<p>An acquaintance of mine in Maryland, who is waiting for a hearth transplant, was very concerned about losing his high risk pool insurance. He was able to get a comparable exchange plan though and has already signed up.</p>
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<p>Careful, I think you may be drawing the wrong inference. In Minnesota, rates are lowest in the Twin Cities metro area in part because it has the largest population base and intense competition among insurers for market share in that large customer base. But the metro area also has the largest number of health care providers, so there’s competition on the supply side as well.</p>
<p>Rates are highest in Rochester, where there’s essentially a provider monopoly, the Mayo Clinic; and in northeast Minnesota, where the provider market is also dominated by a single provider network. But in most other low-population, low-density parts of the state, rates are closer to the Twin Cities rate than to the Rochester rate. This suggests it’s not so much the population density as the structure of the provider market that accounts for most of the variation in rates.</p>
<p>[MNsure</a> rates vary by region: Here’s why. - TwinCities.com](<a href=“MNsure rates vary by region: Here’s why. – Twin Cities”>MNsure rates vary by region: Here’s why. – Twin Cities)</p>
<p>Dstark – I don’t get your question. You can drop any time, but you can only sign up during open enrollment periods – are you anticipating a change in circumstance for the kid? That is, why would you drop the coverage?</p>
<p>Ok…</p>
<p>I was making a leap… </p>
<p>I thought the Mayo Clinic was supposed to be a low cost place?</p>
<p>Nice link.</p>
<p>“are you anticipating a change in circumstance for the kid? That is, why would you drop the coverage?”</p>
<p>Yes. I want to have the option to drop the kid mid year. And I want my rates to reflect that drop. :)</p>
<p>Where would your kid get insurance?</p>
<p>A job…or thru a school. </p>
<p>Those are the likely choices. </p>
<p>I am sure others have the same question. Can parents drop a kid mid year?</p>
<p>I see you answered the question. Thanks.</p>
<p>“The news from the hearings is that the portion of the website that processes payments for the insurance hasn’t been built yet!”</p>
<p>Either you did not hear correctly or the report you heard wasn’t exactly accurate. </p>
<p>“It is not anything that is necessary for consumers to make a payment because that is something they do outside of the market directly to insurers,” she said. The unbuilt portion makes sure insurers receive subsidy payments after people have enrolled in a plan."</p>
<p>[Official:</a> Parts of health site consumers need are ready](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/19/healthcaregov-operational-update-testimony/3642649/]Official:”>Official: Parts of health site consumers need are ready)</p>
<p>Yes, of course you can drop insurance yourself or drop any family member from insurance - but you aren’t going to be able to to add anyone back until the next open enrollment period. </p>
<p>If you aren’t subsidy eligible and are uncertain about status for an adult kid, it might be easiest to put the kid on a separate policy. You could potentially save some money that way if one or the other of you can safely go with a higher deductible.</p>
<p>“If you aren’t subsidy eligible and are uncertain about status for an adult kid, it might be easiest to put the kid on a separate policy. You could potentially save some money that way if one or the other of you can safely go with a higher deductible.”</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>But then there may be higher out of pocket maximums. Higher out of pocket maximums are not a deal breaker because there could be other benefits. The rest of my family could go bronze and my kid could qualify for a subsidy and go bronze or silver. </p>
<p>The last letter I received from Anthem said I have until Dec 15th to decide. I figure that is going to be a terrible day to sign up.</p>
<p>Is your kid financially independent? A person who is listed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return can’t qualify for a subsidy. </p>
<p>I’m glad my kids have had their own insurance, though. (They’re older and live in different states). There are some privacy issues that go along with insurance, as anyone who has access to the EOB statements from the insurance also has full access to medical treatment records. When you are dealing with 20-somethings, there could be plenty of medical stuff that young adults don’t particularly want their parents to know about.</p>
<p>calmom, :). Love the post. </p>
<p>Independent… For tax purposes. ;)</p>
<p>It’s pretty clear: the system for the government to pay money to the insurance companies is still under construction. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the systems for individual subscribers to sign on or to make premium payments.</p>
<p>I think there are a lot of false rumors because of a misunderstanding of what the exchanges do. </p>
<p>I signed up through my state exchange almost 3 weeks ago. I was not given an invoice and I did not make any payments, or even have the opportunity to make online payments. I got a message saying that I would be receiving that from the insurance companies.</p>
<p>The purposes of the exchanges is to enable people to choose which private company they will buy insurance from, and to verify their eligibility for subsidies. Once that is done, each person deals directly with whatever company they chose – they only come back to the exchange if there is a need to update their income information to recalculate the subsidies. Other than that, for the consumer, the only billing and invoicing system that matters is the one that is managed by their insurance company.</p>
<p>Here’s one from CNBC,</p>
<p>[Obamacare</a> bombshell: IT official says HealthCare.gov needs payment feature](<a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/101211556?__source=yahoo|finance|headline|headline|story&par=yahoo&doc=101211556|Senior%20official%20drops%20Oba]Obamacare”>http://www.cnbc.com/id/101211556?__source=yahoo|finance|headline|headline|story&par=yahoo&doc=101211556|Senior%20official%20drops%20Oba)</p>
<p>Geez, why do you guys keep rehashing the same misleading story, over and over again?</p>
<p>The thing that is still under construction is the system that funnels payments from the US Treasury to the insurance companies. </p>
<p>It has nothing to do with the way that individuals sign up or pay for insurance. (I doubt that there is even a direct interface, for security reasons).</p>
<p>This isn’t clear at all from the article, Calmom. </p>
<p>Are you talking about the way it’s being done on California. Or do you have some other source besides cnn. ?</p>
<p>I know it might be unpleasant to discuss but this is what is being talked about everywhere. Highly educated people on CC might eventually understand that it may not impact them but think of the general public.</p>
<p>A Govt IT guy goes to Congress and says there is a bunch of the system still to be built. That is not the best information to come out when what is already built is having issues.</p>
<p>“After that, the exchange will offer a list of health plans and their premiums and out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments. If a consumer decides to buy one of those plans, in most cases, you will be directed to the insurer’s Web site to make the payment. In some jurisdictions, consumers will make their first premium payment to the exchange and then further monthly payments to the insurer.”</p>
<p>[What</a> You Need to Know About the Obamacare Marketplaces | PBS NewsHour](<a href=“http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-obamacare-marketplaces.html]What”>http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-obamacare-marketplaces.html)</p>
<p>I have no idea if the other jurisdictions they are referring to are in state run exchanges who had the ability to set up their own system. That seems to make the most sense to me. It’s would be very odd that those purchasing through the federal exchange had different method of payment depending on where they lived.</p>
<p>Texaspg… NRO? You are supposed to set a good example and then we are supposed to ignore it. Lol</p>
<p>I am behaving. 
Has anybody applied for insurance on the NY exchange? How was the experience?</p>
<p>I just talked to my kid. He is going to get employer backed subsidized insurance in a few months. Until then, I can keep him on my plan or he can buy a plan in NY.</p>
<p>dstark - I have read the article and I am pretty much reading a transcript with a video. Other than the snarky comment at the end, I don’t think a transcript makes it partisan but that is fine if you think it should be taken down.</p>
<p>I have removed since the website might be considered partisan…</p>