Obamacare cost...

[Omaha 680]

I miss Cali. I want him to let me know this is all going to be ok.

[All-American]

Obama administration announces a net loss of at least three million insurance plans.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/29/ob...urance-plans/#!

[Uncle Ted]

Obama administration announces a net loss of at least three million insurance plans.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/29/ob...urance-plans/#!

MSNBC sez that they have signed up millions! http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...ite-house?lite

[FMCoug]

We finally got enrolled in a SelectHealth ACA plan a few weeks ago. Haven't received anything in the mail though.

And I am supposed to get a CT Scan next week.

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[Uncle Ted]

We finally got enrolled in a SelectHealth ACA plan a few weeks ago. Haven't received anything in the mail though.

And I am supposed to get a CT Scan next week.

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McAfee sez a hacker is having a "wet dream" with your data...

[CardiacCoug]

We finally got enrolled in a SelectHealth ACA plan a few weeks ago. Haven't received anything in the mail though.

And I am supposed to get a CT Scan next week.

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Good to hear that SelectHealth has pricing that is competitive with other plans.

I've been worried that most patients in Utah who sign up for insurance through the ACA will get restrictive plans that won't let them use Intermountain hospitals.

[FMCoug]

Good to hear that SelectHealth has pricing that is competitive with other plans.

I've been worried that most patients in Utah who sign up for insurance through the ACA will get restrictive plans that won't let them use Intermountain hospitals.

Well we haven't used it yet obviously but on paper it seems like a good plan. All of our existing doctors ate in network, etc.

I've been self-employed for just over 3 years now. The first 18 mos. I did Cobra, which was expensive but great insurance. Then we went to a high deductible plan (actually 2 of them as I couldn't get individual insurance so mine was through HIPUtah and we got a separate one for the wife and kids). $6K deductible on each plan.

The premium for the ACA "gold" plan we signed up for will be about $100 a month more than the two premiums for the HSA plans. But we will spend WAY less out of pocket.



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[FMCoug]

Well we haven't used it yet obviously but on paper it seems like a good plan. All of our existing doctors ate in network, etc.

I've been self-employed for just over 3 years now. The first 18 mos. I did Cobra, which was expensive but great insurance. Then we went to a high deductible plan (actually 2 of them as I couldn't get individual insurance so mine was through HIPUtah and we got a separate one for the wife and kids). $6K deductible on each plan.

The premium for the ACA "gold" plan we signed up for will be about $100 a month more than the two premiums for the HSA plans. But we will spend WAY less out of pocket.



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Edit: The pricing from the different companies for equivalent ACA plans was almost identical.

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[imanihonjin]

MSNBC sez that they have signed up millions! http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...ite-house?lite

So how do the Daily Caller and NBC arrive and vastly different figures regarding how many people have signed up? Daily Caller says 1.1 million have signed up and NBC says 2 million have signed up.

[CardiacCoug]

Well we haven't used it yet obviously but on paper it seems like a good plan. All of our existing doctors ate in network, etc.

I've been self-employed for just over 3 years now. The first 18 mos. I did Cobra, which was expensive but great insurance. Then we went to a high deductible plan (actually 2 of them as I couldn't get individual insurance so mine was through HIPUtah and we got a separate one for the wife and kids). $6K deductible on each plan.

The premium for the ACA "gold" plan we signed up for will be about $100 a month more than the two premiums for the HSA plans. But we will spend WAY less out of pocket.

The thing I would anticipate we will encounter a lot more in the ACA era is that while my name is on all the insurance plans and clinic visits are covered, if I need to do any testing or procedures on a patient, those will have to be done at a hospital where I don't have or maintain privileges. That is really frustrating when you can only line patients up for other docs to do the testing/procedures at other hospitals. And then usually the patients are told they need to repeat the office visit at the other hospital where their insurance directs them. A lot of patients don't realize that you have to look at which facilities are in-network, not just the docs.

[Jacob]

So how do the Daily Caller and NBC arrive and vastly different figures regarding how many people have signed up? Daily Caller says 1.1 million have signed up and NBC says 2 million have signed up.

About 1 million on the federal exchange and about another 1 million on state exchanges (largely california). Total = 2 million. The federal exchange only exists for people living in states who didn't create exchanges (36 states, I think).

[CardiacCoug]

Edit: The pricing from the different companies for equivalent ACA plans was almost identical.

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That surprises me -- the way the rules for these insurance companies are constantly changing after the fact, I have no idea how the insurance companies would set prices for these plans.

I know that cost is definitely the #1 factor by far for customers with these plans so if a company set its rates high, that company would be essentially "sitting out" 2014. I wondered if SelectHealth or other companies would elect to do that -- just sit things out until the dust settles.

[Jacob]

That surprises me -- the way the rules for these insurance companies are constantly changing after the fact, I have no idea how the insurance companies would set prices for these plans.

I know that cost is definitely the #1 factor by far for customers with these plans so if a company set its rates high, that company would be essentially "sitting out" 2014. I wondered if SelectHealth or other companies would elect to do that -- just sit things out until the dust settles.

In my part of the country, the Blue Cross plans are substantially more expensive than the other plans offered on the exchange. Also a vastly better network, but I can't imagine anyone could afford it. About 2 thousand a month for a healthy family like mine on the gold plan.

[CardiacCoug]

In my part of the country, the Blue Cross plans are substantially more expensive than the other plans offered on the exchange. Also a vastly better network, but I can't imagine anyone could afford it. About 2 thousand a month for a healthy family like mine on the gold plan.

Yeah that makes sense. Blue Cross is big enough in some parts of the country that it can afford to just sit things out for a year or two and see what happens -- make sure they don't lose too much money in this mess.

Smaller regional insurers probably don't dare do that.

[FMCoug]

The thing I would anticipate we will encounter a lot more in the ACA era is that while my name is on all the insurance plans and clinic visits are covered, if I need to do any testing or procedures on a patient, those will have to be done at a hospital where I don't have or maintain privileges. That is really frustrating when you can only line patients up for other docs to do the testing/procedures at other hospitals. And then usually the patients are told they need to repeat the office visit at the other hospital where their insurance directs them. A lot of patients don't realize that you have to look at which facilities are in-network, not just the docs.

Good to know. We checked local hospitals ... really here in UT it seems that if you make sure IHC is included that would get the lions share.

Like I said though, it looks good on paper ... we'll see how it is in practice.

That surprises me -- the way the rules for these insurance companies are constantly changing after the fact, I have no idea how the insurance companies would set prices for these plans.

I know that cost is definitely the #1 factor by far for customers with these plans so if a company set its rates high, that company would be essentially "sitting out" 2014. I wondered if SelectHealth or other companies would elect to do that -- just sit things out until the dust settles.

There are only a handful of companies in Utah offering ACA plans. And SelectHealth was one of the only ones I'd even heard of. In fact my now defunct HIPUtah plan was with them.

In my part of the country, the Blue Cross plans are substantially more expensive than the other plans offered on the exchange. Also a vastly better network, but I can't imagine anyone could afford it. About 2 thousand a month for a healthy family like mine on the gold plan.

Wow that is a lot. The gold plans here are all right around $1000.


Also, I called SelectHealth today to find out why we hadn't received cards yet and they said there is a 2000 application backlog. So apparently Utahns are signing up.

We spent over 20K this year on medical between premiums and out of pocket so the gold plan was a no-brainer.


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