Preview 2017 ACA plans now active

[ivinsfan]

I think you mean Medicaid (or Medi-Cal in CA) here.

yes I did mean Medicaid, thanks for catching that mistake

 

[RockyMtn]

Ouch for me too! At least I will be able to console myself with "at least I'm not paying what Blueskies123 is paying!" 54 years old, income about the same, subsidy goes up $40, premium goes up about $270. Currently paying $47, same plan (after subsidy)will be $317. There are about a half dozen options for a plan equal (or less) to what I am paying now with a company I never heard of "Ambetter" and 1 with a company I have heard of "Molina" for a little more than I am paying now. Even though there was lots of talk about skyrocketing premiums, this is way more than I was expecting. 11 more years to Medicare, what a crazy system we have!

Centene owns Ambetter. They are based in St. Louis. In Az they operate under the "HealthNet" name but the plans all have "Ambetter" in the title. Again, they are the only provider in my County and in much of the state of Arizona.

Centene Corporation - Home

 

[Lisa99]

We had no subsidy this year and our deductibles are $6500 each. Price was $680/month.

Our MAGI will drop next year to $24k (we made sure we're just above Medicaid level). We're getting a much better silver plan - it will be $149 per month with a $1700 deductible. And it's BCBS so we're happy.

 

[FIREmenow]

I cannot believe the range of differences in reading all of this here (still under mega-corp coverage). Especially across states.

It appears to me that this is a HUGE impact to retirement and SWR - does this mean that it is hugely important to consider coverage and ACA costs when choosing which state to retire to? Is this just as important, if not more - based on percentage of WR, than housing costs and and property taxes for a given area?

Or should one just assume that what you find out for costs in any given year MEANS NOTHING in predicting your costs for future years - so just roll with it, and go where you want?

 

[RunningBum]

Coventry pulled out of my area. I'll go from 363 to 478 for a similar looking plan from Aetna. Over 30%+ increase. Sounds like there are a few instances where rates haven't raised much, but I don't know how anyone could be confused that for most people, the unsubsidized rate is going way up. Those with subsidies may not see a huge increase, but that just means taxpayers are paying more.

I think I'm going to look at managing my MAGI to take the subsidy next year, which will mean little or no Roth conversion. I need to figure out how to run those numbers, taking into account the increased MRD will probably push more SS into being taxable. I think I could get about a $189/month subsidy.

 

[AllDone]

Surprisingly, the Blue Shield PPO that we have this year will be about $50 less per person next year. That saves us a few dollars per month over our COBRA payment in 2014. No subsidy.

 

[Lisa99]

Or should one just assume that what you find out for costs in any given year MEANS NOTHING in predicting your costs for future years - so just roll with it, and go where you want?

It really does matter so don't 'roll with it'. We have a friend in AZ who now has one single choice in insurance provider and his plan will be 25% more expensive than last year.

And we considered relocating from NV back to TX but the TX plans were EXPENSIVE and the coverage wasn't as good as where we are now, so it's definitely a consideration if you're looking at managing costs.

 

[Llep]

It appears to me that this is a HUGE impact to retirement and SWR - does this mean that it is hugely important to consider coverage and ACA costs when choosing which state to retire to? Is this just as important, if not more - based on percentage of WR, than housing costs and and property taxes for a given area?

I think age plays a big factor here. One of the things I am/was considering was buying a condo in Sun City, AZ as soon as I turn 55. I think I will preserve my flexibility and rent until I get closer to 65 in case I need to move to a more favorable state for healthcare. Without making a change, my portion of the insurance premium goes from 8% of my rent to 52% of my rent. Fortunately, where I live now I can change companies since there are two others that offer lower premiums.

Pre ACA I thought moving abroad would allow me access to quality affordable healthcare if I retired early. ACA held out the hope of early retirement without moving abroad. This is my first year on it and I absolutely have been having a great experience with it until today! The math of living abroad a few years might start looking more encouraging. Without manipulating my income for subsidy maximization I could start Roth conversions and unlocking a few decades of LTCG.

I have been using the Kaiser tool to price premiums in many different cities I thought might be fun to live in. Until today there was no place where insurance costs would have been a factor. It looks like the landscape has changed dramatically. ("the sky is fallin', the sky is fallin')" - added after I read my post!)

 

[InTheSticks]

I hope it's just a set up thing, but none of our doctors are in network of the only insurance company in the county. It's a pretty rural county. The family care I go to is pretty much the only center in the county. Wow.

 

[EastWest Gal]

The hole is at a certain income level you will be booted to Medicare with perhaps many doctor and provider restrictions. and not any choice in the matter. A better plan might be to raise your income enough to get a regular plan with smaller co-pays and more choice. They will vary be state.

Actually you mean Medicaid. Be sure to have enough income to be off Medicaid and low enough income for big subsidy.

If you have dividend and capital gains you will not have zero income. If all your after tax money is in cash, you could have a problem with inflation risk.

 

[ivinsfan]

Actually you mean Medicaid. Be sure to have enough income to be off Medicaid and low enough income for big subsidy.

If you have dividend and capital gains you will not have zero income. If all your after tax money is in cash, you could have a problem with inflation risk.

I corrected myself but I think I need it edit my comment

 

[ivinsfan]

I hope it's just a set up thing, but none of our doctors are in network of the only insurance company in the county. It's a pretty rural county. The family care I go to is pretty much the only center in the county. Wow.

we are rural as well and the only unlimited enrollment HMO in our county offers very little in network...it's not a good solution for consumers.

 

[socca]

My latest numbers (Sarasota, FL) :

• 2015: $174 / mo (grandfathered non-Obamacare plan)

• 2016: $398 / mo (least expensive Obamacare Bronze plan - a 128.7% increase)

• 2017: $455 / mo (least expensive Obamacare Bronze plan - a 14.3% increase)
> age 54
> if I was age 60: $579 / mo
> if I was age 64: $640 / mo

• 2017 MAGI limit for a subsidy: $47,080

• upper limit of 2017 MAGI for which the ACA delivers ‘unaffordable’ health insurance in my zip code according to the ACA’s definition of ‘affordable’ (< 8.13% of MAGI): $67,159

• So, individuals in my zip code with 2017 MAGIs between $47,080 and $67,159 are being forced to purchase ‘unaffordable’ health insurance if they want to use the healthcare.gov exchange. On the positive side, these folks can apply for an exemption from the 2017 Obamacare tax (‘shared responsibility payment’) if they choose to go without health insurance.

• For 2017, there is really only one credible health insurance provider in my zip code. The only in-network hospital is 18 miles away, and has a poor reputation. The closest hospital - 4 miles away and highly regarded - is out of network. So, what happens if/when an ambulance takes me to the out-of-network hospital?

• I will definitely be calling all of the major health insurance companies to see if they are offering any policies off-exchange in my zip code. I don’t have much hope, but you never know.

• I will also be investigating ‘outside-the-box’ options such as critical care insurance and fixed indemnity plans.

Are we having fun yet?

 

[Sue J]

Our plan full cost went from 777/mo for the two of us to 991/mo. That's a 27.5% increase! But our subsidy went up quite a bit (I no longer include my income, I put it in a Trad IRA) so the net effect is that staying with our same plan will cost us $30/mo more this year.

The plan is close to the same. The deductible increased by $50 each and the Max Out Of Pocket increased by $300 each. The PCP co-pay went from $40 to $45. Specialist co-pay went from $80 to being applied to the deductible. And next years plan says that there is no 90 day mail order pharmacy plan. We are currently with CVS/Caremark which has been fine but we could easily just use GoodRx for very similar costs.

I looked to see what HSA plans are available to us and the full cost of the cheapest one of those is $1280/mo for both of us. Even after a deduction for a full HSA contribution, our monthly cost would be more than double a non HSA plan. That is just baffling to me! Just shows how wacko the pricing is on these plans.

Well, for this year at least we can find a good enough plan for a decent enough price. I'm fine with that. It's the same insurer as last year and we can keep our doctors this time.

 

[Mulligan]

Wow, I guess the power of prayer works! My plan is going DOWN from $325 to $307, (age 52) despite one less area provider. I guess MO premiums are not so bad compared to some others quoted here. It is still almost quadrupled in past 2 years though, so I aint that happy since I was forced into this healthcare scheme. Coventry was my plan this past year and they are gone. Will be able to keep my HSA funded also. The network I suppose is the 3 local veterinary clinics, but it was last year also.
Edit...Got so excited I didnt examine in detail..Actually another plan is $302 so its $23 cheaper...If I didnt want the HSA so bad, I actually have a $288 non HSA option.

 

[MrPotatoChip]

I am in NJ. We are down to two providers, AmeriHealth and BCBS. Insurance jumped $65 for the cheapest bronze plan to $682 with a $7150 OOP (if I manage to stay In-network).

I am out, I can not see paying $8200 for coverage I will never use. I guess I will self-insure this year.

The only good news is that since the insurance is so expensive, I will not have to pay a penalty. I must keep my income between $47,520 and $100,664 (682 * 12 = 8184 /0.0813 = 100,664).

 

[Sue J]

I'm digging deeper into our available plans and I haven't seen this before - going from lowest premium to highest you would think it would be all the bronze, then all the silver, then all the gold plans. This time I'm seeing some bronze plans with a higher monthly cost than a silver or gold from another insurer. There's a gold plan less expensive than a silver. Odd.

I also notice that where we used to have 6 or 7 insurance companies offering marketplace plans in 2014, 2015 and 2016 this year I see only 4.

One more thing....

A few of you mentioned the possibility of having an HMO and having a surprise out-of-network charge. This happened to us this year. DH had a screening colonoscopy at a network facility with a network provider. The insurance paid at 100% for that. But the anesthesiologist was out of network and we were billed and paid for that. I called the insurer about something else and mentioned the out of network bill that we paid. She told me to call the out of network provider and request a Retro Prior Authorization. Yeah, let that sink in!

So I did just that and they told me they would send that to their coding department. I haven't seen any activity on the claim yet but I'll let you know if we ever get a refund.

 

[ivinsfan]

I am in NJ. We are down to two providers, AmeriHealth and BCBS. Insurance jumped $65 for the cheapest bronze plan to $682 with a $7150 OOP (if I manage to stay In-network).

I am out, I can not see paying $8200 for coverage I will never use. I guess I will self-insure this year.

The only good news is that since the insurance is so expensive, I will not have to pay a penalty. I must keep my income between $47,520 and $100,664 (682 * 12 = 8184 /0.0813 = 100,664).

It must be nice to be able to see into the future....what happens if you get hit by a meteorite? Or step in a hole and screw up your knee?

 

[JoeWras]

Wow. This is getting ugly. The whole health care thing is becoming yet another way to bifurcate the people. If you got it through some pension, you may not know how badly the other side is suffering. But anyway...

I still can't see going without some sort of catastrophic plan. I had minor surgery this year and the list price was about $30k in total. You just don't know when you may need it. A simple broken bone requiring surgery can quickly get you up to $20k.

Right now Megacorp provides a good HSA plan for $800 per month, with a $5k deductible (1 person). I thought that was crazy the first year of ACA when I compared. Not so crazy anymore. But I'm not sure if Megacorp will survive this plan. They may dump us to ACA.

Thanks to all for sharing. It is helping us planners. I'm currently just planning $25k (for 2 of us) in 2017 dollars. Another d@mn excuse to OMY.

 

[Tom52]

My 2016 insurer was Coventry. I checked this morning and see that Coventry is no longer insuring thru the ACA, at least in my zip code. I think there were 24 different policies available to chose from for 2016 thru at least 2 different carriers. For 2017 there is only one company, Medica, who I have never heard of and there are only 4 policies to choose from. I could not find that the local doctors and the local hospital are included in this network.

Yeah, you can get insurance, but if you want services you have to go 25 plus miles to get it

 

[T-Minus]

In preparation for FIRE, I track the numbers for both myself (currently 56) and my wife (currently 48) every year, for each age until SS eligibility. I do this in an attempt to create a more realistic age-based spend model. Needless to say, in Central Oregon, we're looking at an unsubsidized increase of > 55%! For consistency's sake, I'm using a Gold plan with the same provider, a $2,000 deductible and an $8,000 OOP for 2016 and an $13,700 OOP for 2017. Here's the data:

Ages (H/W)	2016/Mo.	2017/Mo.	Diff (%)
56/48:	$ 1,107	$1,719	55.28%
57/49:	$ 1,156	$1,795	55.28%
58/50:	$ 1,209	$1,878	55.33%
59/51:	$ 1,248	$1,935	55.05%
60/52:	$ 1,302	$2,021	55.22%
61/53:	$ 1,353	$2,101	55.28%
62/54:	$ 1,398	$2,169	55.15%
63/55:	$ 1,446	$2,245	55.26%
64/56:	$ 1,488	$2,310	55.24%
57:	$ 680	$1,056	55.29%
58:	$ 711	$1,104	55.27%
59:	$ 727	$1,127	55.02%
60:	$ 757	$1,176	55.35%
61:	$ 784	$1,217	55.23%
62:	$ 802	$1,244	55.11%
63:	$ 824	$1,279	55.22%
64:	$ 837	$1,299	55.20%

Looks like my planned June retirement has just gone up in smoke. Lovely.

 

[2017ish]

Ran our numbers even though we probably won't be going with individual plan after midyear retirement (but will in 2018 or 2019).

Middle Tennessee: 57M/56F. HSA compliant PPO ("Bronze") 1459.62 per month; 9600 family deductible, 13,100 OOP max. FWIW, both of our PCPs are listed as participating--but those visits are not what I want to insure against....

Surprisingly, it doesn't go up much for 64M/63F.

By the time we need it, hopefully will be able to purchase true catastrophic coverage again. Alternatively, there may be some off-exchange options (BCBS withdrew from all individual products in our market, not just the exchange.)

 

[MrPotatoChip]

It must be nice to be able to see into the future....what happens if you get hit by a meteorite? Or step in a hole and screw up your knee?

Declare Bankruptcy

 

[MichaelB]

I am in NJ. We are down to two providers, AmeriHealth and BCBS. Insurance jumped $65 for the cheapest bronze plan to $682 with a $7150 OOP (if I manage to stay In-network).

Why don't you come over here and tell us a little about yourself.

 

[ivinsfan]

You are willing to gamble on going bankrupt instead of buying health insurance?

There is also the small problem of continuing to get medica carel after they know you won't/can't pay your bills..I'd suggest you take peek at the Christian Healthcare plans which at least might get you insurance rate instead of rack rates health care.