• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

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

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / Silver Gapping in 2019

Silver Gapping in 2019

by David Anderson|  July 18, 20186:59 am| 4 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance

FacebookTweetEmail

As I wrote earlier this week, Democrats should not expect significant political help from ACA rate increases this fall. Insurers seem to have overpriced their 2018 rates and that is eating a lot of the rate increases we would have expected from the new policy changes of no individual mandate, proliferation of 364 day underwritten short term plans and the new rules on association health plans.

We should also expect even larger Silver spreads which will provide better deals to subsidized buyers. Non-subsidized buyers will continue to be kicked hard by high premiums. I am using Kaiser Family Foundation initial rate filing data for the analysis. From the point of view of a forty year old non-smoking subsidized buyer, the thing that they care about is whether or not the dollar spread changes.

Kaiser is looking at a large city in thirteen states for their preliminary analysis. They are seeing either the Bronze to Silver Spread or the Gold to Silver Spread increase in twelve of the thirteen target markets. Detroit buyers will see no better deals for the least expensive Gold and Bronze plans. Five markets are showing better deals are available for both Bronze and Gold plans. The rest have one metal plan offering a better deal:

A deal is better if the price change for a metal band is less than the price change for the benchmark. Richmond, Virginia will have the biggest swing in the Gold deal. This year, a 40 year old non-smoker in that city would pay an extra $236 for the least expensive Gold plan compared to the Benchmark Silver plan. In 2019, the least expensive Gold plan decreased significantly while the Benchmark Silver increased in price. Now, the least expensive Gold plan costs an incremental $69 more than the Benchmark plan. It is not a great deal but it is far better deal than currently out there.

The ACA is complicated. The simplest story is that the unsubsidized who can’t pass underwriting will get kicked hard next year. After that, everything gets complicated.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « On the Road and In Your Backyard
Next Post: Afternoon Moment of Zen »

Reader Interactions

4Comments

  1. 1.

    bcw

    July 18, 2018 at 9:31 am

    I’m not sure that rate increases would be a benefit for Democrats this fall anyway. The less informed voters probably know that the Republicans tried to kill Obamacare and failed but most likely aren’t aware of the incremental attacks and might attribute rate increases to inherent flaws in Obamacare rather than to GOP actions. Signs that the ACA is continuing as promised adds to voter confidence that the ACA can be trusted – a boon for Democrats.

  2. 2.

    The Midnight Lurker

    July 18, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    Mr. Anderson, thank you for posting. As a senior citizen, I rely on this information to make important decisions about our health care. Please keep posting. I saw you had only one comment and thought you might get discouraged. Well, you’re saving a couple of lives here, if that’s any consolation. Carry on, sir. And thank you.

  3. 3.

    John

    July 18, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    Again, just want to note that in NY rates are going way up. My proposed rate increase is from $640 to roughly $950.

  4. 4.

    David Anderson

    July 18, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @John: are you able to switch insurers?

    Would that help at all

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - lashonharangue - Along the Zambezi River [2 of 2] 8
Image by lashonharangue (7/8/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • thruppence on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 9:04am)
  • Betty Cracker on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 9:04am)
  • piratedan on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 9:03am)
  • artem1s on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 9:00am)
  • lowtechcyclist on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 8:59am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!