I haven’t been around here for a while, but remembered that this forum is one of the best on earth for good advice on any subject. I’m living between two states and need health insurance, am not qualified for ACA subsidies and my BC/BS has gotten too expensive (D at school that doesn’t offer health insurance.) I can’t get a recommendation for an insurance broker in Massachusetts, had one here in Maine who has just stopped returning calls. Is there a resident expert on Parent Cafe? (It’s never let me down before!)
One thing to consider is buying one policy for yourself, either in Maine or Massachusetts, and buying a different policy for your daughter in whatever state she goes to school in. She won’t be eligible for subsidies if she is your dependent, but she may be able to find cheaper insurance in her state, and if she is generally healthy, she might be better off with a cheaper policy with a bigger deductible.
Good idea, thank you!!
I’m not an expert in this, but previous posters have reported that policies that cover care in two different states are expensive. You might look into what it would cost to either buy a Maine-only policy or a Massachusetts-only policy, if that would work for you. You’d still be covered for emergency care in either state.
Yes, I’m probably going to stay with Massachusetts… so complicated!
Massachusetts is it’s own animal and MaineLonghorn has had some sad Maine stories about the offerings there. Each state is so very different, they even implement the same national rules in ways that affect the real live people, much differently. In my western US experience, BC-BS is the only company that consistently uses a network (Blue card) to allow people to be “in network” in other states. You will have to check each plan so you are covered. With all those NE states being so geographically connected, one would think there would be more cross state coverage
Maine Community Health Options nonprofit is now “Communty Health Options” as it has expanded to other states, I believe including MA. You don’t need to eligible for a subsidy to have it (I’m not) and it’s much cheaper than Harvard Pilgrim (which you can also buy yourself) not to mention Anthem (horrible, horrible company, I speak from experience) and has better coverage. My son is at college in MA and is still covered under it. There are in-network doctors under it in other states.
Let’s just say…I’m sick of dealing with health insurance.
Having said that…one of our kids has an Anthem POS plan that has blue card. This wa important to us because the kid attends school and loves in one state, but would still like to see the primary care doc here for physicals…plus might be here all summer next year.
Other kid has a policy that is a POS as well…but not a carrier that is typically found here. But for that kid…it doesn’t matter.
As a point…the kid with the Anthem plan has a privately purchased policy with no subsidy. 27 years old…$200 a month.
The other kid is 30 and has an ACA plan with subsidy…and the cost is within dollars…,about $180 a month.
Different states…and I’m sure that is some of it.
My dream for my kids is that they get jobs with health coverage. And for myself…I can’t wait to be on Medicate.
^^^ Oh my, guess I’m today’s poster child. A quick recap…H and I have a business. We have been a small group with BS for 10 years. The ACA says we can no longer be a group but must purchase as individuals. BS grandfathered and then grandmother our plan. But, as of 2017 they can no longer offer non-ACA compliant plans. So, they are discontinuing the one we have and like.
So, the good news is we didn’t have to re-certify as a group and snuck in under the cover of massive paperwork and were offered a new group plan. The bad news, the new ACA compliant plan raises our deductible from 2.5K to 4.5K, raises all of our co-pays AND the cost went from $1100/month to $1800/month. That’s just for H and I. So…quick math will show we just got a 65% premium increase. And that’s for a policy with at least double the OOP expenses.
Ah…well…it’s just money…right?
You don’t need an insurance broker in MA. You go online to [url=<a href=“https://www.mahealthconnector.org%5Dmahealthconnector.org%5B/url”>https://www.mahealthconnector.org]mahealthconnector.org[/url]. It’s very straight forward. Plans for 2016 open on 11/1. I don’t know if you’d qualify for a “special enrollment” before that. They have both phone help and trained people in each part of the state. It works quite well. I know a number of people who have health insurance through the Connector.
You don’t need an agent to buy a plan, but you pay no extra money to have an agent who should be able to answer all your questions and help you determine which plan is best for you and explain why.