Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The revolution will be supervised.

You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / CSR from your point of view

CSR from your point of view

by | 19 Comments

This post is in: ,

Yesterday, MAK in comments raised a very good and pragmatic implicit question; WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN TO ME AND MY FAMILY

Does this mean that the September payment covered the rest of the year? Because I’ve been looking (apparently in all the wrong places) for an answer to this simple question: when do the subsidies end?
We receive a substantial subsidy which makes our family policy affordable. If the subsidy goes away, so does our insurance. So perhaps a better question, in my case, is: when does my insurance end?
ETA: We’re in Pennsylvania, fwiw.

Everything that I have been writing about regarding CSR is happening behind the scenes. It will have future in front of the scene implications, but let’s keep things simple.

1) If you currently have an ACA plan, the CSR drama has no immediate impact on whether or not you are covered today, tomorrow or next month.

2) If you have an ACA plan with premium tax credits helping you pay the monthly premium, the CSR drama has no immediate impact on whether or not you are covered today, tomorrow or next month.

3) If you have an ACA Silver plan with premium tax credits and CSR assistance, the CSR drama has no immediate impact on whether or not you are covered today, tomorrow or next month.

So what about 2018?

1) If you qualify for premium tax credits, those will be paid normally.
2) If you qualify for CSR and choose to buy a Silver plan, you still will get the extra reductions in out of pocket expenses.

There will be strange things happening in relative pricing as we saw when we looked at Pennsylvania’s pricing this morning, but everything is going to function normally once you choose a plan for 2018.

This is a really good, pragmatic question.

Open thread for insurance questions!

Reader Interactions

19Comments

  1. 1.

    West of the Cascades

    I live in Oregon and get my plan through the Exchange (a Moda silver plan) but will not qualify for subsidies in 2018. Reading that Oregon just authorized 7.1% increases for both on- and off-exchange plans, is there any real advantage to shopping off the exchange, and is that likely to result in any savings? Just trying to figure out what “shopping strategy” to adopt come November 1st …

  3. 3.

    West of the Cascades

    @David Anderson: but … now I won’t be able to afford good whiskey! I will try taking deep breaths instead while thinking about the good whiskey I used to enjoy before Trumpcare …

    greatly appreciate the advice, though, and all of your posts that help make some sense of this mess.

  4. 4.

    ALurkSupreme

    Hi, David. My wife and I moved to Georgia in June. We do well enough financially not to qualify for ACA subsidies, but we operate a very small business together and therefore must buy individual health insurance. This year, Blue Cross & Blue Shield was the only carrier that offered individual health plans in Athens-Clarke County, and it announced a few weeks ago that it was pulling out of the market for 2018. My question is simple: Am I going to be able to get an individual plan for next year? Any plan at all? I’ve called the broker who helped me get my current plan, but she doesn’t have any answers so far.

    Thanks. I appreciate all the information you post.

  5. 5.

    Redshift

    So, looking through that list, is there any way in which the CSR cancellation affects individuals, now or next year? Or does it just affect before-subsidy prices (the ones that generate screaming news headlines, unfortunately) and how money flows between the government and insurance companies?

  7. 7.

    David Anderson

    @ALurkSupreme: At this time, every county in Georgia will have at least one insurer offering plans on Healthcare.gov in 2018. Anthem BCBS has pulled out of some Georgia counties where there was at least one other insurer but it did not completely leave the state. It is still the sole insurer in a number of counties.

    Right now, I would not worry. We can re-assess in two weeks when Healthcare.gov goes live with 2018 data.

  8. 8.

    David Anderson

    @Redshift:

    1) In 2017 NOTHING CHANGES

    2) In 2018 — it gets complicated. For people who buy non-subsidized policies, absolute and relative premiums will increase.
    For people who buy on-Exchange/subsidized coverage, not much will change in Silver Load states but there is a chance for very good deals for Gold and Bronze plans

  9. 9.

    ALurkSupreme

    @David Anderson:
    Just to confirm: When you say every county in Georgia will have at least one insurer offering plans, that statement applies to individual plans as well?

    Thanks again, David. I will try not to worry. It’s not always easy these days.

  11. 11.

    Chris

    David –

    Was everything you said only for Pennsylvania, or in general?

    I’m in Maryland on a health plan that’s currently subsidized by the ACA, and trying to figure out if I’ll have to pay the full cost next year.

  13. 13.

    marcopolo

    I am late to the party but here goes. I live in MO, which did not do the Medicaid expansion. Due to family circumstances I work only enough to make slightly over the Federal poverty level (over 100% under 133%). Since the ACA went into effect I have purchased my insurance on the exchange every year. Up until now the cost has stayed pretty much the same–a little more expensive but nothing huge. This year was a silver plan, the year before was a gold plan don’t remember prior to that but I have obviously been heavily subsidized due to my income level. Other than the fact that the number of insurers in my area offering plans continues to decrease (only 2 this coming year and my current plan provider is leaving the market so I will have to pick a new one) and the resultant price increases is there anything else I need to consider when picking my new plan if a few weeks? I don’t have any chronic or other on-going health issues atm so I normally just pick the plan that appears to be the cheapest based on a combination of premiums/deductions.

  14. 14.

    Tenar Arha

    I live in Massachusetts and I’m slightly confused now. Because I’ve definitely never qualified for subsidies, though I’ve gotten some major tax breaks once I knew how much I actually made in April after doing my taxes. However, I mostly used the state exchange to comparison shop for health insurance. It was recommended to me, and I like it because the baseline comparisons were (once the kinks were ironed out) so well documented. I knew what I was getting and exactly what I was comparing.

    Anyway, I was under the impression I could still use it. The MGL that originally set up our insurance markets will still maintain these services, or am I missing something?

  15. 15.

    MoxieM

    Thank you so much for all your helpful posts (much of the info has gone whistling over my head, but I try! and am grateful).

    Here’s my question: Is it possible for an individual subscriber with no subsidies to purchase a PPO plan (I’m in MA) that you know of? I’ve tried to answer this question 6 ways from Sunday, but it seems (?) that since I’m not in the new policy window yet, I can’t get a firm answer…

Comments are closed.