PaunchyPirate
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
In the US, the State of Pennsylvania just publicly released the final rate request details for the ACA insurance plans for 2021. These are the plan details (rates, coverage map, etc.) that the state's various health insurance providers plan on selling in 2021. There was a delay in releasing this information as they allowed the vendors more time to evaluate the Covid impact. These requests have been submitted to the state, but not yet approved by the state. But they are usually very close to the final numbers.
The good news is that the rates aren't drastically increased. In fact, many are decreased. Of course, there are the usual changes in deductibles, OOP, and co-pays, but that's to be expected.
In my county, we still will only have 2 providers (UPMC and Highmark BC/BC). UPMC is switching all it's plans in my county from PPO to HMO. I use UPMC in 2020, so I will have to examine the coverage and network details closely. The rates aren't changing much for "comparable" plans, but I'll have to see how the HMO switch affects me personally.
In my county, Highmark BC/BS only offers EPO plans and the largest hospital network in western PA (UPMC) and the only specialist that I see isn't covered in the network, so I'm not keen on selecting it. However, Highmark significantly decreased the prices of plans in my county this year.
So, I'll have some decisions to make. Again.
The data is in raw form now. If you want to browse it, you'll need to wade through many, many pages of spread-sheet like rows and columns to find your specific coverage area plan details.
You can find the state's summary press release here:
https://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/Insurance-Details.aspx?newsid=434
and the raw data here:
https://www.insurance.pa.gov/Consumers/Pages/ACA-Rate-Filings.aspx
The good news is that the rates aren't drastically increased. In fact, many are decreased. Of course, there are the usual changes in deductibles, OOP, and co-pays, but that's to be expected.
In my county, we still will only have 2 providers (UPMC and Highmark BC/BC). UPMC is switching all it's plans in my county from PPO to HMO. I use UPMC in 2020, so I will have to examine the coverage and network details closely. The rates aren't changing much for "comparable" plans, but I'll have to see how the HMO switch affects me personally.
In my county, Highmark BC/BS only offers EPO plans and the largest hospital network in western PA (UPMC) and the only specialist that I see isn't covered in the network, so I'm not keen on selecting it. However, Highmark significantly decreased the prices of plans in my county this year.
So, I'll have some decisions to make. Again.
The data is in raw form now. If you want to browse it, you'll need to wade through many, many pages of spread-sheet like rows and columns to find your specific coverage area plan details.
You can find the state's summary press release here:
https://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/Insurance-Details.aspx?newsid=434
and the raw data here:
https://www.insurance.pa.gov/Consumers/Pages/ACA-Rate-Filings.aspx
