<p>dstark, I am not talking about the number of insurance companies available to subscribers in each region. The problem is that with respect to the network, they all offer very limited choices. There is no region in Ca with anywhere near the number of providers that were previously offered to subscribers.</p>
<p>“Businesses with more than 50 employees will be required under the Affordable Care Act to provide healthcare coverage to their employees. Lets put this into perspective. Only 0.2 percent of the businesses in the U.S. with more than 50 employees do not already provide healthcare insurance to full-time employees.”</p>
<p>LasMa, I don’t think this quote from the Forbes article is saying that all these businesses are ACA-compliant. I would guess many of them are not.</p>
<p>Has Anthem released its network? If Anthem hasn’t, you dont know that yet.</p>
<p>You were complaining about the UCs and it turns out Anthem is covering the UCs. In the private market Anthem doesnt always cover the UCs. </p>
<p>Why complain before all the facts are in? Why so sour?</p>
<p>Calmom, I found this quote on the govt website:</p>
<p>“Grandfathered plans are those that were in existence on March 23, 2010 and have stayed basically the same. But they can enroll people after that date and still maintain their grandfathered status. In other words, even if you joined a grandfathered plan after March 23, 2010, the plan may still be grandfathered. The status depends on when the plan was created, not when you joined it.”</p>
<p>Do you think this statement is accurate? Could the insurance companies allow subscribers to join grandfather plans after March 23, 2010? Do you know where to look to better understand the law with respect to this provision?</p>
<p>dstark, you’re right that we don’t know if there will be more providers signing up before Jan 1. But remember we don’t have much time to decide if you want insurance on Jan 1. If these networks become more robust between now and Dec, that would be great, but I am not hearing a whole lot of encouraging news about this.</p>
<p>I am glad that Anthem covers the UC hospitals, but isn’t that negated by the fact that many of the Anthem plans will be EPO’s? I think in my region it will be a PPO but I am not 100% certain of this yet.</p>
<p>Goldenpooch, the date of an individual plan is the date that YOU enrolled. </p>
<p>The language about “even if you joined” later applies to GROUP coverage – if a person was hired in 2011 and signed up for their employer plan, but the employer had been offering the same plan to all employees since 2009, that plan would be grandfathered.</p>
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<p>The cheapest Bronze plan is $840 a year more than the catastrophic plan ($70 a month add up!). Same $6350 max out of pocket. The difference is that I get a 10%/90% coverage on the spread between the deductible ($5750) and the max ($6350). So, I guess that theoretically it could save me back $540 of that extra premium but only if I have a major illness/accident in any given year. I like my current plan. I wish I could keep it. :)</p>
<p>BTW, thanks for all your great information. Very helpful.</p>
<p>What’s the deal with this pediatric dentistry coverage. I don’t really have buy that if I don’t have kids, do I? I keep getting flags warning me that the plan I have selected does not meet that requirement…</p>
<p>BTW, CBS News picked up on the feature or bug that I discovered last night. The preview pricing tool significantly underestimates the cost of the plans:</p>
<p>[HealthCare.gov</a> pricing feature can be off the mark - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57608843/healthcare.gov-pricing-feature-can-be-off-the-mark/]HealthCare.gov”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57608843/healthcare.gov-pricing-feature-can-be-off-the-mark/)</p>
<p>I suspect the low estimates are viewed as a feature, not a bug…</p>
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<p>BTW, the sign up procedure on the fed website is insane. The password restrictions are beyond anything I’ve ever seen. And I couldn’t even answer most of the security questions they asked. What day was my parent’s anniversary? Are you kidding me? I can’t even remember my own…</p>
<p>^ parents anniversary? too funny…I wouldn’t even know the year</p>
<p>Calmom, how do you know it doesn’t apply to individual plans? Nothing on the govt website says it related to only group plans. Are you sure? Do you have any citations?</p>
<p>The Affordable Care Act mandates pediatric dental coverage, and I believe that is included automatically on the exchange plans. But if you are buying off the exchange, then of course there are plans without it which might shave a few dollars off of the premium. Of course you don’t need it if you don’t have kids. You can buy dental coverage for yourself, and the options look a little better to me than anything I could get before ACA, but still not worth it IMHO.</p>
<p>GP, the date the plan was “established” dates back to the date you signed up.</p>
<p>One characteristic of a “grandfathered” plan is that there can’t be any substantial changes to the plan since March 2010. </p>
<p>You had one plan in March 2010 and you changed to a different plan, with a different deductible sometime later on. That was the sort of change that causes a grandfathered plan to lose its status.</p>
<p>Calmom, I don’t read the rule the way you interpret it. Yes, a grandfathered plan can’t change their deductibles or co-payments but the language seems to indicate that subscribers can join after March, 23, 2010 regardless of what plan they might have previously been in. The plan itself must have in existence before March 23, 2010 and the benefits in the plan must remain basically unchanged. I don’t see any language saying this only applies to group plans. However, I do think it is up to the insurance company if they want to allow people to join the plan after March 23, 2010.</p>
<p>GP, here’s the statute: [42</a> USC § 18011 - Preservation of right to maintain existing coverage | Title 42 - The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code | LII / Legal Information Institute](<a href=“http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/18011]42”>42 U.S. Code § 18011 - Preservation of right to maintain existing coverage | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute)</p>
<p>Paragraph (a)(2) under “Continuation of Coverage” specifies that it applies to "a group health plan or health insurance coverage in which an individual was enrolled on March 23, 2010, "</p>
<p>Then Paragraph (c) (“allowance for new employees to join plan”) carves out an exception for employer group plans to allow for new employees to enroll in a plan that existed in March 2010. </p>
<p>There is also an exception in paragraph (b) for family members - so for example if you had kept the same plan since March of 2010, but you had added back a 23-year-old child at some time after March, then that coverage would still be grandfathered.</p>
<p>But someone on your policy had to be actually enrolled back in March 2010.</p>
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<p>??? I thought ACA mandates were mandates for all plans ???</p>
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Florida has exchange plans that don’t include pediatric dental/vision coverage and plans that do. In fact, FloridaBlue has 2 or 3 plans that include adult dental coverage.</p>
<p>OK, I’ll check next time I find the Anthem plan site (it’s buried so deep that I struggle to get back to it). </p>
<p>I think Anthem is providing pediatric dental by offering an add-on from a third party dental insurer. The Bronze plans (that’s all I’ve looked at) are available with or without the add-on. I think I’m getting flagged when I select a plan because I’m not getting pediatric dental coverage required under ACA. I assume (dangerous, I know) that it’s only required if you actually have kids!).</p>
<p>So I tried to get to the marketplace again. Whoo hoo, I actually got past the user name / password stage! I got an email immediately requesting that I verify my email address, which I did! I was getting excited! Then I went to log in, and was taken to a YAHOO page with the message: "The requested URL "<a href=“https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/auth/userprofile">https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/auth/userprofile</a>" cannot be found or is not available. Please check the spelling or try again later.” This is ridiculous. And I can’t find out real prices because with the browsing option, they don’t ask your age.</p>
<p>Maine is using the federal system? Ay ay ay, they need to get that system working.</p>
<p>When I clicked on HealthCare.gov and entered “Maine,” I got a message that I’m supposed to use HealthCare.gov to select insurance.</p>