<p>momof2kids, the employees who are fortunate enough to have employers subsidize cadillac-type insurance plans for them, will have to face some of the same unpleasantness I am dealing with in the near future. Their premiums will go up (in many cases significantly) and their networks could be severely limited as well. You guys have not had to deal with this yet because most group plans do not come up for renewal until later this year, and as long as the companies renew before Dec 31, you can avoid complying with Obamacare for another year. I wasn’t afforded this benefit.</p>
<p>The plan I’m currently on isn’t legal next year. For better coverage, without a subsidy, I’d be paying about $20 more per month on a catastrophic plan (again, it’s better than what I have). My fiance’s company doesn’t and won’t offer coverage (less than 50 employees). We both qualify for subsidies though. I qualify for Medicaid but since Michigan didn’t pass a bill for immediate effect, Medicaid isn’t available until April. Which is fine as I can now afford my monthly premium.</p>
<p>I’m getting a silver plan for a small fraction of what I was paying before. He’s getting insurance for the first time since he was very young for a reasonable price. (He only qualifies for a small subsidy)</p>
<p>We’re both going through BCBS as they’re by far the most widely accepted here.</p>
<p>Congressional members were suppose to have to buy their policies from the exchanges like me. When they saw how expensive and lousy they were, they screamed bloody murder, and the OPM responded by allowing them to participate in a SHOP exchange with only gold plans with significant subsidy from the federal govt. The bottom line: when faced with the same nonsense I am dealing with, they didn’t like it.</p>
<p>Will federal and state employees with Cadillac plans have the same penalties as those with private Cadillac plans?</p>
<p>Golden - I would say I am on a high mileage Honda plan. I feel fortunate to have it, but it’s definitely not a Caddy! </p>
<p>I am just trying to figure out how many people will be on the exchanges without subsidies. It seems to me that group is the one facing the harshest increases. I am curious to see how our options change at work on the next enrollment date. I know our (employee AND employer) costs have gone up considerably over the last several years (not just since Affordable Care). Our particular insurer is not part of the state exchange. I wonder if that might dampen any costs associated with Affordable Care. </p>
<p>I am fine with government workers enjoying an employer subsidy. I get that in the private sector.</p>
<p>“I wasn’t afforded this benefit.”</p>
<p>So get a job with an employer subsidized plan. </p>
<p>“When they saw how expensive and lousy they were, they screamed bloody murder, and the OPM responded by allowing them to participate in a SHOP exchange with only gold plans with significant subsidy from the federal govt.”</p>
<p>Hogwash. When they realized that the law as written forget to include a way for them to have their health insurance subsidized by their employer, as it has been forever, and still is for all the other federal employees other than member of Congress and their staff’s receive and will continue to receive, they asked to have the employer subsidy applied to the exchange plan. </p>
<p>If you want your health insurance subsidized get a job with an employer who has that benefit.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hogwash, indeed. If you look at the history of the bill, Congesspersons and their staffs were specifically excluded – on purpose. There was no ‘forget’.</p>
<p>OTOH, it is rather silly to force them onto the Exchange, since the federal government is a major employer and must recruit and retain talent. Regardless of what I think, however, that is exactly how the bill was written – purposefully.</p>
<p><a href=“Health Care Law Raises Pressure on Public Unions - The New York Times”>Health Care Law Raises Pressure on Public Unions - The New York Times;
<p>Yes, state and municipal workers health care plans are Cadillac plans. And (of course, how stupid of me), it will be the taxpayers not the employees who will be paying the excise taxes on these same Cadillac plans.</p>
<p>
I found the same thing. All it asked was State, County and whether the coverage was for an individual, a couple, and/or kids.</p>
<p>The rates I found were too good to be true. I even narrowed down to only Gold plans and the highest is less than we’re paying now.</p>
<p>“Individuals below poverty are at the highest risk of being uninsured, and this group accounts for 38% of all the uninsured (the poverty level for a family of four was $23,050 in 2012). **In total, nine in ten of the uninsured are in low- or moderate-income families, meaning they are below 400% of poverty<a href=“Figure%203”>/b</a>.” (my bold)</p>
<p>[Key</a> Facts about the Uninsured Population | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation](<a href=“http://kff.org/uninsured/fact-sheet/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/]Key”>Key Facts about the Uninsured Population | KFF)</p>
<p>So it looks like the large majority of people who would be buying on the exchanges are eligible for subsidies.</p>
<p>“Hogwash, indeed. If you look at the history of the bill, Congesspersons and their staffs were specifically excluded – on purpose. There was no ‘forget’.”</p>
<p>[No</a>, Congress isn?t trying to exempt itself from Obamacare](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/25/no-congress-isnt-trying-to-exempt-itself-from-obamacare/]No”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/25/no-congress-isnt-trying-to-exempt-itself-from-obamacare/)</p>
<p>“This isn’t, in other words, an effort to flee Obamacare. It’s an effort to fix a drafting error that prevents the federal government from paying into insurance exchanges on behalf of congressional staffers who got caught up in a political controversy.”</p>
<p>3bm103 and others, the prices on the exchanges are additive. If you only have adults in the family you are insuring, you can figure out the premium for each one, and then add the premiums up, and that will be your unsubsidized cost. If you have kids, you could get a ballpark figure by putting 18 in for each of their ages. </p>
<p>Why yes, the website ought to do this for you, and figure out your subsidy and your subsidized premiums too. But given that it doesn’t, at least you can get some numbers out. You can figure out your subsidy too, with a bit more playing around, by looking at the cost of the second-lowest Silver plan.</p>
<p>I have my beefs with Covered California, but it’s easy to figure out premiums and subsidies for a family using it (after you realize that you need to close the giant pop-up window that covers the entire screen when you ask for price quotes, and after you realize that the little bitty circles navigate from Bronze/Silver to Gold/Platinum).</p>
<p>^^it never asked for an age.</p>
<p>Besides, why would it ask my how many people I’m covering if it doesn’t give me the premium for the one adult and children I specified. Also, it didn’t even ask how many children.</p>
<p>Moderator’s Note:</p>
<p>This is not a thread about congressional staffer and their insurance policies. Please move on.</p>
<p>momof2kids, there is no doubt that unsubsidized people on the exchanges are getting hit very hard. </p>
<p>I don’t think it will matter if your insurer is on the exchange or not. Eventually your group plan will have to be brought into compliance with Obamacare and then you will probably experience its consequences.</p>
<p>When I just did it, it asked for ages and number of kids before giving me the unsubsidized premiums. Also smoking status. Maybe Ohio is doing it differently.</p>
<p>OHMomof2: did you use this link that CTTC provided? </p>
<p><a href=“Health insurance plans & prices | HealthCare.gov”>Health insurance plans & prices | HealthCare.gov;
<p>I wasn’t asked any of those questions.</p>
<p>Are you using the federal site?</p>
<p>I have gone there for the first time to see what it looks like and it seems to be changing questions since the link was first posted on this thread 3 hours ago.</p>
<p>The first time it threw a bunch of different plans at me and I was surprised no age was asked or number of family members and I retried and got a couple of questions about kids under 18 and whether I belong to under 30 or 30-64 which seemed rather broad range. Good news is my county in Texas offers 42 plans if someone is interested around here.</p>
<p>I went to healthcare.gov to see what it was telling me about my (imaginary) family’s insurance premium. First I said I was looking for insurance in Florida for me, my husband and our children. It found zero plans. </p>
<p>Then I moved my imaginary self to Georgia, to Peach County because I like peaches. Then it found me plenty of policies, with cheap rates too, but as 3bm103 said, it never asked me my age, so I don’t know what the point of the quotes were, and I’m sure they were wrong for my imaginary family with two 55-year-old adults in it.</p>
<p>This is just broken. My imaginary self wants to know what my imaginary family would pay, not what the average family would pay. Actually, my real self also wants to know what my imaginary family would pay in Georgia. I bet it’s a lot less that what I’d have to pay here in California.</p>
<p>^ so no questions about whether you qualify for a healthy biker discount? :p</p>