Health Insurance Rate Shock-California Obamacare Ins Exchange Premiums LOWER than expected

[Bill USA]

... even for young people!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/23/california-obamacare-premiums-no-rate-shock-here/

The Congressional Budget Office predicted back in November 2009 that a medium-cost plan on the health exchange – known as a “silver plan” – would have an annual premium of $5,200. A separate report from actuarial firm Milliman projected that, in California, the average silver plan would have a $450 monthly premium.

Now we have California’s rates, and they appear to be significantly less expensive than what forecasters expected.

On average, the most affordable “silver plan” – which covers 70 percent of the average subscriber’s medical costs – comes with a $276 monthly premium. [font color="blue"]{that's $3,300 per year, so the CBO's estimate overshot the number by 57%!! _Bill USA}[/font] For the 2.6 million Californians who will receive federal subsidies, the price is a good deal less expensive, the amount noted in green below.



Health premiums will be lower for the youngest Americans. Here’s how the costs work out for a 25-year-old purchasing the same health plan.



(more)

here's the Federal Poverty Levels: http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/guides/federal-poverty-guidelines.html

[antigop]

1. And they don't tell you what the deductibles and max OOP are...well, golly gee nt

[Corruption Inc]

2. So some "health insurance premium forecasters" were wrong, so what?

It's still for-profit health insurance, not universal health care.

I seem to remember about 70%+ of all Americans wanting universal health care, not for-profit insurance from a completely corrupted banking and insurance industry.

Oh I remember, this is just the 1st step of completely unknown future steps towards something that might resemble the universal health care that most Americans want and need because it's all we can afford.

[antigop]

4. and it still doesn't mean it's "affordable" when you look at deductibles/copays/max oop. nt

[area51]

3. Well, if you like this,

then you'd like single-payer much better as the prices would be still lower.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. The exclusion of deductible and co pay information seems intentional

Without that information the OP is incomplete and meaningless.

[Bill USA]

6. you criticize the OP but could not do a little research to get the answer yourself - check it out -

below is some more info which the WaPo writer elected to not go into. There often are choices that have to be made regarding article length. It is generally considered in newspaper publishing that not every article need be encyclopedic. Writers are painfully aware of the fact that sometimes a longer article is even less likely to be read by people than one that offers a shorter but less complete treatment of the subject. (An individual's interest in the details can even be revealed by their willingness, or lack thereof, to do a little Google searching on a subject to find details missing in an OP).


In comparing the actual premiums to estimated, it is reasonable to assume that the estimates of the premiums also took into account costs for deductibles and copays for which their was a general idea of how large these would be. Thus, comparing the actual premiums to estimate premiums is valid as the estimators also were operating using assumed copays and deductibles which were likely similar to the actual deductibles.


..from the Covered California site:

http://www.coveredca.com/calculating_the_cost.html

[font size="5"]Calculating Potential Insurance Cost in 2014[/font]


How the Calculator Works for People Like You

A single mother of three kids earning $35,000 per year

If you are a 40-year old single mother of three earning $35,000 per year, your costs for health insurance might be as much as $8,784 per year if you were to pay the entire premium. However, if eligible, you will qualify for about $7,416 in tax credits to help pay your health insurance premiums. After applying the tax credit, you would be responsible for $1,368 annually – about $114 each month – for premium payments for the sliding scale plan for your family size and income level. You could also choose to apply your tax credit to a more, or less, expensive plan.

A married couple earning $40,000 per year if one spouse in on Medicare

Enter into the calculator - two household members, your combined income of $40,000 per year, and your age - 63. Leave out the age of your spouse who will not enroll in Covered California. If eligible, you will qualify for tax credits of $4,836 per year to help pay your health insurance premiums. After the applying the tax credits, you will be responsible for $3,312 annually – about $276 each month – for premium payments for the sliding scale plans for your family size and income level, even if only one of you enrolls in the plan. You could also choose to apply your tax credit to a more, or less, expensive plan.

here's info on copays and deductibles: http://www.coveredca.com/PDFs/English/CoveredCA-HealthPlanBenefitsComparisonChart.pdf

NOTE that if you prefer, for comparison purposes, the Subsidy for those who qualify can be applied to the Copays and deductibles and then you consider the premiums reduced only by the subsidy remaining after applying it to the deductibles and copays.