Another vent on 2018 renewal premium

D

DanP

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
93
Renewal letter jumps me almost $1,000/month, so if I were to stay on the same plan (Silver) then yearly premium alone is $30k, no subsidies. Family out of pocket ~14k.

Wondering if a strategy of going to Catastrophic with 14k max out of pocket is a better strategy, that will probably be ~12k premium plus 14k max total 26k exposure.

Just crazy.
 
Not sure about your health situation, but you might looking into Christian Health Care Ministries ...... DW (62) and myself (55) did the switch back in 12/2016 ..... So far, we are $$$ ahead. We have not had to utilize the organization, saving approximately $1150 per month
 
DanP said:
Renewal letter jumps me almost $1,000/month, so if I were to stay on the same plan (Silver) then yearly premium alone is $30k, no subsidies. Family out of pocket ~14k.

Wondering if a strategy of going to Catastrophic with 14k max out of pocket is a better strategy, that will probably be ~12k premium plus 14k max total 26k exposure.

Just crazy.
Click to expand...

Not sure if/where you can get catastrophic coverage. Have you shopped for it?
 
Thanks for the replies folks. Doesn't look like we can shop before November. We really would like to stay within the network for our area, and they seem to be renewing.

As far as we can tell, within this network, Catastrophic -> Platinum boils down to a matter or % of deductibles etc. Meaning what one pays upfront, same access to the doctors we like.

I am having a hard time understanding a world of 30k on basic premiums with 14k out of pocket on what equates to a ~130'ish MAGI.

Or maybe best to not bring any consulting income altogether and let other taxpayers subsidize me.

Sorry folks just angry and tired now.
 
LakeRat1 said:
Not sure about your health situation, but you might looking into Christian Health Care Ministries ...... DW (62) and myself (55) did the switch back in 12/2016 ..... So far, we are $$$ ahead. We have not had to utilize the organization, saving approximately $1150 per month
Click to expand...

It will be interesting to hear from you after you have used the sharing system for some costs.
 
Our Blue Shield of CA Gold 80 PPO is going from $1,650 to $1,950 a month for husband and wife. It started at $1,240 in Jan 2014.
 
DanP said:
Renewal letter jumps me almost $1,000/month, so if I were to stay on the same plan (Silver) then yearly premium alone is $30k, no subsidies. Family out of pocket ~14k.

Wondering if a strategy of going to Catastrophic with 14k max out of pocket is a better strategy, that will probably be ~12k premium plus 14k max total 26k exposure.

Just crazy.
Click to expand...

Depending on your state, you might be better off with. Bronze or Gold plan.

I don't know if you've followed the adjustments, but a lot of insurers/states are increasing the cost of their Silver plans to cover the Cost Sharing that the government has stopped paying.
 
Ah, so the increases would be generally worst for Silver only then?
 
The issue is starting to be that the income limit for subsidy is not rising while the premium cost is skyrocketing. Kind of a donut hole thing..not enough income to pay the HI without a very negative hit on your budget but too much income for any assistance. I wonder if they are going to start addressing this at some point in the future.
 
DanP said:
Renewal letter jumps me almost $1,000/month, so if I were to stay on the same plan (Silver) then yearly premium alone is $30k, no subsidies. Family out of pocket ~14k.

Wondering if a strategy of going to Catastrophic with 14k max out of pocket is a better strategy, that will probably be ~12k premium plus 14k max total 26k exposure.

Just crazy.
Click to expand...

If you are generally pretty healthy, then look into bronze plans. I think that if you qualify for catastrophic coverage even though you are under 30 (lowest cost bronze plan exceeds 8.13% of your O-MAGI) that in most states that the premium difference between bronze and cat is negligible other than states like NY and VT that prohibit age rating but YMMV.

I can't figure out why anyone in good health would buy anything other than a bronze plan given the differences in premium and benefits... we have bought bronze/HDHI plans for the last 8 years or so but our health care costs are only ~$3k a year at most.
 
Our bronze plan in SoCal went up 25%... But I understand that silver plans had a heftier increase.
 
User "Sue" just posted a link to the new rates in a separate thread - much relieved, Bronze looks like a livable option.

Interesting to see that the average Gold is now cheaper than the average Silver!
 
Why not choose a bronze plan? There was a spreadsheet floating around on the forum that calculated total costs. If you have a rough idea of projected medical costs for the year, you can make an educated gamble and go for a bronze plan. From what I remember, you had to have a pretty big medical bill before the silver was more cost effective than the Bronze. We use bronze plans & so far have come out way ahead.
 
My non subsidized Kaiser Bronze HDHP HSA HMO is going up 8.1% next year.
 
walkinwood said:
Why not choose a bronze plan? There was a spreadsheet floating around on the forum that calculated total costs. If you have a rough idea of projected medical costs for the year, you can make an educated gamble and go for a bronze plan. From what I remember, you had to have a pretty big medical bill before the silver was more cost effective than the Bronze. We use bronze plans & so far have come out way ahead.
Click to expand...

Actually, with the link that was posted in the other thread you can add in your estimated deductibles and co-pays based on different assumed levels of medical care us and see your total cost... similar to the spreadsheet that you are referring to.
 
pb4uski said:
If you are generally pretty healthy, then look into bronze plans. I think that if you qualify for catastrophic coverage even though you are under 30 (lowest cost bronze plan exceeds 8.13% of your O-MAGI) that in most states that the premium difference between bronze and cat is negligible other than states like NY and VT that prohibit age rating but YMMV.

I can't figure out why anyone in good health would buy anything other than a bronze plan given the differences in premium and benefits... we have bought bronze/HDHI plans for the last 8 years or so but our health care costs are only ~$3k a year at most.
Click to expand...

Emphasis added.

I have an ex with whom I share custody and health insurance premiums on two teenagers. She is more risk-averse than me and likes the warm fuzzy of having good insurance.

I'll revisit in a few years and probably drop to a bronze or even catastrophic if I can qualify on an O-MAGI basis. Until then I'm buying 87 CSR Silver or, now that they are cheaper, Gold.
 
You could look at your actual claims experience over the last couple years and demonstrate that you would have been better off with a bronze plan and see what the savings would have been.... then you (and your ex) will know how much warm fuzzy costs and you (collectively) and make a more informed decision.
 
Assuming my ex were rational or reasonable or not borderline-NPD, I would consider it. History suggests otherwise.
 
My former employer retiree plan jumped 27%. And somehow in this crazy mess I feel grateful. Only 5 more years to medicare for both of us.
 
Can anyone confirm "the number" for the "cliff" for two people (400% of FPL).

I thought it was $64,960 - but I was putting figures in just fooling around, and that figure still had subsidies on our state website.

TIA.
 
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Well, if you must know, yes I googled. LOL. :cool:

That's where I was reminded that the FPL from one year is used for coverage the next year. Not all websites are updated or as clear as they could be.

I had also tested figures on the state site, but results were hinky.

So I thought I'd ask this lovely forum for a double check.

And having seen some stuff a few days ago on our state website "splash page" (summaries) that did not jive with the more detailed info one can download, I called in and asked the person on the phone about the discrepancies. She said that evidently something Carefirst did was not "uploaded" correctly, and they "have no control" over that. I asked her to please send a message "up the line" to let them know things were not matching.

Then I looked up the website for Carefirst and went to their "Media Inquiries" submission form - which is seemingly the only way to get a message in to somebody in the executive offices. Hoping the PR team would pass the info along, I asked them to please tell someone to check their uploaded info on the state's site because it was not correct.

Last night, the state site was "down for maintenance" until this morning.

Now, all the info for Carefirst is different - from premiums to subsidies at different incomes.

So the figures that I put into that lovely excel spreadsheet that Animorph did are not right and I need to start over.

But, if the new info can be believed this time, the premiums are lower.

One caveat: If the figure for two is $64,960, the state website is still not working correctly.... It's showing a subsidy at $65,041.

I guess I'll call them again and inquire about how the math is (not) working :)
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