Potential major good news on ACA premiums

[kevink]

"Nearly everyone who purchases health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace plans will benefit by the changes enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. In summary:

Early retirees with an income 100%-150% Federal Poverty Limit (FPL), who already paid little for health insurance premiums, will now pay $0 premiums for Silver Level plans.

Those with incomes from 150%-400% FPL will see substantial reductions in health insurance premium costs.

Those with incomes that exceed 400% FPL will no longer be subject to the ACA “subsidy cliff.” Health insurance premiums costs will be capped at 8.5% of income.

Older early retirees approaching Medicare age will benefit the most because costs rise as we age."


https://www.caniretireyet.com/american-rescue-plan-health-care-early-retirement/

 

[aaronc879]

It doesn't do me any good. I took a not very good plan because it was the only one that was $0/mo premium. Now I could get a better plan for the same cost but have no "life event" to allow me to switch.

 

[OldShooter]

Didn't I read, too, that they are talking about removing the steps and just using a smooth formula based on income? No more watching trigger points?

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

It doesn't do me any good. I took a not very good plan because it was the only one that was $0/mo premium. Now I could get a better plan for the same cost but have no "life event" to allow me to switch.

Are you sure you can't change your plan now? They did open marketplaces to allow enrollments for a couple of months. They might also allow changes.

It's worth a phone call to ask.

 

[finnski1]

Are you sure you can't change your plan now? They did open marketplaces to allow enrollments for a couple of months. They might also allow changes.

It's worth a phone call to ask.

It looks like you can change thru May 15th. However be careful as deductibles etc will start from $0 again so if you already use a lot you will start from scratch.

 

[ocean view]

It doesn't do me any good. I took a not very good plan because it was the only one that was $0/mo premium. Now I could get a better plan for the same cost but have no "life event" to allow me to switch.

Didn’t you say in another thread that you were interviewing for a new job? If new job doesn’t provide HI, could that be a life event?

 

[Time2]

All this arguing over the ACA and in 2020 only 8 Million people signed up.
The numbers has been in decline since 2016, and we are getting closer to the actual number of people that needed real help, although clearly not there yet, there are still people with 100s of thousands of dollars and even a million dollars still an the ACA. So now to make it look better, (bump the numbers), the government is giving it away for free? It would have been much better to actually take care of those that needed it. As it is now, the poor are asking where am I going to get $16,300 for my family deductible.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

All this arguing over the ACA and in 2020 only 8 Million people signed up.
The numbers has been in decline since 2016, and we are getting closer to the actual number of people that needed real help, although clearly not there yet, there are still people with 100s of thousands of dollars and even a million dollars still an the ACA. So now to make it look better, (bump the numbers), the government is giving it away for free? It would have been much better to actually take care of those that needed it. As it is now, the poor are asking where am I going to get $16,300 for my family deductible.

Your numbers are a little off, enrollment was about 11.4 million when you include the state marketplaces.

Also, the pandemic increased Medicaid enrollments in 2020. Due to a loss of income, more people were below the income threshold for the ACA.

 

[Time2]

Your numbers are a little off, enrollment was about 11.4 million when you include the state marketplaces.

Also, the pandemic increased Medicaid enrollments in 2020. Due to a loss of income, more people were below the income threshold for the ACA.

I went by the numbers here.
https://policyadvice.net/insurance/insights/affordable-care-act-statistics/

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

I went by the numbers here.
https://policyadvice.net/insurance/insights/affordable-care-act-statistics/

Yes, in that article -

"When it comes to ACA by the numbers, Obamacare enrollment stats for 2020 show that around 8 million people signed up for ACA coverage. In 2020 the survey shows a total of 11.4 million enrolled in the state marketplaces and HealthCare.gov."

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

All this arguing over the ACA and in 2020 only 8 Million people signed up.
The numbers has been in decline since 2016, and we are getting closer to the actual number of people that needed real help, although clearly not there yet, there are still people with 100s of thousands of dollars and even a million dollars still an the ACA. So now to make it look better, (bump the numbers), the government is giving it away for free? It would have been much better to actually take care of those that needed it. As it is now, the poor are asking where am I going to get $16,300 for my family deductible.

Also, families below 200% of the poverty level would get additional CSR's, so their deductible should be lower than $16,300. For a family of 4, that cutoff would be $52,400 in 2021.

 

[Time2]

Yes, in that article -

"When it comes to ACA by the numbers, Obamacare enrollment stats for 2020 show that around 8 million people signed up for ACA coverage. In 2020 the survey shows a total of 11.4 million enrolled in the state marketplaces and HealthCare.gov."

Ok, so it's 0.0345% vs 0.0242% of the entire US population that is covered
with an ACA policy. That small amount of people could have been taken care of better with less money rather than this massive program.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

Also, families below 200% of the poverty level would get additional CSR's, so their deductible should be lower than $16,300. For a family of 4, that cutoff would be $52,400 in 2021.

With the additional CSR's -

For applicants with MAGI between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty level, the maximum out-of-pocket is $2,850 for a single individual and $5,700 for a family. This represents a 67 percent reduction from the regular out-of-pocket cap.

 

[aaronc879]

Didn’t you say in another thread that you were interviewing for a new job? If new job doesn’t provide HI, could that be a life event?

I expect to hear back this week about the two jobs I interviewed for. One has HI starting right away the other I would have to wait 45 days. If I get either job I will have to cancel my ACA insurance. If I don't then I guess I will just keep what I have.

 

[jimbee]

Ok, so it's 0.0345% vs 0.0242% of the entire US population that is covered
with an ACA policy. That small amount of people could have been taken care of better with less money rather than this massive program.

I recommend checking your math. You may need to move the decimal point a couple of places.

 

[Murf2]

Also, families below 200% of the poverty level would get additional CSR's, so their deductible should be lower than $16,300. For a family of 4, that cutoff would be $52,400 in 2021.

This is the important part for those with little income. Our family OOP is $1400 for this year. That is a big help.

 

[MichaelB]

That small amount of people could have been taken care of better with less money rather than this massive program.

The ACA is comprehensive health care insurance reform, benefitting most people in the US. The standardization of coverage, especially essential health benefits, affects not only people buying on the exchanges but also all employer policies. Anyone with employer coverage and wants to retire early benefits from the guaranteed access that the ACA input in place.

The number of enrollees receiving subsidies on marketplace exchanges is important, but is also just one component of a much larger reform. The latest measure, in part directed toward people >400%FPL, will enable millions of people to get health care insurance who aren’t eligible for subsidy but can’t afford in unsubsidized policies.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Sorry is this is a repost, I read it this morning and got pretty excited

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/o...t-much-cheaper-for-early-retirees-11616501143

Salient points:

Early retirees with an income between 100% and 150% of the Federal Poverty Limit (FPL), who already paid little for health-insurance premiums, will now pay $0 premiums for silver-level plans.

Those with incomes from 150% to 400% of FPL will see substantial reductions in health-insurance premium costs.

Those with incomes that exceed 400% of FPL will no longer be subject to the ACA “subsidy cliff.” Health-insurance premiums costs will be capped at 8.5% of income.
Older early retirees approaching Medicare age will benefit the most because costs rise as we age.

I'm coming off my mega's cobra in August - capping silver premiums at 8.5% of magi will be much less than I'm paying now $700/mo

It's all about managing MAGI pre-65...

 

[Dtail]

Ok, so it's 0.0345% vs 0.0242% of the entire US population that is covered
with an ACA policy. That small amount of people could have been taken care of better with less money rather than this massive program.

Most folks who have issues with the ACA program tend to not be able to take advantage of the tax subsidies.
Is that the case here?

 

[Big_Hitter]

The latest measure, in part directed toward people >400%FPL, will enable millions of people to get health care insurance who aren’t eligible for subsidy but can’t afford in unsubsidized policies.

materially increasing the size of the group may actually work to keep premiums down - originally, ACA's individual mandate was supposed to do that, but it got nerfed

 

[Big_Hitter]

Most folks who have issues with the ACA program tend to not be able to take advantage of the tax subsidies.
Is that the case here?

not anymore since the cliff has been removed

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

The ACA is comprehensive health care insurance reform, benefitting most people in the US. The standardization of coverage, especially essential health benefits, affects not only people buying on the exchanges but also all employer policies. Anyone with employer coverage and wants to retire early benefits from the guaranteed access that the ACA input in place.

The number of enrollees receiving subsidies on marketplace exchanges is important, but is also just one component of a much larger reform. The latest measure, in part directed toward people >400%FPL, will enable millions of people to get health care insurance who aren’t eligible for subsidy but can’t afford in unsubsidized policies.

Yup, and some people either don't know, or forget, that the first "A" in ACA stands for "affordable". It wasn't meant to be insurance for just poor people. A lot of middle income people are also eligible for some subsidies, up to the cliff.

Not everyone has insurance through their employer, and not everyone has affordable insurance through their employer.

For the really poor (below the poverty level), you're not even eligible for ACA subsidies, you have to use Medicaid instead.

In the originals proposals, the cliff did not even exist. That was begrudgingly added later as one of the concessions to get the bill passed.

 

[Aerides]

I'm sure there are a great many people who are glad they can keep their kids on their workplace insurance until age 26. That's also part of the ACA. And the whole not-getting-refused thing that enabled a lot of people to retire, when they otherwise could not because of pre-existing conditions.

Oh and the lifetime cap thing. So many provisions in the law, but everyone tends to equate the ACA with its marketplace plans, when that's really less than half of the legislation.

 

[Freedom56]

The ACA also mandated zero cost preventive care to all insurance plans.

 

[OldShooter]

... ACA's individual mandate was supposed to do that, but it got nerfed

Well, the plan was to actuarily overcharge healthy people to subsidize others, particularly the preexisting condition folks. The healthy people figured this income redistribution scheme and decided not to participate.