Preview 2017 ACA plans now active

[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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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).

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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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).

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.

[FANOFJESUS]

When can I sign up for a new plan for 2017? 2016 is my first year on the exchange.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rec7 When can I sign up for a new plan for 2017? 2016 is my first year on the exchange.

Nov 1.

[Another Reader]

The second least expensive Silver plan in my county at my age is an Anthem EPO which pays nothing for out of network services. $2,500 deductible and $6,800 OOP. Monthly rate is $945.67. Multiply by 12 and divide by 0.0813 and the the MAGI cutoff to avoid the penalty is $139,582. I think a lot of folks my age will skip health insurance this year and cross their fingers.

[FANOFJESUS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB Nov 1.

Thanks

[BreathFree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrPotatoChip Declare Bankruptcy

If it's any consolation... I recently had a procedure miscoded, and the hospital claimed I was responsible for the payment. I asked if there was any sort of reduction since I was paying out of pocket. I was told, if I was uninsured, they would reduce the charge by 80%. Since I was insured, they were only allowed by law or contract, I forget which one at the moment, to reduce the charge by 20%.

So, oddly enough, you may pay less for care without insurance, although the premiums aren't high enough yet for me to take that risk.

[Taxman59]

I just ran the numbers on the marketplace website, and my net premium drops by $175 per month and the deductible and oop also drops! I raised my income for next year to see what I can earn with out an increase, and it looks like I can increase my income (and utilize the 15% tax bracket) by about $20k. I am not too confident about that, but when the final letter comes from BCBS, I will rerun the #s.

[ShokWaveRider]

Everyone is so fixated on increases.

Note, ACA subsidies have gone up about 30% to offset the Insurance increases too.... no one seems to talk about that though.... Shhhhhh.


ACA was designed for those who could ill afford healthcare or had pre-existing conditions. If it is expensive but not more than 9% of your income it is doing it's job. That is about what the countries with single payer charge in taxes. It had got to be paid for somehow.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider Everyone is so fixated on increases. Note, ACA subsidies have gone up about 30% to offset the Insurance increases too.... no one seems to talk about that though.... Shhhhhh. ACA was designed for those who could ill afford healthcare or had pre-existing conditions. If it is expensive but not more than 9% of your income it is doing it's job. That is about what the countries with single payer charge in taxes. It had got to be paid for somehow.

Are you serious? Guess what, the only policy that gives me access to anything but our local Podunk hospital (town of 15K) and any specialist is off exchange and costs a lots more then 9% of my income and you have forgotten the ever increasing OOP attached to all policies...
SHHHHHH, if you don't get a subsidy you don't care how much the subsidy has gone up..

If you have income over the subsidy limit your insurance can cost well over the 9% threshold and your only option then is to pay or not pay and get a waiver from the penalty. A lot of us can ill afford health care and trying to figure out our best options..

[FIREmenow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan Are you serious? Guess what, the only policy that gives me access to anything but our local Podunk hospital (town of 15K) and any specialist is off exchange and costs a lots more then 9% of my income and you have forgotten the ever increasing OOP attached to all policies... SHHHHHH, if you don't get a subsidy you don't care how much the subsidy has gone up.. If you have income over the subsidy limit your insurance can cost well over the 9% threshold and your only option then is to pay or not pay and get a waiver from the penalty. A lot of us can ill afford health care and trying to figure out our best options..

It's all working out exactly according to the intended plan in the first place - driving everyone to accept government run single-payer healthcare. Everyone can decide for themselves whether that is a good outcome or not.

[ivinsfan]

Well you will notice I did not mention politics, lets please keep this politics free, I'm just talking about how some people have ended up in an untenable situation through no fault of their own.

These threads are helpful because we see others are in the same boat and try to figure things out together, within the existing system.