So how much is your insurance going up due to Obamacare?

To Spartana - I just went to healthcare.gov and plugged in the following for Maricopa County, AZ - two adults, household income 70K, looking for a Platinum Plan, 55 years of age and found that for $435/mo. I could have a Platinum HealthNet of AZ plan with 0 deductible, max $3000 out of pocket annually, 15/30 for PCP/Specialist visits. Ouch - pricey indeed but yet a much better deal it would seem than your Bronze plan in CA. Why the lack of uniformity in pricing is my question? Rob

I came back to add that I just plugged in the numbers for someone 47 - my age - two adults, Maricopa County, AZ, 70K household income and the premium magically decreased to $305/mo for each person on the same plan as above. It seem as if the magical age of 50 bumps you up on premiums.

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Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife

To Spartana - I just went to healthcare.gov and plugged in the following for Maricopa County, AZ - two adults, household income 70K, looking for a Platinum Plan, 55 years of age and found that for $435/mo. I could have a Platinum HealthNet of AZ plan with 0 deductible, max $3000 out of pocket annually, 15/30 for PCP/Specialist visits. Ouch - pricey indeed but yet a much better deal it would seem than your Bronze plan in CA. Why the lack of uniformity in pricing is my question? Rob

I came back to add that I just plugged in the numbers for someone 47 - my age - two adults, Maricopa County, AZ, 70K household income and the premium magically decreased to $305/mo for each person on the same plan as above. It seem as if the magical age of 50 bumps you up on premiums.

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Yeah I fiddled around with some of the ages myself (having an upcoming B-Day in Feb so will likely see a price increase then too). But I was using www.ehealthinsurance.com and not the Calif Exchange since I can't buy a plan off of that except Medicaid. So I didn't need to put in income at all - just looked at the full cost with no subsidies. The plans really varied widely (there were 45 of them) and when I looked into them individually there were often extra costs that were associated with the lower priced plans (around $425 for the lowest for me with a high deductible and co-insurance). I haven't bought a plan yet (still planning to just use the VA healthcare system until I do).

I'm wondering if other's have been able to buy a plan (or get Medicaid) as of today since that is the cut off. I haven't heard if the fed exchange was fully up and running so maybe some people who had their policies cancelled haven't been able to sign up yet. Has anyone besides Bae had any luck yet? Did you get a plan? An insurance card? Subsidies guareented? Or are you still waiting?

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Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife

To Spartana - I just went to healthcare.gov and plugged in the following for Maricopa County, AZ - two adults, household income 70K, looking for a Platinum Plan, 55 years of age and found that for $435/mo. I could have a Platinum HealthNet of AZ plan with 0 deductible, max $3000 out of pocket annually, 15/30 for PCP/Specialist visits. Ouch - pricey indeed but yet a much better deal it would seem than your Bronze plan in CA. Why the lack of uniformity in pricing is my question? Rob

I came back to add that I just plugged in the numbers for someone 47 - my age - two adults, Maricopa County, AZ, 70K household income and the premium magically decreased to $305/mo for each person on the same plan as above. It seem as if the magical age of 50 bumps you up on premiums.

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I went to ehealthinsurance.com, and plugged in Maricopa County. I'm 56, wife is 52, both non smokers. I only saw plans running from $880 to $1136 in the platinum level.

In St. Louis the rates run from $990 to $1323. I currently pay $1330 per month.

My worry is what do you think the rates are going to jump to next year. Obama keeps changing the rules daily. The insurance company's are not going to lose money.

I guess I could move to Sweden. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to pay $75,000 or more a year in taxes so part time workers can coast along. Its bad enough here.

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Originally Posted by dmc

I went to ehealthinsurance.com, and plugged in Maricopa County. I'm 56, wife is 52, both non smokers. I only saw plans running from $880 to $1136 in the platinum level.

In St. Louis the rates run from $990 to $1323. I currently pay $1330 per month.

My worry is what do you think the rates are going to jump to next year. Obama keeps changing the rules daily. The insurance company's are not going to lose money.

I guess I could move to Sweden. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to pay $75,000 or more a year in taxes so part time workers can coast along. Its bad enough here.

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I'm not saying you are wrong, DMC, but if you go to www.healthcare.gov and plug in all the variables I did for Maricopa County, Arizona, you will see the rates I quoted. My question is this - why the difference between healthcare.gov rates and the rates you are being quoted on ehealthinsurance? I find this very scary - it's like whose quote is real? And under what circumstances? I do think I have one answer for why the quotes are so different. HealthNet of AZ is the plan with the lowest rates - Blue Cross and Meritus and others are much higher. I don't know is this is legal but it does seem to me that HealthNet of AZ has underpriced the market - they also were awarded a contract by AHCCCS - or Medicaid in Arizona - for providing Medicaid in Arizona, too. If you are interested, check out the difference between HealthNet plans and their competitors and you will see a difference, at least on healthcare.gov. Rob

PS I came back to add that I just priced the cheapest HealthNet Platinum Plan for Maricopa County for someone aged 56 and male and it came back at $455/mo. on healthcare.gov. With the same variables I mentioned before. I have a question - were the rates you were quoting for two people, yourself and your wife, or just for yourself? This would explain the big difference as I was quoting a rate just for one person - being single, this is going to be how I shop for insurance. Naturally if you are adding a second person onto the quote it is going to be much higher. Rob

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Originally Posted by Spartana

Yeah I fiddled around with some of the ages myself (having an upcoming B-Day in Feb so will likely see a price increase then too). But I was using www.ehealthinsurance.com and not the Calif Exchange since I can't buy a plan off of that except Medicaid. So I didn't need to put in income at all - just looked at the full cost with no subsidies. The plans really varied widely (there were 45 of them) and when I looked into them individually there were often extra costs that were associated with the lower priced plans (around $425 for the lowest for me with a high deductible and co-insurance). I haven't bought a plan yet (still planning to just use the VA healthcare system until I do).

I'm wondering if other's have been able to buy a plan (or get Medicaid) as of today since that is the cut off. I haven't heard if the fed exchange was fully up and running so maybe some people who had their policies cancelled haven't been able to sign up yet. Has anyone besides Bae had any luck yet? Did you get a plan? An insurance card? Subsidies guareented? Or are you still waiting?

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I have as of yet not received an insurance card and have read in the Arizona Republic (the Phoenix newspaper) that acceptance letters for Medicaid are being mailed out in January 2014. I will admit I don't like this. I'd much rather have the card earlier and have it not be valid until January 1st. I was told by the person who accepted my application over the phone that I qualified for Arizona Medicaid. Since so much time had passed and I had heard nothing, I also went to a local navigator a few weeks ago and reapplied and was also told there that I qualified for Arizona Medicaid. I am still waiting on DES confirmation, though, and my HealthNet of AZ card - this is the Medicaid provider I chose. Rob

OK, I went to healthcare.gov. A gold plan in Maricopa Co for @ family of 2 is $756 for a gold plan with $12,000 out of pocket, which is a HMO, or you can pay $853 for a HMO with a $6,000 deductable. If you want to go to a PPO with a $1500 ded, $2,500 OP you can pay $1032.

The insurance in Maricopa co. is cheaper than my area outside of St. Louis. The healthcare website pretty much agree's with ehealthinsurance.com.

I don't know why you are getting different results. Are you basing the premiums on just 1 adult? In your post above you said 2 adults.

I could buy a condo and claim residency in arizona for the $600 or so difference in insurance rates. And thats before I work on getting my income worked around for a subsidy.

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Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore

I don't believe I'd be in any position to negotiate or say no if they were prescribing chemo or something and I wouldn't. And even the end of life stuff is being paid for mostly by Medicare rather than insurance. So there's really very little excuse for pre-Medicare healthcare being the ripoff it is. As for the scam that is much of modern pharma, maybe they should just reduce demand by banning t.v. advertising haha. Leave the doctors and patients free to seek what they want as far as prescriptions (whether insurance covers ah well that's another can of worms), but no direct to consumer advertising.

To make consumers more responsible for paying for their own healthcare is actually one of the GOALS of Obamacare, whether or not they state it that way. They tell the lies they think we want to hear, but it's definitely in the economic structure that is emerging. It's a very conservative plan in many ways (it's trying to force a marketbased solution). It's why many of the plans on the exchanges are high deductible which is only bad if you 1) dont' have the deductible in cash savings - if you don't then why the heck are you going for a high deductible plan you can't use anyway? maybe because it's the only one you can afford and you have to get insurance :\ 2) need years of expensive medical treatment which will wipe out most people's savings. These plans are going for premiums that are really too high for barely cover anything plans ... they're fairly high deductible plans with non high-deductible premiums.

Another way that Obamacare will make consumers more responsible for paying for their own healthcare is that employers will continue to drop healthcare (especially those "Cadillac" plans which if healthcare inflation continues is pretty much going to be all the PPOs, but employers will also continue to drop even the non-"Cadillac"). So hooray they'll no longer be an employer middleman, we'll all be liberated from our health insurance! (which mostly reminds me of the joke about Iraqis being liberated from their lives - although I really don't regard it as at all comparable in scale - that was genocide afterall, this is just crummy insurance policies). So consumers will be left to buy their own health insurance. But if employers have minimal bargaining power with insurance companies, what kind of bargaining power will consumers have? Competition in the oligopoly world of health insurance will solve everything? The consumers will be cost sensitive but this may lead more to penny wise and pound foolish than actual good decision making (ie go with the cheapo plan with cheap premiums and go bankrupt should you have medical emergency).

Maybe one of the major objectives of Obamacare is to get the cost of healthcare off employers. Because employers in the U.S. have trouble competing with all those countries where employers don't have to pay for healthcare. They solve it by socialized medicine. We'll solve it by everyone having to buy their own expensive HMO insurance policies that pay for very little until you reach some high deductible and that still leave you open to medical bankruptcy should you wind up in the hospital and see an out of network specialist. They'll sell fear more than actual product (one might say they already do, but at least the few decent plans remaining actually cover some routine things and provide *some* protection). As less and less is covered they'll be selling pure protection from fear itself with a mandate.

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As your last paragraph gets worse and worse over time I do believe more people will find the courage to do the math and will start voluntarily leaving the US for at least permanent residency elsewhere with much less expensive healthcare. Countries like Ecuador, Nicaragua, Chile, Peru, Panama, Malaysia, Cambodia (I know someone who had fled there not due to healthcare but due to being priced out of the US in old age) etc. are all going to look more interesting and I would think these places will be able to be picky as to who they will accept as there will be so many people fed up and willing to run. Eventually the math is going to get to the point where denial isn't going to work for as many people any more. Rob

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Originally Posted by dmc

OK, I went to healthcare.gov. A gold plan in Maricopa Co for @ family of 2 is $756 for a gold plan with $12,000 out of pocket, which is a HMO, or you can pay $853 for a HMO with a $6,000 deductable. If you want to go to a PPO with a $1500 ded, $2,500 OP you can pay $1032.

The insurance in Maricopa co. is cheaper than my area outside of St. Louis. The healthcare website pretty much agree's with ehealthinsurance.com.

I don't know why you are getting different results. Are you basing the premiums on just 1 adult? In your post above you said 2 adults.

I could buy a condo and claim residency in arizona for the $600 or so difference in insurance rates. And thats before I work on getting my income worked around for a subsidy.

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Please check platinum plans and look under the HealthNet HMO platinum choices and you will see the rates I have been quoting - are you only looking in the more expensive PPO plans? To get the rates I quoted yeah you are going to have to deal with an HMO - I thought this was understood? Rob

OK I found the answer. Yes I am basing the premiums on just one adult. If this was not clear then I apologize. As I stated a post or two above, if you add a second person on, yes it is going to be much more expensive. Yes indeed. Given that I am single, I only checked for the prices for one person. Rob

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Originally Posted by dmc

I went to ehealthinsurance.com, and plugged in Maricopa County. I'm 56, wife is 52, both non smokers. I only saw plans running from $880 to $1136 in the platinum level.

In St. Louis the rates run from $990 to $1323. I currently pay $1330 per month.

My worry is what do you think the rates are going to jump to next year. Obama keeps changing the rules daily. The insurance company's are not going to lose money.

I guess I could move to Sweden. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to pay $75,000 or more a year in taxes so part time workers can coast along. Its bad enough here.

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I agree with something you have stated in here. Obama does seem to change the rules daily and I can see why this lends less confidence to the ACA overall. I know that what I am about to state will never happen, I get this. But I often wonder that with US healthcare not working for so many US citizens, wouldn't it be more cost effective for the US government to give financial assistance to those wishing to leave to start over somewhere else with saner healthcare prices? Yes to me things are really getting that bad that this would be a sane and cost effective solution - as much as I appreciate the ACA it remains a fact that there is no mechanism in it that I can see anyway to keep health care costs from spiraling. Financial assistance to start over in another country for those interested would likely save the US government some cash over time, though it would be equivalent to admitting that the US doesn't work for a segment of it's population and I can't ever see such an admission taking place. Rob

PS I came back to add - maybe this would save the US government more money as they could scale future SS payments back in return for such financial assistance, so this could be win/win in a way.

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HealthNet of AZ is the plan with the lowest rates - Blue Cross and Meritus and others are much higher. I don't know is this is legal but it does seem to me that HealthNet of AZ has underpriced the market - they also were awarded a contract by AHCCCS - or Medicaid in Arizona - for providing Medicaid in Arizona, too. If you are interested, check out the difference between HealthNet plans and their competitors and you will see a difference, at least on healthcare.gov.

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You get what you pay for. Now I don't know about AZ but in CA HealthNet has the most narrow networks of them all (it's been widely reported - they have negative brand recognition with me now due to this), I personally would actively warn people against Healthnet unless they have no other choice (might be better than no insurance).

"For example, Health Net will offer the lowest cost coverage options in Southern California, but policyholders who purchase a Health Net exchange plan will have access to less than one-third of the insurer's network of providers for employer-based plans. In addition, Blue Shield of California's exchange plans will include only 50% of the insurer's usual provider network". So even Blue plans have less providers than their employer provided alternatives (getting insurance through a job is still the most sensible choice) but I've read enough about Healthnet they have MUCH less providers than the Blues, even on the exchange:
http://www.californiahealthline.org/...r-of-providers