<p>No because that’s not how most of our programs work. We live in a country where the government hasn’t caught up to the reality that the VAST majority of couples live together before marriage. We’re still functioning (for most programs) on the assumption that no marriage = two separate households with two separate expenses rather than the reality that most people pre-marriage share households and expenses. </p>
<p>In order to do the double subsidy for married people, we’d have to change FPL standards as that’s what the subsidies are tied to.</p>
<p>FWIW, I just ran the numbers (albeit for my age) and the premiums were lower for us as a couple than two individual plans. YMMV.</p>
<p>Looks to me like the unsubsidized premiums for a married couple are just the sum of the two single unsubsidized premiums, in Michigan. So they’re not lower.</p>
<p>So…I would like to sign up for a plan before dec. However, I would also like to be able to switch to the plan I have now if I like it better. I wonder how this issue is going to be handled.</p>
<p>BS of Cal is saying they cant raise rates on the grandfathered plans. It is too late. That sounds partially true. I dont know why the company cant raise rates mid year. My rates have been raised more than once a year before.</p>
<p>Dstark, ask your daughter if she would recommend that her company sell insurance at a loss for six months, hoping to make up the deficit in the second half of the year by raising premiums. I think she will say no.</p>
<p>Which states are these numbers coming from? My D, who is 24, checked prices on the Maryland exchange and there is not a plan offered that costs as much as the $400 mentioned in that article. She could get an HSA plan for as little as $114 a month and that is with no subsidy. The bronze PPO plan is $136.</p>
<p>Cartera - That’s interesting, since the poster child for this problem is Kirsten Powers who is in Maryland. One of the reasons the media is so outraged is because it’s happening to them. Young professionals without employer insurance.</p>
<p>"Stephen Shivinsky, spokesman for Blue Shield of California, said that if the company is forced to extend its 2013 policies, the prices for those plans would have to remain the same because the company did not anticipate having to renew those plans. He said the amount of money the company would lose as a result would be “substantial.”</p>
<p>I wonder where the 5 million people come from when there are supposed to be over 12 million people in the undividual market.
Is this because some states already allowed policy holders to keep their plans into 2014? Because some policy holders are going to want to switch?</p>
<p>“Friday’s uncertainty capped a roller coaster of a week for Harrigan and 5 million other Americans whose hopes were raised Thursday that they could keep their policies when Obama admitted he had misled them into believing they could “keep their plans” if they wanted. The president Thursday issued a directive allowing insurers to extend individual policies, many of which are cheaper but don’t offer all the benefits required under the new health law.”</p>
<p>dstark, considering your ardent defense of ACA throughout this thread, I am going to propose an executive order by our President that you are prohibited from electing your current plan after Jan 1. :)</p>
<p>Mini, the average unpaid bill for medical bankruptcies was $17,000. With ACA, many people between the premiums and the out of pocket maximum will have to spend this amount or more before insurance covers a dime of medical care. If they go out of network, which is a distinct possibility with these narrow networks, their out of pocket expense could be far more than $17,000. I don’t see any relief for many people because of these ACA plans.</p>
<p>Really GP…you dont see any relief? Think about it…</p>
<p>If I have the choice…I am probably going to keep my plan if it is cheaper. It has many of the advantages because of ACA…</p>
<p>I dont have to worry about preconditions or caps anymore. If i get sick, I will be covered this year and I can move to a full ACA plan next year.</p>
<p>I am looking at Blue Shield’s statement. If somebody chooses an older existing plan, is that person locked in for a year? Can BS or BC raise rates in April and policy holders are stuck?</p>
<p>I was stuck already once and it cost me thousands. There are a lot of questions now and we dont know the answers yet.</p>
<p>Geez - she’s in her mid forties. Her situation isn’t even relevant to the discussion about signing up young people. In her interview she says she’s in DC. I have a really hard time believing she had the plan she described for $120. In Maryland she could get a $3500 deductible HSA for $200 a month. She could get an HSA plan from Carefirst DC/MD for $139 a month. That is a $5000 deductible but if she’s healthy and is doing okay financially that makes sense. The $2500 deductible straight from Carefirst is $220. Her numbers don’t add up.</p>
Actually, CF, insurance companies have chosen to sell insurance at a loss many times, on purpose, for very good business reasons: increase market share, the ability to reinvest premiums at a profit before having to pay out benefits, etc. Even if this hypothetical situation is real, whether this would be one of those instances is probably not assessable with the limited information available to us. The answer might very well be yes.</p>
<p>She’s not young for the purposes of this discussion. She’s had some powerful positions and is married to a surgeon and professor at Johns Hopkins. I think she has a lot of nerve.</p>
<p>"Hold on. I thought nothing was taken into account except income. That could be a plus or a minus depending on circumstances. Assets is the obvious big one. "</p>
<p>“Eligibility for supports will be determined by the relationship of individual or family gross income levels to the national federal poverty level (FPL). In 2012, the FPL is $11,170 for a one-person household and rises by $3,960 for each additional family member. For a four-person family, for example, the 2012 FPL is $23,050. It increases each year due to inflation so will be a bit higher in 2014.”</p>
<p>“Subsidies will be calculated based on your household’s MAGI (modified adjusted gross income), which is the total of your adjusted gross income (Line 37 on your Form 1040) and any additional tax-exempt interest income you may have.”
[How</a> to Calculate Eligibility for Health Insurance Subsidies - Businessweek](<a href=“Businessweek - Bloomberg”>Businessweek - Bloomberg)</p>
<p>We have been discussing the limit of 94,000 for a while here. It is essentially 400% of FPL when subsidies disappear but it also assumes 4 people in the family. However, think of 4 separate individuals with separate incomes without a relation and you see it jumps to 180,000 (45 x 4) instead of 94k.</p>