<p>I work in insurance so I can try to answer that for you, but don’t hold me to this… </p>
<p>The “guaranteed issue” part is the being accepted regardless of pre-existing conditions, the “rating variation” rule is there to stop people from being penalized for their health history (quadruple the cost, rated up, etc)… but you can still have a different rate based on age, area, etc.</p>
<p>Regarding individual plans costing less then through an employer… To be honest with you, chances are employer coverage will still be less… depending on the situation… Say, for example, you have a group of 100 employees, and say the average age is 35, and whatever other factors are taken into consideration when determining the rate for employer coverage… then keep in mind, that the employer generally speaking contributes towards the cost. Maybe the cost of this plan is 400 dollars per employee, and maybe the employer chips in 200, leaving 200 for the employee to pay. If you’re an individual who is say, 22, you may find a cheaper individual rate on your own, but be on the hook for the entire premium… Maybe the plan will cost 150 dollars as a 22 year old, but you are now paying the 150 instead of just your 200 from the other plan, but chances are you probably have a higher deductible on the individual policy. Whereas say if you are someone who is 45 and looking for a policy on your own, you’re probably much better being “rated” as part of the group with the average age of 35, where your employer is picking up some of the tab as well. Maybe your price at 45 is 400 a month by yourself with a higher deductible… so you’re still probably better off with being on the employer plan. Does that make sense? I’m just throwing out random numbers here to make an example.</p>
<p>The situation that you mentioned, meaning trying to pick an HSA plan to minimize premiums, is happening already. I have customers who call us all the time wanting prices on higher HSA plans, to see if they can pay less for that then what they are currently paying for their portion of the employer coverage. I get these phone calls every day. I’m sure they will continue over the next few years as health care rolls out. Very very rarely does it work out that the individual price is less then what they pay for their portion of the employer coverage… and if it does work out less, it’s usually a huge difference in deductible and coverage options.</p>
<p>And regarding your situation where employers can just offer something close to a one size fits all plan… That’s up to them. They could do that now if they wanted to. I guess it will come down to what the company decides to do. My company offers 6 options, spread between 2 different insurance carriers for us to choose from. I personally switched plans for this upcoming year to a HSA plan offered by the company to minimize my premiums. The place where my mom works offers one plan… and I know for a fact that the plan they offer their employees costs them 800 a month, and they split it - the employer pays half and the employee pays half. That’s their only option. It’s a take it or leave it type deal. It’s expensive as heck, but they have like a 250 deductible and the average age of their employees is like 60. I’m sure the price would go down drastically if they were to raise the deductible or get some younger employees to help their average age come down. Those 60 year old people may be able to find insurance less somewhere else for less then their 400 dollar share, but I’m sure it would have much much more of a deductible then their current 250.</p>
<p>So it honestly just depends on what the company is offering.</p>