Author Topic: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?  (Read 5685 times)

geekette

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2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« on: October 01, 2018, 03:18:51 PM »
The prices aren't on healthcare.gov yet for 2019, but we got a notice from our insurance company (BCBS NC) and our cost, strangely, is going down by quite a bit - about 15%. 

I haven't been able to find a link to the formulary, but our doctors are currently listed as in network (and all the specialists I can think of that we've used over the years are also listed as in network), and co-pays are the same.  The hospital system we can use has changed from one large local system to the other, but from my standpoint, not a concern. 

jim555

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2018, 01:54:14 AM »
Unchanged, at $0.

nkt0

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2018, 06:09:45 AM »
Have not heard anything yet, but our insurance provider is one of the worst in the nation, so i expect only to hear at the last possible minute or just after.

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2018, 08:25:53 AM »
Haven't heard yet.  Mine has gone up by more than 20% every year but it still quite reasonable.  Especially after subsidy.

seattlecyclone

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2018, 11:13:30 AM »
The state of Washington has a website where you can look at what changes each company has asked for. Of the seven insurance companies that have had their requests approved, the approved increases range from 0.3% to 18.61%. Of the five companies with requests still pending, the requested changes range from an 8.6% decrease to a 7.5% increase.

jim555

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2018, 11:19:11 AM »
http://acasignups.net/
They have info on rate changes.

MustacheAnxiety

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2018, 03:24:02 PM »
https://www.kff.org/private-insurance/issue-brief/tracking-2019-premium-changes-on-aca-exchanges/

KFF has a nicely organized chart of rate changes, but is generalized for each state. They have info from 21 states so far. KFF has so much information on the ACA, my FIRE planning would be lost without them. 

In addition to how ACA premiums are changing for 2019, I am curious if the ACA folks have been getting 2017 rebate checks.  We both got notices that employer based health insurance premiums were too high in 2017 and a rebate was being issued.  Sadly it was going to our employer in both cases (even though we pay about 30 percent of the premium). 


Mr. Green

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2018, 06:33:05 AM »
The prices aren't on healthcare.gov yet for 2019, but we got a notice from our insurance company (BCBS NC) and our cost, strangely, is going down by quite a bit - about 15%. 

I haven't been able to find a link to the formulary, but our doctors are currently listed as in network (and all the specialists I can think of that we've used over the years are also listed as in network), and co-pays are the same.  The hospital system we can use has changed from one large local system to the other, but from my standpoint, not a concern.
A big contributor to NC's rates going down in 2019 is that the Duke hospital system in the Triangle area is now out-of-network. Apparently they were one of the more expensive organizations.

Rates in my home state of MD are going down because a reinsurance program was approved for the sickest users of healthcare. Not exactly sure how that all works under the covers but it changed BCBS's rate submission from a 25-35% increase to a slight decrease.

Greystache

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2018, 07:49:33 AM »
I just completed my renewal yesterday. My plan (Kaiser Permenente Bronze HSA) went up about $70 per month (up from $26/mo. this year). I could have got a lower premium if I wanted to change providers, but the $96/mo is well within our budget and we like the doctors and facilities and the cheaper providers had worse customer satisfaction ratings.

moneytaichi

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2018, 11:09:13 PM »
I did an estimate on CoveredCA for California residence. Two of us are paying $1000 with $700 subsidies because I had $55K taxable income. If we stick with $24K income in 2019, we'd pay $500 with $1000 subsidies. Sweet!

Mr. Green

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2018, 08:28:36 AM »
I did an estimate on CoveredCA for California residence. Two of us are paying $1000 with $700 subsidies because I had $55K taxable income. If we stick with $24K income in 2019, we'd pay $500 with $1000 subsidies. Sweet!
Are you picking a gold plan? At 24k in income the subsidiesshkuld be limiting your cost to about 3% of your income, which would be way less than $500 a month.

secondcor521

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2018, 09:44:06 AM »
I'm waiting for my children's mother to pick from among the four reasonable options.  But if we go with the most expensive one, the premium will be 31.4% cheaper.  If we go with the least expensive option, the premium will be 49.2% cheaper.

The subsidy this year for our situation is higher than last year.  This accounts for most of the difference.

This is for a Silver plan with CSR 87 in Idaho.

moneytaichi

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2018, 12:18:27 AM »
I did an estimate on CoveredCA for California residence. Two of us are paying $1000 with $700 subsidies because I had $55K taxable income. If we stick with $24K income in 2019, we'd pay $500 with $1000 subsidies. Sweet!
Are you picking a gold plan? At 24k in income the subsidiesshkuld be limiting your cost to about 3% of your income, which would be way less than $500 a month.

We are having a gold plan this year and plan to pick a silver plan in 2019. Because of cost-sharing, the silver plan is much better than the gold plan (e.g. $150 deductible, $5 to see a doc). CA's enrollment date is Oct. 15. I will check with the markeplace consultant. Thanks for the heads-up!

coppertop

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2018, 09:44:44 AM »
https://www.kff.org/private-insurance/issue-brief/tracking-2019-premium-changes-on-aca-exchanges/

KFF has a nicely organized chart of rate changes, but is generalized for each state. They have info from 21 states so far. KFF has so much information on the ACA, my FIRE planning would be lost without them. 

In addition to how ACA premiums are changing for 2019, I am curious if the ACA folks have been getting 2017 rebate checks.  We both got notices that employer based health insurance premiums were too high in 2017 and a rebate was being issued.  Sadly it was going to our employer in both cases (even though we pay about 30 percent of the premium).

I retired last December.  The notice I received from the provider I had in 2017 said that the company had to choose from one of two options, which are either to rebate the money proportionally to the employees, or to put it toward the employees' portion of the premium.  I contacted the accounting manager and she said we would be getting a check from the firm - I have no idea how much, though. 

Fishingmn

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2018, 06:21:43 AM »
Minnesota - ours is going down 8%.

We pay full cost - no subsidy.

dude

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #15 on: October 09, 2018, 09:35:16 AM »
Not in ACA, but for the first time I can recall, my health insurance premium (FEHB) is going DOWN!

nkt0

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #16 on: October 09, 2018, 09:41:40 AM »
Not in ACA, but for the first time I can recall, my health insurance premium (FEHB) is going DOWN!

Big election year!

geekette

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #17 on: October 09, 2018, 02:47:02 PM »
Not in ACA, but for the first time I can recall, my health insurance premium (FEHB) is going DOWN!

Big election year!

Why would the insurance companies change prices for an election?

NWOutlier

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #18 on: October 11, 2018, 07:12:23 PM »
The state of Washington has a website where you can look at what changes each company has asked for. Of the seven insurance companies that have had their requests approved, the approved increases range from 0.3% to 18.61%. Of the five companies with requests still pending, the requested changes range from an 8.6% decrease to a 7.5% increase.

how is anyone supposed to keep up with these costs?  it's just unreal!  and I'm limited how much I can invest via an HSA for this stuff, I want a 50% increase (tax free) on my ability to invest to save for this stuff...  my god, it costs more than peoples rent, or home mortgage for insurance..... 

seattlecyclone

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #19 on: October 11, 2018, 11:34:29 PM »
The state of Washington has a website where you can look at what changes each company has asked for. Of the seven insurance companies that have had their requests approved, the approved increases range from 0.3% to 18.61%. Of the five companies with requests still pending, the requested changes range from an 8.6% decrease to a 7.5% increase.

how is anyone supposed to keep up with these costs?  it's just unreal!  and I'm limited how much I can invest via an HSA for this stuff, I want a 50% increase (tax free) on my ability to invest to save for this stuff...  my god, it costs more than peoples rent, or home mortgage for insurance..... 

The nice thing, at least for anyone under 400% of the poverty line, is that some of the biggest percentage increases in Washington seem to have gone to the company that was charging the lowest rates to begin with. If you're getting a subsidy, the price you pay for your favorite insurance plan is equal to a fixed percentage of your income, plus or minus the amount that your favorite insurance plan differs in price from the second-cheapest silver plan. If that second-cheapest silver plan increases in price more than the rest of the plans, that means everything else is now cheaper for you.

smoghat

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #20 on: October 12, 2018, 02:57:57 PM »
NJ may be going down due to our Democratic governors action to help reinsure the insurance companies. One thing’s for sure, stay away from Oscar, it’s Jared’$ familie$ business. Yuck!!!

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #21 on: October 12, 2018, 03:35:53 PM »
Just got the notice from my vendor.  18.83% increase.  I'll be shopping on the exchange when it opens but honestly, it is a livable rate, especially after subsidy and is inline with pretty regular 20%/year increases to date.

Laserjet3051

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #22 on: October 12, 2018, 03:39:08 PM »
Average rate change for ACA plans in CA, independent of age, independent of subsidy, or what any one person may be paying is an 8.7% INCREASE across the whole state on average.

https://www.calhospital.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/07-19-18_coveredca_-_2019_plans_and_rates_-_final.pdf

Of course, there is a lot of variability from district to district ancross providers, ages, etc.

Acastus

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #23 on: October 16, 2018, 02:55:22 PM »
Full price for my NY Health silver plan increased $55 per month to $1255 for 2 adults. Thank goodness for subsidies.

We will probably change from the above HSA eligible silver plan to a non HSA silver plan with $30 doctor copays. We have enough routine visits and specialists that the overall cost should be lower with the better plan. So insurance will go up about $200, but out of pocket should drop $2-3k.

Complicated enough? Can we have socialized medicine yet?

AdrianC

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #24 on: November 01, 2018, 08:01:16 AM »
Just got the notice from my vendor.  18.83% increase.  I'll be shopping on the exchange when it opens but honestly, it is a livable rate, especially after subsidy and is inline with pretty regular 20%/year increases to date.

18% increase here in OH. Slightly worse coverage.

We'll go shopping but it's not likely we will be able to switch. Two companies on the exchange last year.

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #25 on: November 01, 2018, 10:21:45 AM »
Just got the notice from my vendor.  18.83% increase.  I'll be shopping on the exchange when it opens but honestly, it is a livable rate, especially after subsidy and is inline with pretty regular 20%/year increases to date.

After making it official in the marketplace website, it is 16% increase to 413/mo.

WannaGoOutside

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #26 on: November 01, 2018, 12:09:58 PM »
8.4% increase for my Blue Cross Blue Shield Silver plan here in Arkansas.  New price: $1111/month for 2 adults.  We don't use any subsidies because we're doing Roth conversions on my former 401k dollars.. hoping for a nice long term (tax free) gain, since we don't plan to access that money for a couple of decades.

We will probably drop down to a Bronze plan for $955/month.  I can't see much of a difference except the deductible is a little higher.  The out of pocket maximum for both the Silver and Bronze is $7900.  Now I'm wondering why I didn't do Bronze last year??  Luckily we have only needed preventative care this far...

Medical plans are by far our biggest monthly expense!  Anyone know any hidden pitfalls of using Bronze level plans? 

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #27 on: November 01, 2018, 12:23:48 PM »
8.4% increase for my Blue Cross Blue Shield Silver plan here in Arkansas.  New price: $1111/month for 2 adults.  We don't use any subsidies because we're doing Roth conversions on my former 401k dollars.. hoping for a nice long term (tax free) gain, since we don't plan to access that money for a couple of decades.

We will probably drop down to a Bronze plan for $955/month.  I can't see much of a difference except the deductible is a little higher.  The out of pocket maximum for both the Silver and Bronze is $7900.  Now I'm wondering why I didn't do Bronze last year??  Luckily we have only needed preventative care this far...

Medical plans are by far our biggest monthly expense!  Anyone know any hidden pitfalls of using Bronze level plans?

I use Bronze and its fine.  I need one appt/year to renew meds and then maintenance meds.  Things like flu shot, tetnatus shot, etc, I go to CVS minute clinic.  Get a HSA compatible plan so you can squirrel away tax deferred!

Mrs. Rocker

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #28 on: November 05, 2018, 11:31:56 AM »
Silver plan increasing 17.7 percent but still a steal at half the price of what we formerly paid when working. We could pay less if we switched to a different health care network but don't care to unless the increased costs outweigh the benefit.

stoaX

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #29 on: November 05, 2018, 03:34:42 PM »
Not in ACA, but for the first time I can recall, my health insurance premium (FEHB) is going DOWN!

Big election year!

Why would the insurance companies change prices for an election?

The Federal Employee Health Benefit plan rates are a result of the claims experience on that plan, similar to other large employers.  An election year, big or small, doesn't influence that. 

smoghat

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Re: 2019 ACA pricing - Who's up? Who's down?
« Reply #30 on: December 23, 2018, 08:52:25 PM »
We just got a $1200 check from Horizon Blue Cross of NJ because they got a tax cut and their mission is to “serve their members.” We pay $1400 a month. Nice!