No ACA premium change for us

[street]

First I would to thank all who have helped me with ACA questions etc. through the last year and half. Today I meet with my Insurance Provider (BCBS) to see what changes of policy etc. and price changes would be for 2018. From the questions I asked and the threads I followed on here I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a huge difference and also learned some things here that provided more insight today before my meeting. THANK YOU ALL!

Well of course Health. Gov will need some paper work sent to them but I will not have any change in price but of course policy changed some. I'm as happy as a lark and I hope that the issues with health care get fixed and less complicated.

How has ACA changed for yo this year and what has been your experience after you have been enrolled for some years?

Thank you all.

 

[sengsational]

How has ACA changed for yo this year and what has been your experience after you have been enrolled for some years?

BCBS sent us something about just paying our January bill like normal and everything would work out. I'm totally not doing that! I'd probably end-up not getting the PTC.

I went on to the healthcare.gov site today and was frustrated by it's buggy implementation.

First I called, waited forever on hold, and had them delete the problem application. Then, when I started the application again, the same bugs came to the surface.

So I ended-up initiating a new logon. That requires "validation" with a credit bureau, and that process bombed...more of the same...buggy implementation. I uploaded a scanned copy of some ID, but I'm not holding my breath for that working. I'm sure I'll need to call and be on hold again, but I need to go through validation before I can buy a policy.

 

[gerntz]

Us neither.

 

[davebarnes]

As fas as I can tell, my wife's plan is going up by $200/mo.
Kaiser Permanente - Denver
HSA Bronze
KP CO Bronze 5500/30%/HSA
$740/mo

 

[street]

BCBS sent us something about just paying our January bill like normal and everything would work out. I'm totally not doing that! I'd probably end-up not getting the PTC.

I went on to the healthcare.gov site today and was frustrated by it's buggy implementation.

First I called, waited forever on hold, and had them delete the problem application. Then, when I started the application again, the same bugs came to the surface.

So I ended-up initiating a new logon. That requires "validation" with a credit bureau, and that process bombed...more of the same...buggy implementation. I uploaded a scanned copy of some ID, but I'm not holding my breath for that working. I'm sure I'll need to call and be on hold again, but I need to go through validation before I can buy a policy.

I feel your pain and it shouldn't be this hard each year but it is. I hope you can get in touch with them and all goes well. Like you said you need to go through validation and a new policy and a new price if things have changed.
Good luck

 

[joeea]

How has ACA changed for yo this year and what has been your experience after you have been enrolled for some years?

Bigger subsidy this year due to lower income (stopped a part-time consulting gig).

Our premiums went down for the same plan as last year.

 

[athena53]

Medicare starts for me on 1/1 and apparently healthcare.gov didn't get the memo. I'd already been informed that my current provider (Humana) had exited the market in our area. I got an e-mail saying that Healthcare.gov had "matched" me with a new plan. Just for laughs I clicked on the link and had to go through the whole login/questionnaire mess to get to the offerings. For the 4th consecutive year (every year since I retired), the renewal offered had zero out-of-network coverage. The cheapest would have been $850/month- I'm paying $776 now for coverage with a crappy network.

I never thought I'd be so grateful for turning 65.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Mine went down from $145pm (After Subsidies) to $0pm for a similar plan. Same docs and Specialists, slightly higher Emergency Room Copay is all, no Deductible.

The nice thing about living in Old Fogieville Florida is we trip over docs and specialists, and for the most part they take every plan available. Pretty much a monopoly with FloridaBlue being the main provider.

 

[bobandsherry]

Mine went down from $145pm (After Subsidies) to $0pm for a similar plan. Same docs and Specialists, slightly higher Emergency Room Copay is all, no Deductible.

The nice thing about living in Old Fogieville Florida is we trip over docs and specialists, and for the most part they take every plan available. Pretty much a monopoly with FloridaBlue being the main provider.

The premium is only part of your cost. What Florida Blue plan are you comparing? Did you compare changes in deductable, OOP, co-pays, co-insurance, change in coverage limits, etc? I'm in Florida Blue as well and see premium drop but all coverage is less favorable, e.g. cost more to visit primary care physician and specialist, urgent care, emergency room, etc.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

The premium is only part of your cost. What Florida Blue plan are you comparing? Did you compare changes in deductable, OOP, co-pays, co-insurance, change in coverage limits, etc? I'm in Florida Blue as well and see premium drop but all coverage is less favorable, e.g. cost more to visit primary care physician and specialist, urgent care, emergency room, etc.

Yes better than or equal to last year in all cases, with the exception of rises in ER Copay being the largest. The rest were not significant. I could have had the same as last year WITH a deductible, but chose not to.

 

[pb4uski]

Plan and networks unchanged.... premiums increasing ~5% IIRC.... no subsidy for us.

 

[MichaelB]

Just to be clear to everyone else following this thread, Florida Blue (and other insurers) premiums increased between 25%-45% on most policies, and up to 85% on the rest - some of the CSR silver plans. Premium assistance rose to cover the entire increase for for folks with subsidy.

 

[bobandsherry]

Yes better than or equal to last year in all cases, with the exception of rises in ER Copay being the largest. The rest were not significant. I could have had the same as last year WITH a deductible, but chose not to.

Wow, that's nice. Which plan is that? I'll have to take a look at it to see if it gets my costs down.

 

[stepford]

Employer subsidized retiree medical plan in CA here: BCBS Traditional plan with $400 deductible. My premium is increasing about 3% for 2018. If I opted for the high deductible version of the same plan the premium increase is even more negligible (about 1-2%).

 

[Freedom56]

Our premiums for myself and my wife will increase from $1032 to $1244 per month for a bronze PPO plan with Blueshield California. We are switching to an OSCAR health bronze EPO that our provider UCLA accepts for $877 per month with the same deductibles. We only use preventive care and the only medication we take is low dose Aspirin.

 

[4legsgood]

I was in a Regence silver plan last year with a high enough deductible to be HSA qualified and the premium was about $500.

Their most equivalent policy this year went to $900 so I went to bronze with Kaiser, HSA qualified, for about $500.

Our state web site shows that I'll get a significantly higher subsidy this year (not reflected in the prices I mentioned) so I'm very happy about that except that I don't see how it can last, too good to be true!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Wow, that's nice. Which plan is that? I'll have to take a look at it to see if it gets my costs down.

1443b FloridaBlue.

 

[bobandsherry]

1446b FloridaBlue.

Not finding that plan on FloridaBlue. Perhaps a typo? 1443B?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Nope See Attached:

 

[bobandsherry]

Nope See Attached:

As I thought, that is for 1443B.

I looked at that plan, in same state as you, relatively same MAGI and ages, yet my monthly cost is $1,733, with $1,392 credit it was still $340/mo out of pocket ($4,080 annually). Ended up selecting 1449 (Bronze) at no premium cost. Just strange how same company charges significantly differently in same state, just different county. Wonder if there's a reason or a data entry mistake.

www.bcbsfl.com/DocumentLibrary/SBC/2018/1449.pdf

Thanks

 

[ShokWaveRider]

As I thought, that is for 1443B.

I looked at that plan, in same state as you, relatively same MAGI and ages, yet my monthly cost is $1,733, with $1,392 credit it was still $340/mo out of pocket ($4,080 annually). Ended up selecting 1449 (Bronze) at no premium cost. Just strange how same company charges significantly differently in same state, just different county. Wonder if there's a reason or a data entry mistake.

www.bcbsfl.com/DocumentLibrary/SBC/2018/1449.pdf

Thanks

Yes sorry about that, my typo (Corrected). But yours has a big deductible. Mine was $0 for our MAGI. We are in St. Johns. What is your County? We have an abundance of docs here.

 

[bobandsherry]

Yes sorry about that, my typo (Corrected). But yours has a big deductible. Mine was $0 for our MAGI. We are in St. Johns. What is your County? We have an abundance of docs here.

Ideally, I'd prefer the 1443B if I could get at $0 premium after credit, but in Hillsbrough (Tampa are) it's $4K after credit. FloridaBlue (and other companies) has no transparency as to why your county and mine are so radically different in premium cost.

I created a spreadsheet to compare plans based on Dr visits, labs, prescriptions, etc. Our estimates costs for medical co-pays would be about $2,200. As a comparison I estimate that 1443B plan would be $1,300, but then I have to pay $4K in premiums. So yep, if no premium difference the 1443B would be my pick too.

 

[MBSC]

FloridaBlue (and other companies) has no transparency as to why your county and mine are so radically different in premium cost.

The SCLSP in Hillsborough County is based on a cheaper Ambetter plan not offered in St. Johns County. This lowers the APTC causing the after-subsidy Florida Blue premiums to be higher.

The Florida Blue premiums before subsidy in Hillsborough are higher due to higher utilization by members and local providers having higher contracted rates.

 

[ripper1]

My ACA plan went up 50% on my premium so after receiving multiple phone calls from various private agents I finally picked up a phone call from Nationwide Health Advisers and was given a plan that was going to save me 500 dollars a month on my premium. It was a private PPO plan and I was going to be able to go back to my original family doctor. After being on the phone with the agent for 2 hours I decided to purchase the plan. After downloading the plans benefits I found in big bold writing that this was a supplemental plan and not a major medical. So in other words it didn't follow the basic benefits of the ACA and I would be fined a hefty sum. At this point I decided not to take the plan. Has anybody been able to find a private plan which is considered major medical?

 

[bobandsherry]

The SCLSP in Hillsborough County is based on a cheaper Ambetter plan not offered in St. Johns County. This lowers the APTC causing the after-subsidy Florida Blue premiums to be higher.

The Florida Blue premiums before subsidy in Hillsborough are higher due to higher utilization by members and local providers having higher contracted rates.

Thanks - I'll have to look at renting a room in lower priced area for next year