<p>CF, a 2011 bill in Congress would have given feds the right to approve or block rate increases in states without that authority- the Health Insurance Rate Review Act. Seems to have gone nowhere. (?) But I am surprised to learn, at the time, 17 states didn’t have this control. Water under the bridge, with ACA. But does CA have this oversight now?</p>
<p>ILMom, I looked at the projections for costs and our subsidy on our exchange site before creating an account. Do you have that option? It allowed me to play with certain input details. So, when I did create the account, I had a good idea. (Turned out to be accurate.) </p>
<p>Yes, once I had the account set up, right away I saw the plans, costs and subsidies, right there. I believe that, if that is the only error, you could go with it and fix it later. (Eg, I can re-add my kids’ incomes, when they change in 2014, for a review.) After enrolling (I did this at the exchange office,) the next day, I had an email notifying me my bill summary was online. But I am not in IL.</p>
<p>My problem with our site was it times out pretty fast. And needed me to use their back button, not my browser’s.</p>
<p>The Obamacarefacts site says CA and WA did have something in place in 2012 and did save constituents money by blocking or lowering increases. Is this that they are now mandated to review proposed jumps over 10%-? (I’m not pursuing this, it’s another learning point, for me.) Per some reporting relevant to my state (re: 2014 pricing,) it seems when they can’t get the full % jump they want, they shave their costs a bit by reviewing benefits within their plans. So, while I don’t want folks to be unnecessarily alarmist, I would think it’s wise to know how your plan works for various categories of service and keep an eye on that, going forward.</p>
<p>My plan is only “non compliant” in that it has a lifetime cap of 6 million dollars. </p>
<p>Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but if this ACA thing was about “fairness” and consumer protection, it wouldn’t have exempted all sorts of favored groups. And, the truth is that, if things continue in this way, a whole new class will be created in which those who do not have union or corporate plans will be expected to be pooled together at really unfavorable rates, as far as I’m concerned.</p>
<p>If you insist on advertising this as a program that is somehow for the benefit of those of us who did just fine in the individual market before now, from your perspective of spousal coverage on employer healthcare (an archaic position if there ever was one), you are simply talking about something you know nothing about.</p>
<p>I wondered why it was a lot cheaper than the ACA-compliant plans; I don’t know why that would be funny. Can anyone buy the plan, or did it require underwriting?</p>
<p>CF, the error is theirs. I was meticulously careful filling the 2nd app out.</p>
<p>LF, I have seen the plans that are available and have a general idea of what they should cost once the subsidy is applied. Not too happy about the deductibles that are available but all the more incentive for D to get a job with good benefits. </p>
<p>One of the problems with the design of the federal Marketplace site is that there is no back button. (WHY?) And if you click on a category on the left hand side of the screen of a section you have already completed, you have to click/save each page of it again to proceed. AND you have to be careful to read each page carefully before you save it (again) because answers you have previously provided may have been changed.</p>
<p>Thanks to you and romani for the timing info. At least, that gives me some hope of meeting the 12/23rd deadline.</p>
<p>And kudos to all of you who have successfully applied through the federal marketplace. If only it could be that easy for all of us. : (</p>
<p>Article in Delaware paper about transmission errors in marketplace applications during the first 2 months. Hopefully anyone that signed up will double check with the insurance companies to make sure they are covered. </p>
<p>I found the report that studies premium increases in Cal. </p>
<p>I thought it was a Kaiser study but it was a Milliman study. </p>
<p>There is a little talk about the impact of risk pools, the employment market comparison to the individual market, the cost of increased benefits, etc</p>
<p>I don’t know what you mean by did it require underwriting. It was the plan offered to us by BCBS based on our health and lack of previous illnesses. </p>
<p>It was an excellent plan. Excellent coverage. </p>
<p>I’m happy to pay more so that others can get coverage, but I’m not happy, nor will you convince me it is “fair” that so far only those of us without bought government representation are being made to pay more.</p>
<p>This is the epitome of unfairness and government corruption</p>
<p>Just a technical note, as to web site form design in general: </p>
<p>When site relies on user-submitted information, it should be designed that way, even though it seems frustrating to you. The problem is that when you use the back button on your computer it can be the same as if you click a submit key multiple times-- for example, on a shopping cart site it might result in the same item being placed in your cart again and again. For a site that asks for submission of a credit card, the result can be multiple charges (or at least multiple authorization attempts) on the same card.</p>
<p>So disabling the user “back” button is actually the better way to go on a secure web site relying on user input – but there should of course also be a very clear user navigational interface that gives the user the ability to save each page and then go back to a previous page to make corrections. My personal preference is a graphic track at the top of the page that tells you how far along you are in the process and allows you to select a particular page or section to go back to, whenever needed.</p>
<p>It’s been a number of years since I filled out a FAFSA, but I believe the FAFSA site operated that way. I am pretty sure that it also gave the opportunity for a final review of all data, and the option to correct any errors, before the final submission.</p>
<p>The question referred to “medical underwriting” – if you had to show that you were in good health with no history of potentially serious medical problems, then the favorable rates you see are based on a system of excluding many others from coverage under the same plan. </p>
<p>I personally cannot see how any rate calculation in such a system can be “fair” to the people who are excluded because they have had the misfortune of being born with a heart defect, or suffering from asthma or type I diabetes. </p>
<p>I also have enjoyed the benefit of lower rates over the years because of a lifelong clean bill of health-- but I would call that “luck” rather than fairness. </p>
<p>So my take on it is this: I had cheap health insurance while many of my friends and relatives did not, because I also had the good fortune to be in better health than they were. (At least on paper: one of my friends is a breast cancer survivor who runs marathons – I’d have a pretty tough time trying to run around the block). </p>
<p>In 2014, my good fortune won’t allow me to get cheap insurance anymore. I’ll have to pay the same rates as everyone else, including all those sick and potentially-sick people. </p>
<p>I was getting low premiums before because I participated in a rigged system, which happened to be rigged in favor of people like me. That system was unfair by design, designed to discriminate against others.</p>
<p>We went back to the Healthcare.gov website today and created an account for my wife. It was a relatively smooth and painless process. It really points up how bad the initial website was; of course for the first several WEEKS I couldn’t even get on the website to use it, and then it was so bad and awkward and I kept getting into endless loops… so, it was a pleasure to use today. I still resent all the time I wasted previously (Let it go, NJres, let it go…) My wife registered and added me as a family member who will also be applying for insurance. We looked at plans and are comparing plans and haven’t made a final decision yet. One nice thing about the current website is that we simply estimate our 2014 income and go from there. Subsidies are calculated based on our estimates. Later they tell us we will have to prove our income in early 2014, and I am not quite sure how we will do that, but I will worry about that later. I also looked at three different silver plans with different monthly premiums and all the features of each plan appeared to be the same! I asked about that using online chat and was advised to look at the “details” button. </p>
<p>I thought subsidies (tax credits) were only available if we signed up for a Silver plan using the healthcare.gov website, but subsidies were applied to the premiums for gold and bronze plans also on the website. </p>
<p>So far, so good. Too bad it wasn’t like this on (stops for a moment to remember the actual rollout date…) October 1.</p>
<p>“Trend from 2013 to 2014: 9.0% average increase to premium
Premiums would have changed from 2013 to 2014 even in the absence of the Affordable Care Act. The primary source of this change is increases in provider reimbursement due to annual contract negotiations, increases in utilization due to new procedures and technology, and increases in prescription utilization and costs. Premium trends in the individual market are higher than the underlying trends in medical costs due to the leveraging effect of the relatively high cost sharing typical in individual policies. We assumed the average increase in premiums from 2013 to 2014, in the absence of the Affordable Care Act changes, to be 9.0%. In recent years, rates filed with the CDI and DHMC have increased by approximately 7-11% for individual insurance products. Absent the 2014 Affordable Care Act changes, we believe the market and regulatory forces that led to these trends would continue at similar levels in 2014.”</p>
<p>NJRes - what is your premium before subsidy for the two of you in North Carolina? I believe you mentioned being able to control your income to optimize your subsidy.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of insurance companies but I also am not willing to take on the risk of the things that I choose to insure against – so I buy insurance. Some of the insurance I buy is also something I am required to buy by law (such as car insurance) or at the insistence of a lender (such as home insurance) – and some is optional (such as my life insurance or long term care insurance). </p>
<p>I find it personally easier in my life and less stressful overall to reserve my anger for things that I have the ability to do something about. I can always find people who are worse off than I am-- the main impact of ACA for me is that I now have access to more information to compare insurance rates, both within my state and in others. That in turn potentially gives me information that I could use to my benefit – for example, if I was contemplating a move I now would be able to factor in cost of insurance as well as looking at housing costs. </p>
<p>Other than that it’s not much different: my insurance rates rose in the past than they are rising now.</p>
<p>“I thought subsidies (tax credits) were only available if we signed up for a Silver plan using the healthcare.gov website, but subsidies were applied to the premiums for gold and bronze plans also on the website.”</p>
<p>You need the silver plan if you qualify for additional cost sharing. </p>
<p>“Also, for folks between 100% and 250% of federal poverty level (see incomes expressed as FPL in chart above), there will be tax subsidies to help reduce out-of-pocket costs like deductibles, co-pays, coinsurance and annual maximums in addition to the premium tax credits described in my last post. You MUST purchase a Silver plan to get these extra cost-sharing subsidies because basically the federal govt is paying to upgrade your Silver plan to function like a Platinum-plus, Gold-plus or Silver-plus plan.”</p>
<p>Ah poetgrl, you had it so good before…obviously unfairly. So just suck it up and pay for everyone else now too, will ya? Someone has to do it. May as well be you, and I hope you like your tax increase too.:D</p>
<p>“We went back to the Healthcare.gov website today and created an account for my wife. It was a relatively smooth and painless process.”</p>
<p>NJres, I think you’re playing with fire here. Because you had an easy time creating an account, you’re still waiting to make a decision, thinking that when you finally sign up, that will be smooth also? Haven’t you read about people that went entirely through the process, and found out the insurance company doesn’t even know who they are?</p>
<p>Just my opinion, but I think you should hurry up and get on with it. You have no idea how many more problems could be in store for you.</p>