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Old 05-09-2018, 11:30 PM   #21
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I’m 50, purchase my plan on the open market (not subsidized), and currently pay about $1k per month for a high deductible HSA plan (family - just me and wife).

I’ve been buying my own insurance for over 15 years. The big difference post ACA is less fear that I’ll be dropped/forced out. Price-wise, I’ve experienced similar yearly increases pre and post ACA.
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Old 05-10-2018, 02:14 AM   #22
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No guarantees if you retire before age 65. (In addition to health insurance risk, the stock market could crash. The housing market could crash. Certain tax benefits could be revoked, etc.)

There has always been an affordability and accessibility issue for health insurance. ACA solved the accessibility issue. Will it continue? IMHO-the genie is out of the bottle....

Affordability is another subject. But, there are ways to work around it. Existing tax credits are one solution ("gaming" the income/MAGI threshold). Another is to be self employed. Check with your CPA about tax deduct-ability of premiums.

Is the security of employer insurance more important than improving your health by leaving the stress of work? Only you can answer that.
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Old 05-10-2018, 04:40 AM   #23
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That was definitely after the ACA had started (~2011, iirc). That sounds incredibly cheap for pre-ACA coverage with a preexisting condition like that, even taking cost inflation into account.
My memory is hazy, but maybe in 2013, my 2012 income, which is what my 2013 ACA premiums would be based on, was too high for me to benefit much from the ACA. I do remember now that I had to jump through a lot of hoops, agonizing over how to fill out the forms, worrying about white coat syndrome and high blood pressure, etc, to get the Capital Blue Cross insurance. I never even went to a routine physical out of fear that they would screw me over somehow, even though it was supposed to be 'free'. The ins cos were rightly regarded as evil back then. Way back around 2005 I went without any health insurance while driving a cab for a year, which provided no health ins. I paid cash for anything I wanted. Paid $45 for an annual routine physical. Called around to labs and got a low price for a blood test for my thyroid levels.Very cheap, as I recall, like $30, which included the blood draw and the actual test. Other labs were charging $100 for the very same thing. Paid cash full price for my synthroid which I got from mail order, also cheap, $25 for a hundred pills.
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:24 AM   #24
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It seems like I remember pre-ACA that the preexisting condition clauses only kicked in when there was a coverage gap, like 90 days or 6 months, something like that. Does anyone else recall it being that way?
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:26 AM   #25
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It seems like I remember pre-ACA that the preexisting condition clauses only kicked in when there was a coverage gap, like 90 days or 6 months, something like that. Does anyone else recall it being that way?
I'm sure that for some states, and for some insurers, it worked that way.
But not all states. Not all insurers.
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:33 AM   #26
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It seems like I remember pre-ACA that the preexisting condition clauses only kicked in when there was a coverage gap, like 90 days or 6 months, something like that. Does anyone else recall it being that way?
Yes. It was part of HIPAA.
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:48 AM   #27
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Pre-ACA, guaranteed issue existed for employer group plans but not individuals. That means someone with a pre-existing condition could not be excluded from joining a group plan, but could be denied individual insurance. Insurers were required to offer plans to businesses. They did have the flexibility to limit offerings to “very small” businesses, so self employed people usually found themselves excluded from business insurance options.

When someone covered under a group plan left it, insurers were required to offer a transitional plan that was guaranteed renewable. So, leaving an employer plan, one still had one option to obtail individual health insurance. There were few regulations regarding coverage or cost, so there was no guarantee it would be affordable or comprehensive, and often had limited network options.
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:49 AM   #28
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Yes. It was part of HIPAA.
That was Title I of HIPAA. Title I only covers employer-provided plans.
If you were not employed, you were not protected this way.
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