<p>Frugaldoctor, I appreciate your post as well. From talking to many doctors, their insights are similar to yours when you say “I believe the insurance companies are using the ACA as an excuse to gouge their customers.”</p>
<p>^ not so sure of that…I read the BCBS filing very closely and everything was explained.</p>
<p>[Rhode</a> Island Blue Cross Signals Rate Rises - WSJ.com](<a href=“Rhode Island Blue Cross Signals Rate Rises - WSJ”>Rhode Island Blue Cross Signals Rate Rises - WSJ)</p>
<p>BCBS filing in Rhode Island…that is what you are talking about geeps20?</p>
<p>If so…just google BCBS filing in Rhode Island and you can read the article.</p>
<p>geeps I asked about retiree because you quoted reinsurance.
And, how do you have access to the new exchange rates? The rest of us don’t. And, if you are in RI, it’s certainly no model operation.</p>
<p>WSJ articles often don’t show up with direct links. If you want to read the article, copy the headline, put it into google search and click the first news link returned.</p>
<p>"In its filing, the Rhode Island carrier, a nonprofit, said its 14.7% requested average rate increase for small businesses would have been about 10.3% without the health law, reflecting factors including the rising cost of medical services and its need to add to its reserves, as well as taxes and fees associated with the law. "</p>
<p>Rate increase is 18% for individuals - they said that the increase would have been the same with or without the law. So for RI, small businesses take a hit for the ACA though the increase seems to be far less than what NY is seeing.</p>
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<p>dstark: what was in TG’s post that was troublesome?</p>
<p>Anyone that believes ANYTHING an insurance company tells you is a fool. I have farmland in the Arctic I’d like to sell you. </p>
<p>What about the annual 15%+ increases the last 20 years? Are they going to blame the ACA for that too?</p>
<p>I should buy some UNH stock - if you can’t beat em …</p>
<p>That is right BCEagle91, and you highlighted exactly what I wanted highlighted. </p>
<p>Exactly. Thanks. </p>
<p>So geeps20, your comments?</p>
<p>One more thing to consider, if you think you or someone you are talking to may qualify for the subsidies, I have not been able to find anything 100% certain as to how it is going to be done, BUT I have read in some places that the subsidy you are given monthly in 2014 can/will be adjusted when you file your 2014 return.</p>
<p>To me this means that somehow in October 2013 you will report income, 2012 tax return? The exchange will credit you a certain amount each month off your premiums all through 2014, then in April 2015 you will file your 2014 return and potentially get an ACA subsidy credit or debit based on your actual 2014 income? Yikes, confusing.</p>
<p>I think it would be smarter to be FAFSa-like and go by the prior year with no future adjustments! But even the information I outlined is not certain.</p>
<p>Seems to be some god deal of info here. [ObamaCare</a> Insurance - Insurance Exchange And ObamaCare Health Insurance Exchange](<a href=“Зайти леонбетс | Леон 2022 (Leonbet 2022)”>http://insuranceexchangehq.com/)
You can also look at their subsidy explanation.</p>
<p>That link also discusses the RI rate approval, at lower than requested.</p>
<p>NH only has one plan in the exchange. It appears that there was essentially a monopoly before and there will be a monopoly going forward unless more companies step in. NH is a small market so I guess that this shouldn’t be a surprise.</p>
<p>"…will offer certain health insurance premium credits or rebates and cost sharing subsidies ( aka Obamacare Subsidies ) to people who buy health insurance from it. This will effectively lower the amount a person/family will pay to buy health insurance from an insurance exchange. The credits are tied to income of an individual/family with respect to Federal Poverty Level (FPL.)"</p>
<p>Not a monthly subsidy but a tax credit- it seems.</p>
<p>So 94k/year would pay an effective max of 9.5% of income - ? Or $8930? It seems to say, for ins purchased through the exchange- don’t know how vanilla that is.</p>
<p>I think we have a whole lotta learning to do, before we grasp this.</p>
<p>I have been told at meetings about it that the subsidies are supposed to be applied to your premiums, so the subsidized person pays the net amount, the government sends the subsidy to the insurance company each month/quarter/etc. That makes sense in that they likely don’t expect someone making $20k annually to pre-pay $1300 premiums monthly and then get a check for $15k the next April.</p>
<p>But, there is a lot of “maybe” about it all</p>
<p>This is happening everywhere, and I’m sorry. Many warned that this ACA would have a terrible effect, and it is coming to pass, because the insurance companies, who lobbied in favor of it and lined politicians’ pockets, now have free reign to gouge. There wasn’t even an attempt to contain costs. </p>
<p>Our deductible went from $250 per person to $5000 per person and/or $10,000 per family and the coverage got worse. The company decided to use the opportunity to reduce its costs.</p>
<p>lookingforward - you are right. We do have a ‘whole lotta learning to do’, but who WANTS to spend time learning about this???<br>
Frankly, after about 3 minutes of reading about it, my minds begins to wander and I completely lose interest.</p>
<p>My DH runs his own business and he is the only employee. We have individual insurance and group insurance was not an option for us in our state. I would have to go on the payroll and we’d have to show that we paid unemployment, etc for me. Do we just didn’t see much savings to do this to continue to get group coverage. Our individual coverage (2 adults and 2 dependents) runs around $1500 a month - for 4 healthy people who do not take any recurring prescriptions. </p>
<p>I can’t wait to find out how much it will go up this fall. Not.</p>
<p>Somemom, I don’t think there is one complete picture yet. Everyone I have spoken with is waiting to see how this rolls. I mean, clearly “someone” gets it. But I don’t hear anyone in my realm speaking with authority, yet</p>
<p>“The ACA provides two forms of subsidies to help pay for health insurance. First, a monthly premium assistance tax credit will lower the premium amount an individual or family must pay. Second, cost-sharing assistance will limit a person’s maximum out-of-pocket costs, and for some it will also reduce other cost-sharing requirements (i.e., deductibles, coinsurance, co-payments).”</p>
<p>“All people who buy coverage through an Exchange will have a cap on their total out-of-pocket spending, including deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance. These limits are based on the out-of-pocket limits that apply to high-deductible plans used with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). People with incomes under 400 percent FPL will get subsidies to lower those caps based on their income”</p>
<p>dstark: My facts were directly out of an LA Times article from May of this year. </p>
<p>I didn’t make it up.</p>
<p>Just a thought but do your employees have other options for health insurance, such as a spouse who works for a company with comparable insurance at cheaper cost to the employee? It might be worth a discussion about this. You could offer to increase the employees’ pay if they go with the other insurance. I know many small businesses (and even school districts locally) that do this sort of thing.</p>
<p>FWIW, it is extremely generous for you to pay the full cost of healthcare for your employees. I work for a very large company and we do not even get fully subsidized by our company. I’m not even sure the government agencies do that.</p>
<p>I know TatinG. What you pointed out are problems. </p>
<p>Like frugaldoctor said, ACA is an improvement compared to what we had.
We have a disfunctional health care system.</p>
<p>I want to see what happens in Oct.</p>
<p>Lookingforward, I want want to thank you for your sane informational posts.</p>