My understanding is if you do not need a subsidy (Perhaps even if you do), you can go directly to providers to get ACA compliant insurance. That means you can find the price without ever going to the exchange. When you file your taxes for 2014, you simply need to add proof of insurance. I got a quote from one of the providers in my location in about 10 secs. Simply go online and enter your details. Look for plans marked Silver, Gold, etc.
- www.ehealthinsurance.com – Gives more specific quotes
- www.valuepenguin.com – Makes General Comparisons just for 2014
Why this is such a secret I have no idea. With eHealthinsurance.com you can buy a 2013 or a 2014 plan. It makes no sense to buy a 2013 plan, but you can see the difference in prices between comparable plans. This is a quick way to check your increase/decrease. So, please do the following:
- Go to www.ehealthinsurance.com and get quotes for 2013 and 2014 for comparable plans
- Reply to my twitter post with your %change in per month premium, city, and the hashtag #ACACostsMe
Attempting to get as close as possible on apples/oranges here is what I get for my Family:
| Plan | Deductible | Co-Pay | Out of Network | Network | Same Doctor | Monthly Rate |
| 2014 ACA Gold | $1,500 | 20% | 30% | Limited | No | $1,056 |
| 2013 PPO | $3,000 | 20% | 20% | Open | Yes | $460 |
Running this for 2013, I get 15 options setting it at a 20% co-pay to match 2014 Gold. I get 1 option running this for 2014 (not much competition). To be fair there is one other plan provider who is not yet on eHealth. So my nearest comparable plan cost between 2013 to 2014, my monthly premium goes up 129%. Assuming I have about $1K in medical bills per year, the net increase is about 110%. If I had a major event that cost say $50k, the 2013 plan would leave me paying $12,400, the 2014 ACA plan $16,050 (Because I would be out of network with my current doctor).
This is not a totally fair comparison, but its enough of a comparison to worry. The 2014 ACA plan prevents me from seeing my current doctor or being in a good hospital network. But I get maternity benefits which might help me if I had a young mistress in child bearing years.
For all the complaints about evil insurance companies, ACA forces many self insured off of lower cost competitive plans and onto a more expensive plan with misaligned benefits. The extra cost does not really go for that much more care than the 2013 plan, it goes for higher cost insurance. With all the ACA actuarial changes, who knows if the insurance companies make more money. It oddly does motivate us to consume more medical services (moral hazard) to take advantage of the different deductibles.
To think the Feds and States spent more than $3.8B creating exchanges that don’t work. But you can go to the insurance companies directly or use tool like eHealthinsurance to compare plans. I am irate we are wasting all this money and effort when the industry could handle it with existing technology.
I frankly hate the whole concept of ACA, but I lose my insurance Dec 31st because of ACA, so I need to find a replacement.
- Obamacare Will Be Both Ally and Rival To eHealthInsurance
- Experts Suggest Software Problems, Not Just Demand, May Be Behind Marketplace Glitches
