Affordable Care Act Scene 2 - Insurance Premiums

Parent Cafe
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<p>I like Megyn Kelly… With the sound off. ;)</p>

<p>[How</a> many people ?enrolled? in ObamaCare have paid their first month of premiums? « Hot Air](<a href=“http://hotair.com/archives/2013/12/05/how-many-people-enrolled-in-obamacare-have-paid-their-first-month-of-premiums/]How”>How many people "enrolled" in ObamaCare have paid their first month of premiums? – HotAir)</p>

<p>There is some example in this link pretending that 60 percent of signups are going to pay.</p>

<p>“Yesterday I guesstimated, based on the most recent enrollment numbers, that something like 1.5 million people will sign up by December 23rd. Not every insurer will have a payment rate as poor as the one in Indiana cited above, but even if you triple it and assume 60 percent are paying on time, that’s still 600,000 people — roughly the population of Washington D.C. — that went to the trouble of signing up and then, for various and unknown reasons, didn’t complete enrollment by tendering payment. Maybe that’s because they’re short on cash right now, maybe they meant to pay and simply forgot, or maybe they didn’t read the fine print and thought they wouldn’t be expected to pay until January. My guess is that most of them fall into the last group. Which means all hell’s going to break loose next month.”</p>

<p>We read a lot of bs about Obamacare. </p>

<p>I told you I have a relative that is working with insurance companies on ACA. </p>

<p>So… I just talked to my relative. </p>

<p>I thought I would forward parts of our conversation.</p>

<p>Historically, the amount of people that sign up for health insurance and then dont pay is very low. </p>

<p>People are going to be able to pay online when they sign up on an exchange. I dont know if that is already in effect in Cal.</p>

<p>There is a lag between the time an individual signs up and the insurance company receives the info about the new customer. It’s days.</p>

<p>This idea that a large percentage of people are going to sign up and then not pay is not founded in facts. The info hasnt been gathered yet. </p>

<p>However based on what is written above… I wouldnt get too excited GP. </p>

<p>I am going to be told how many people paid after signing up. I wont have to rely on news sources. ;)</p>

7902

<p>Lerkin, I’m not understanding your FIL’s situation. If I understand dstark’s linked article, for drug costs up to $2850, Medicare Part D covers the full cost. For drug costs above $4550, Medicare Part D will cover the full cost. For the part in between, Medicare Part D covers half the cost.</p>

<p>So your FIL is on the hook for a max of $(4550-2850)/2, which is $850.</p>

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<p>I have enrolled and have not paid my first month’s premium because I haven’t seen the bill yet. Right now, trying to count the number of people who are in a similar situation seems like a pointless exercise to me.</p>

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<p>A person who signs up has to wait for their information to be transmitted to the insurer, for the insurer to send the bill and for the USPS to deliver the bill. A lot of people have signed up in the last ten days. Many of them are going to be in NJres’s situation: they want insurance and are ready to pay, but they haven’t seen the bill yet.</p>

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<p>I dont know how many procrastinators there are that read this thread, but has anybody paid his or her first bill online during the signing up for the plan on an exchange process?</p>

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<p>CF,</p>

<p>You don’t understand correctly. Up to $2850, he pays co-insurance, which is 20%. The $2850 is the entire cost, including what he and insurance pays. Then, until $4750 (2014), he pays 47.5% (or something like that). Then he pays 5%. </p>

<p>I’ve been working on his case for a week. I know what I’m talking about. It’s going to be me paying for his drugs, so I want to minimize my expenditures.</p>

7907

<p>Just imagine someone who has signed up for Obamacare and finds out next year that the insurance company won’t cover the $7,000 drug. I know you can fight them but if the drug is no longer on the formulary and the new insurance plans won’t cover non-formulary drugs, it is going to be a very traumatic experience for these people.</p>

<p>“Historically, the amount of people that sign up for health insurance and then don’t pay is very low.”</p>

<p>The only problem with this statement, dstark, is the word,“historically”. I don’t think you can compare anything that is going on now with anything in the past.</p>

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<p>GP…so how many people are going to sign up
And not pay?</p>

<p>You must have a number in mind because you made the bet.</p>

7909

<p>I am not sure because we really don’t know anything about the people who have signed up for the exchange plans except that most of them qualify for subsidies. It depends on whether these people have a history paying for health insurance, and if they don’t, will they now. If I had to guess, I say half will pay.</p>

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<p>:)…</p>

<p>On an unrelated note… You deal with 1031 exchanges?</p>

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<p>No, I was a consultant for developers of residential and commercial properties that qualified for federal and state tax credits. I helped them sell the tax credits to evil corporations. :)</p>

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<p>That’s cool. I wouldnt be trashing other people’s subsidies including medicaid if I was in that business. :)</p>

<p>My wife works for a developer. :)</p>

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<p>That’s okay, I was the biggest critic of some of the excesses in my business, but I had to make a living.</p>

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<p>My son works for a real estate developer. I tried to tell him about some of the issues with the business but he didn’t listen to me. I think he wants to be the Donald Trump of the West Coast. :(</p>

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<p>Of course. </p>

<p>I am extremely critical of my old business which was trading financial instruments, but I wanted to make a living and I like numbers. :)</p>

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<p>"If I had to guess, I say half will pay. "</p>

<p>Wrong assumption. Many who are buying are people like you who have no choice since you no longer have insurance.</p>

<p>When people throw these estimates around and argue about how many are going to register it is totally irrelevant unless you can estimate how many previously had insurance and are reenrolling. I don’t believe anyone is keeping track.</p>

<p>dstark, GP, NJres, calmom - everyone had insurance. Just because all of you now count as ACA enrollees does not make you newly insured.</p>

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<p>Hopefully, your facility with numbers doesn’t extend to betting on paid signups for the exchange. :)</p>

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<p>I want my kids to do whatever they want to do but it was strongly suggested to them to do something different than what I did. :)</p>

<p>Maybe your son will be very successful. If he likes developing…and he can handle the ups and downs, and the red tape… Who knows… He can be very successful.</p>

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<p>Texas, true, but I am thinking most people who lost their insurance are enrolling directly with the insurance companies, not on the exchanges. How many of the newly enrolled with exchange plans are people who were previously insured in the individual marketplace.</p>

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<p>dstark, he loves what he is doing. You’re right…if you are tenacious, a risk-taker, not afraid of conflict and a great negotiator, it can be a very rewarding career.</p>