Obamacare Master thread

[Moe Ginsburg]

You are correct in stating that tax credits are not available to people who have a Catastrophic plan, but for those who aren't eligible for tax credits and are young and healthy, Catastrophic plans are often a very good choice due to low premiums and a straightforward structure (high deductible, and then everything covered).

For those who are young and healthy and do qualify for a tax credit (as most marketplace enrollees are qualified), they'd in the vast majority of cases be better off with a Bronze plan than Catastrophic, as the former will be less expensive after the credit.

Interestingly, in many states now the Gold plan is less expensive than the Silver plan since the insurance companies are required to give CSR discounts to lower income Silver plan members and the Federal government recently stopped paying them for those discounts so they built it into the Silver premium.

[ExGingi]

For those who are young and healthy and do qualify for a tax credit, they'd in the vast majority of cases be better off with a Bronze plan than Catastrophic, as the former will be less expensive after the credit.

Tax credits definitely tilt the equation.

[Dan]

I wonder how long they will keep extending my grandmothered plan?

[Dan]

Going up 16% in 2019. These annual increases are absurd!

[farmbochur]

Going up 16% in 2019. These annual increases are absurd!

Is this for a HDHP? Could be a case of deductible leveraging.

[Dan]

Is this for a HDHP? Could be a case of deductible leveraging.

I had a $3,000 family deductible HSA until last year when the increase was so high that I shifted to a $10K.

I don't see how the lower deductible plans make any sense.

My renewal options for family of 5 are:
$3,000 deductible =$22,356/year premium
$6,000 deductible = $17,952/year premium
$8,000 deductible = $15,972/year premium
$10,000 deductible = $13,572/year premium

[farmbochur]

Obviously this is an oversimplification, but hopefully conveys the general idea. Because close to half of your out of pocket costs come in the form of a deductible (which remains the same in 2019), the required premium increase is close to 2x the expected claims trend. A 10% trend is hopefully a little more acceptable than 19%.

[Dan]

Obviously this is an oversimplification, but hopefully conveys the general idea. Because close to half of your out of pocket costs come in the form of a deductible (which remains the same in 2019), the required premium increase is close to 2x the expected claims trend. A 10% trend is hopefully a little more acceptable than 19%.

Interesting.
But still, is the person pricing out these premiums on drugs? Why would I choose anything other than 10K?

[eliteflyer]

Interesting.
But still, is the person pricing out these premiums on drugs? Why would I choose anything other than 10K?

What's coinsurance (after deductible is satisfied) and the maximum out of pocket on the plans, respectively?

[Dan]

What's coinsurance (after deductible is satisfied) and the maximum out of pocket on the plans, respectively?

[ExGingi]

Did you look into non-grandmothered plans? I understand that they might not have the same network or benefits, but maybe you can find something that makes sense for you.

IME, once plans aren't available for new purchase, they start becoming prohibitively expensive, as the pool gets smaller and smaller. (which is a big part of the "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" LIE!)

[4yourinfo]

For those who are young and healthy and do qualify for a tax credit (as most marketplace enrollees are qualified), they'd in the vast majority of cases be better off with a Bronze plan than Catastrophic, as the former will be less expensive after the credit.

Interestingly, in many states now the Gold plan is less expensive than the Silver plan since the insurance companies are required to give CSR discounts to lower income Silver plan members and the Federal government recently stopped paying them for those discounts so they built it into the Silver premium.

Wow! I missed that I thought they didn't let Trump end the csr payments. Basically the insurance companies are getting the csr payments by inflating the price of the silver plan..Wish they they would just inflate it a bit more so you can get bronze or gold for free! I wonder if it's costing the government more as many people that are not eligible for csr but eligible for the tax credit, are now getting a larger tax credit based on the inflated silver plans...

[Dan]

Did you look into non-grandmothered plans? I understand that they might not have the same network or benefits, but maybe you can find something that makes sense for you.

IME, once plans aren't available for new purchase, they start becoming prohibitively expensive, as the pool gets smaller and smaller. (which is a big part of the "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" LIE!

Getting quotes on them now.

[churnbabychurn]

I wonder how long they will keep extending my grandmothered plan?

Getting quotes on them now.

Open enrollment?

[Dan]

Did you look into non-grandmothered plans? I understand that they might not have the same network or benefits, but maybe you can find something that makes sense for you.

IME, once plans aren't available for new purchase, they start becoming prohibitively expensive, as the pool gets smaller and smaller. (which is a big part of the "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" LIE!)

Seems much worse than my grandmothered plan. Plus my grandmothered plan allows access to CCF and UH health systems locally, while these require you to pick just one system.

[ExGingi]

What about Catastrophic? I did propose a possible workaround once before in order to qualify after age 30.

[Dan]

What's the difference between a 5 figure deductible and catastrophic?

[ExGingi]

What's the difference between a 5 figure deductible and catastrophic?

At second look some of the plans you have listed over there look very much like Catastrophic.

With a Catastrophic plan you have a high deductible, nothing is covered (with the exception of well visits) until the deductible is met, and then everything is covered at 100%. The plans with the $7,900 deductible look like Catastrophic plans. Catastrophic plans are generally NOT HSA compatible.

Looks like you have 2 plans from MedMutual that work similar to a Catastrophic Plan, yet are HSA compatible. If they also have an Embedded Deductible, then those might warrant closer examination.

It seems like you're talking about group insurance, so your premiums (and presumably HSA contributions) are pre-tax, all of that needs to weigh into the equation.

[Dan]

At second look some of the plans you have listed over there look very much like Catastrophic.

With a Catastrophic plan you have a high deductible, nothing is covered (with the exception of well visits) until the deductible is met, and then everything is covered at 100%. The plans with the $7,900 deductible look like Catastrophic plans. Catastrophic plans are generally NOT HSA compatible.

Looks like you have 2 plans from MedMutual that work similar to a Catastrophic Plan, yet are HSA compatible. If they also have an Embedded Deductible, then those might warrant closer examination.

It seems like you're talking about group insurance, so your premiums (and presumably HSA contributions) are pre-tax, all of that needs to weigh into the equation.

Why would they be better than what I have?

I write off my premiums and contribute to an HSA.

[ExGingi]

Why would they be better than what I have?
I write off my premiums and contribute to an HSA.

They're not. I was looking just at those quotes that were presented together.

I hope you are doing the HSA contributions as employer contributions.