<p>I found something interesting. I had assumed that the Washington plans which included Children’s Hospital would be more expensive, but that turns out not to be the case. I went to <a href=“http://www.wahealthplanfinder.org”>www.wahealthplanfinder.org</a> and entered information based on my son & grandson (ages 30 and 3) , with hypothesized annual earnings of $65K a year (outside of subsidy range, so I would be sure to see full cost premiums). </p>
<p>I used the search feature for Seattle Children’s Hospital – and was given this statement (which seems quite clear to me):</p>
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<p>Then I looked at premiums for Silver plans:</p>
<p>Lowest price: Coordinated Care Ambetter Silver $339 ($1750 deductible; $250 emergency room, $40 copay)
2nd Lowest price: Group Health Core Silver : $389 ($1500 deductible, $150 emergency room, $20 copay)
Highest price: Community HealthEssentials - $464 ($2000 deductible, $250 emergency room, $30 copay)</p>
<p>The other 5 plans, including several Premera options, fall somewhere in between. </p>
<p>That would make the Group Health plan also function as the benchmark plan (used to calculate tax subsidy amount). In addition to being reasonably priced as compared to other plans – it also has a lower deductible and copays than the others – so it seems to me that would make Group Health the logical choice</p>
<p>So now I’m having a really hard problem seeing what the problem is. When my son graduates this summer and resumes full time work, the exchange will offer him an array of choices, including a very affordable option that means that he continue to take grandson to Children’s Hospital for care. </p>
<p>Seems to me that if Children’s wants to be on the Premera network, they are going to have to negotiate some sort of deal with Premera. But I don’t get the point of their lawsuit (other than their own financial bottom line) - it looks to me like Washington consumers have good choices, and any parent who really wants to be sure that the network includes Children will clearly have an affordable choice. </p>
<p>(Note: This is what I am referring to when I gripe about poor standards of journalism. This information was very easy to ascertain from the web site, which is quite easy to navigate and use.)</p>