<p>Anthem told me not to drop my grandfather plan so I didn’t for one year. Cost me 5,000. </p>
<p>Second year, I talked to 3 people at Anthem and then I switched. Anthem kept telling me that the new plans were going to increase in price dramatically. That was true. What Anthem was missing in their comments to me was that the grandfathered plans were also going to increase in price and they were already more expensive. </p>
<p>So I dropped the grandfathered plan. In 2012 that plan was more than 1400 a month. I switched to a plan that was 850 a month. In 2013, my new plan became more expensive. Now it was 1000 a month. Who knows what that grandfathered plan was going to cost? The rates were going up 20 percent a year.</p>
<p>Even with the 2014 ACA rates of 1370 a month, that was cheaper than my grandfathered plan of 2012. I figure I saved at least 12,000 by switching. </p>
<p>And the new ACA plan is better. I cant be dropped for a preexisting condition. No caps.</p>
<p>dStark, the second link you provided refers to some other incident not related to ACA. In 2014, Cedars will not be included in the Anthem’s or Blue Shield’s network.</p>
<p>Calmom, how much do you want to bet that for non-emergency surgeries the anesthesiologist has to be in the network. The only exception I know of is if there are no anesthesiologists in the network for your region. Read Himom’s post.</p>
<p>dstark, what was the deductible and out-of-pocket maximum for the $1,400 plan and the 2014 $1,370 plan? Also, don’t make up your mind until you know the network for the new plan as compared to what you have now.</p>
<p>LasMa, not sure I understand what you’re saying. No one can be dropped from an individual or group plan in Ca for being sick. You could lose your plan if you couldn’t afford it. Is that what you’re suggesting?</p>
<p>What do you mean? Right before the ACA passed, insurers, including insurers from California, went up in front of Congress and admitted that they deliberately trumped up reasons to drop breast cancer patients from their policies. They admitted they did it, and they straightforwardly said they wouldn’t stop doing it. </p>
<p>Now they can’t do that. But they could do it before, and they did.</p>
<p>What I have now and the bronze plan seem to be similar. I would have to look up what I have now and compare. The plan I have now doesnt meet ACA. I prefer the price of what I have now. </p>
<p>But that grandfathered plan… Forget it.</p>
<p>UCLA is covered by Anthem depending on where you live and whatever. I think you should look at Anthem. As of May, Cedars was out in the cold. Is there anything new on Cedars?</p>
<p>As far as Blue Shield and Kaiser. Blue Shield is supposed to be non profit. Kaiser is supposed to be the model of the future. The fact that in many areas BS and Kaiser are more expensive than Anthem, a for profit company, is ridiculous. Lerkin mentioned earlier that the insurance companies dont know how the numbers are going to work out. That is true. If Anthem is right, BS and Kaiser better get their acts together for 2015.</p>
<p>The 1400 grandfathered plan did not cover preconditions. there were no
Protections. It had caps. The deductibles and out of pocket were similar to the ACA </p>
<p>One thing I like about ACA is health insurance is going to be more understandable over time.
Maybe not this year. :)</p>
<p>Goldenpooch, sorry, I wasn’t clear. dstark said:</p>
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<p>He was saying that in addition to the cost savings he got by switching from the grandfathered plan, he was also able to take advantage of the protections under ACA. Those protections do not apply to grandfathered plans – protections like not being dropped, and no caps, as well as free preventive care, guaranteed right of appeal, and protection against excessive premium increases. Unlike ACA plans, grandfathered plans can kick you around just like they always have.</p>
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<p>They’re doing that voluntarily, and they can reinstate caps any time they want to.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang, you are referring to rescission cases where people were dropped because they omitted preexisting conditions on their applications. I think these were few and far between by the time ACA was passed.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the premium is for my grandfathered plan for 2014, but I think it can’t go up too much, otherwise it would lose its grandfather status. Not sure of this.</p>
<p>Sorry, LasMa, but you are wrong about some of those protections. There are no caps with the grandfathered plans, and there is no protection against excessive premium increases with ACA-compliant plans for unsubsidized policyholders (at least any different than what already exists).</p>
<p>If you are asking me CF, I dont know. It would be more. It was never less. I think that plan is kaput now. I am pretty sure that grandfathered plan is kaput. I was able to escape that plan because of a class action law suit. </p>
<p>I communicated with Dave Jones about that grandfathered plan. Dave emailed me at 5 in the morning on a Saturday when I first wrote to him about Anthem. I emailed Dave Friday night. Talk about a quick response. :)</p>
<p>They weren’t few and far between: Wellpoint tried to trump up reasons to rescind the policy of every single woman who had breast cancer. Assurant tried to trump up reasons to rescind the policy of every single person newly diagnosed as HIV+. The rescissions were only rare in the sense that they didn’t target everyone; they only targeted sick people who were going to cost them money. They were happy to take your premium, as long as you were healthy.</p>
<p>ACA got rid of the caps. The caps didnt disappear on their own.</p>
<p>There is going to be a proposition on the ballot in Cal giving the insurance commissioner more power to reign in (or is it rein in) health insurance rate hikes. I am sure all of us who hate high health insurance rate increases are going to vote to give the insurance commisioner more power. :)</p>