Easy way to get information on your state's health insurance plans

[steve2470]

http://www.valuepenguin.com/ppaca/exchanges

Go to the link above and click your state on the map.

H/T to new DU'er theCHARLOTTEan

[Pretzel_Warrior]

1. A big welcome to

The CHARLOTTEan!

[dkf]

2. Hmm Hawaii doesn't work.

But punched in San Fran for fun and wow that is awful.

[steve2470]

4. hmmm bummer about Hawaii, I'll see if I can let them know nt

[theCHARLOTTEan]

8. Click on exchange summary and go to State exchange link

The summary also lists the insurance providers along with the exchange.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

40. What is awful?

I really don't care what you say.... Just kicking this great thread again.

[dkf]

41. Lol. High $400's per month. NY was worse.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

42. With or without subsidy?

[dkf]

56. I wouldn't get one.

[Blue_Roses]

3. Texas let us know where we stand on the list

of priorities back when our "wonderful" governor told us to forgot about healthcare in this state.

[Cha]

5. K&R.. thanks Steve

[steve2470]

6. yvw, anything to help the implementation of the PPACA ! nt

[Cha]

7. Yes, I saw the

link on the other thread.

[Demo_Chris]

10. Doesn't work for me in Texas. Tried adjusting basically everything, but nothing happened. nt

[steve2470]

11. I got Gold, Silver, Bronze and Catastrophic plans to work nt

[Demo_Chris]

24. Still not working for me. I am using Internet Explorer, maybe that's it. nt

[Joel thakkar]

27. Try it on chrome/firefox n/t

[Demo_Chris]

39. Working with firefox.

[Rstrstx]

57. Worked on Safari and Chrome (mac) for me

OTOH I can't get healthcare.gov to work correctly on Safari, but Chrome and Firefox will

[djean111]

12. Thanks! Works just great for Florida.

[DireStrike]

13. So what do I get for free with these plans? Cuz I'm not paying any part of a $6k deductible.

These are the prices for a non-smoking 29 year old?!

This is not really affordable at all. It'd still take me several years to pay off if I max out the deductible (and actually that's before I factor in the monthly cost of the health insurance.) It's useful if I get cancer, I guess.

The more expensive plans have "better" deductibles, but are simply more expensive from the start.

Unless I get a decent amount of care for free, I'm not happy about how this will affect me financially.

[JimDandy]

15. Yes, the ACA is not affordable

for certain portions of the population and a lot of people are still going to go bankrupt from medical bills. And another number of them forced to pay the premiums will not be able to get medical care because they can't afford the deductibles.

The ACA mainly helps the poor and low middle-income households and those with catastrophic or chronic conditions.

We absolutely need single-payer. It makes me sick that money will be going into the pockets of insurance companies and no medical care will be received from it.

The money from all these millions of premimums and deductions could have gone directly to health care providers and provided actual medical care for millions of people.

Currently, I'm one of the beneficiaries of the ACA, but I feel so bad for those who aren't.

[DireStrike]

16. "The ACA mainly helps the poor and low middle-income households" 20-25k a year here

That is why I'm baffled by this.

And I also have a chronic condition that I won't be treating because, well, I can't.

[JimDandy]

17. Well, then it's worse than I thought,

if someone with only a $20,000 income can't get affordable insurance!

My hope is that fixes for some of these ACA problems will be forthcoming in the next few years.

ACA is still a better system then the nothingness that existed before, though.

[DireStrike]

20. Yeah. I'm sure the cost for not going completely bankrupt is less.

And I'm sure the cost curve will bend a tiny bit.

I wish I had the luxury of choosing a non profit provider. It sickens me to give money to insurance companies. But I'd rather have something than nothing, so I'll pay the fee instead of the penalty.

Does the penalty go to funding the ACA or is it just general revenue?

[JimDandy]

21. I don't know, but I hope none of the insurance companies

benefit from penalty money. That would just be too much.

[Joel thakkar]

29. for a 29 year old, earning 22k per year

silver is around $200 per month without any deductible in many states...what is your state?

[DireStrike]

36. VA. I don't see anything without a big deductible that doesn't also have a copay

I looked at the silver plans later on and noticed the low deductibles and higher premiums. They seem a lot better, until you see something like a 30% copay... and a lot of plans have "no information available" on various aspects so it's hard to calculate.

Also $200 a month is not affordable. $100 a month is quite a long stretch... though it may be a "reasonable" cost for healthcare, maybe even a "good" price compared to pre-ACA levels... that money has to come out of nowhere basically.

There's also a huge difference between subsidies comparing just a 5k difference in income. If my income is 20k, I can get a bronze "some protection from bankruptcy" plan for $1 a month! At 25k, that plan becomes $60 a month!

Can I manage it? Of course, but it means my debt gets paid off slower; I can't save as much when the debt is gone; and/or I have to scale back my standard of living (which is pretty minimal already, tbh) to pay for a plan I can't afford to use.

[Demo_Chris]

25. Doesn't matter what you can afford, you'll give what money you have to the insurance companies...

Or. Fucking. Else.

That's our new Democratic Party position.

[madokie]

14. Kick

so I can find later

[B Calm]

18. Bookmarking, thanks!

[mnhtnbb]

19. Works for me in NC

[B Calm]

59. Same here. Trying to convince my wife we can afford to retire.

[BlueStreak]

22. HUGE bonanza for insurance companies

Thanks for this very useful reference site. It doesn't have any data for my county (the largest county in the state), but I looked at data from the next county, which should be similar. I was immediately struck by how HIGH the prices are. And the prices just "happen" to track the subsidies.

It is difficult to get apples-to-apples comparisons, but let me try to illustrate. I have a high-deductible HSA-capable policy. There is nothing like that on the exchange. My policy for 2 people has been about $800/mo and is rising to around $900. As I recall when we were shopping for that policy last year, the "normal deductible" policies that would be comparable to what I see on the exchange were in the range of $1000-$1300 /mo for 2 people

When you look at this data, the subsidies are higher than that, and the policies are all in the $1500+ range -- and that is with very tight network restrictions, I believe.

It is pretty obvious what is going on here. The insurance companies are jacking up their prices to match the available subsidies. And yes, I realize that they have to show that they have only 20% overhead on these policies or else they have to rebate premiums to the customer. But they will find ways around that.

[MrsKirkley]

23. It worked, but I'm confused.

This is nothing like what the Kaiser Calculator showed.

[Yo_Mama]

44. Kaiser was using approximate (estimated) policy figures

This one is using actual prices. The actual subsidy is a dollar amount figured on the basis of your income AND the second cheapest Silver policy on the exchange. So then from there you apply the figured subsidy to the cost of each plan, and that yields the final monthly premium, which will differ depending on how high the premiums for the individual plan are.

But the devil is in the deductibles and copays, because for some people their insurance premium will be manageable, but they will not be able to afford the deductible/copays to actually get treatment and drugs. That is why lower income people are freaking out in some cases. If they have to pay $500 for an MRI they are not going to get it.

I hope that makes sense. Kaiser was an estimate only, based on the national averages which they were estimating into the future.

If what I wrote doesn't make sense, try this at the ValuePenguin site:
http://www.valuepenguin.com/understanding-aca-subsidies

[MrsKirkley]

47. What doesn't make sense is the absence of policies with actuarial values.

The Kaiser calculator said I would be eligible for a policy with an actuarial value of 94%, which means I'd only have to pay for 6% of everything. So why don't the co-insurance listed on the policies I was given after entering my information reflect that? It should say they pay 94% and I pay 6%. It's not showing that at all!

[Yo_Mama]

49. Okay, I have some info that will help

Longer version here, and you can click on the other links inside the article to get info on the other pieces:
http://healthinsurance.about.com/od/reform/a/How-The-Cost-sharing-Health-Insurance-Subsidy-Works.htm

Here's the basic cost-sharing rule:

94 percent of your expenses if your income is 100-150 percent of FPL
For individuals with a 2013 income from $11,490-$17,235.
For couples with a 2013 income from $15,510-$23,265.
87 percent of your expenses if your income is 150-200 percent of FPL
For individuals with a 2013 income from $17,235-$22,980.
For couples with a 2013 income from$23,265-$31,020.
73 percent of your expenses if your income is 200-250 percent of FPL
For individuals with a 2013 income from $22,980-$28,725.
For couples with a 2013 income from $31,020-$38,775.

However, the ins co does not have to apply it across the board. The ins co could lower your deductible to achieve the cost-sharing, or it could leave the deductible in place and cut co-payments more after that. Or it cut cut everything in ratio. The silver plans have a 70/30 cost-sharing structure, so if you were single and your income was 23K last year, you would only save 10% off the values you see. But if your income was 15K, you would save 24% off the values you see.

So assuming single, silver:
Income/ Cost-sharing:
30K/ 30%
23K/27%
20K/13%
15K/6%.

[steve2470]

26. kick for pm crowd nt

[Roland99]

28. K&BloodyF'nR!

[panader0]

30. Good grief

The plans for me, at $9,800.00 income a year, range from $450.00 to over one thou a month.
Can this be right? No way can I afford that.
On edit: just went back and checked the rates for someone making $35,000 and it's much less per month. How can that be?

[Roland99]

32. are you eligible for subsidies or do you have employer-provided insurance available?

[steve2470]

37. make sure you're comparing Silver to Silver, etc nt

[DireStrike]

38. Are you not eligible for medicaid making that level of income?

[Yo_Mama]

45. Your income is too low to qualify for the subsidy

Check and see if you can get Medicaid in your state, for which you qualify under federal (but not necessarily state) rules.

[City Lights]

31. Thanks, steve2470 and theCHARLOTTEan!

Bookmarked.

Looks very promising for us!

[steve2470]

35. yvw ! nt

[riderinthestorm]

33. This is FANTASTIC!!! Thank you so, so much! This is what I wanted to see.

Many thanks steve2470 and Charlotte!!

[steve2470]

34. yvw ! :) nt

[PasadenaTrudy]

43. Can't believe

they don't have a Los Angeles Co. option. I just go on the Covered CA site.

[steve2470]

46. bump nt

[B Calm]

48. Kicking

[pnwmom]

50. Is there an easy way to find the list of doctors and hospitals

that are associated with a given plan?

[theCHARLOTTEan]

52. I don't know of any way but,

because many of these networks are new you may have to contact the insurance company directly. Or call an agent. They are likely to be adding doctors as the deadline ends depending on how popular a plan is. Even a poor paying plan is better than no patients for an under utilized doctor or facility.

I was only able to check Blue Cross of Tennessee site because I already have insurance with them. The 800# was able to confirm my doctor was not in the plan but without accessing the web data I don't know how you could select a doctor in the network without knowing they were in the network.Catch-22. Other companies I looked at in other states were better, but its really a crap shoot if your young or new to an area.

Best of luck to you in your search.

theCHARLOTTEan

Go TITANS

[pnwmom]

54. Thanks! And welcome to DU, theCHARLOTTEan! n/t

[xfundy]

51. Why go to any site other than the official one?

I know it's hard to believe, but repigs have set up several sites giving inaccurate information just so Fox Noise could report on the Horrors of Obamacare!

[riderinthestorm]

55. Because we can't get in

After days and days trying.

[chill_wind]

53. This is excellent! A very big thank you!

Bookmarked.

[Blue_In_AK]

58. Wow, some states actually have choices.

In Alaska we can choose between Premera, Premera, and Premera. And something called MODA, whatever that is.

I'm glad I have Medicare.