers any of our doctors (2 primary care, 1 dermatologist, 1 gyn). What other options are there? This is depressing.

EDIT: I should add that I'm not particularly concerned about cost of plan or deductible - I am more concerned about not having to find all new doctors. Primary care doctors are like unicorns here in my part of Los Angeles - almost no one is taking new patients.

Our plan is a pre-ACA plan we are grandfathered into. It’s Anthem Blue Cross PPO.

 

[Scuba]

That was about eight years ago and a there has been a lot of changes since then, I think all for the good.
Curious if these doctors still have the notice posted in their waiting areas?

I am not sure, because we moved to a different area in 2019 and didn’t go to the doctor much in 2020. I haven’t seen these signs in our new area, but I am very grateful to have a pre-ACA PPO plan. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay on our current plan until age 65. If not, I’ll have to shop around for a different PPO plan.