Healthcare.gov has released their window shopping option for the 2022 open enrollment period.
Open enrollment starts on November 1st and goes through January 15th.
There is a key intermediate deadline of December 15th to get coverage that starts on January 1st.
First thought as I am processing the data is that there is an incredible number of choices. Four counties, Harris County Texas (Houston), Miami-Dade, Broward and Seminole Counties Florida each have over 200 choices. 122 other counties on Healthcare.gov have between 100 and 199 choices.
My inkling is that this is a wee bit much.
More thoughts and maps later this week.
On The Road – Albatrossity – Fall in Flyover Country – Week 1
Ken
I remember something about the Trump administration allowing new categories of insurance plans that didn’t meet the ACA requirements for coverage, pre-existing conditions, etc. IIRC many of the companies offering these plans are “faith-based”, whatever that means. Are those still allowed, and if so are they listed on healthcare.gov?
David Anderson
@Ken: Those plans are still allowed (very few people actually buy them)
They have never been listed on Healthcare.gov
Anonymous At Work
Is there glass to tap on, to annoy insurance CEOs? Please tell me that tapping on the glass annoys them…
Lobo
How has this been under everyone’s radar?
Opinion | Why Medical Bills Can Be Lower in Maryland – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Jesse
Thanks David for all your consistently high-quality research and writing on these matters. The title really got me: I’m an American abroad contemplating a move back to the US in the next year or two. So I do window shopping using Health Sherpa. Punching in ZIP codes for places gives back often quite a lot of results. In an earlier post you’ve talked about “competing” in the market by flooding it with near-equivalent (if not substantially identical) options from a single provider. I can say that this definitely causes my eyes to glaze over. It will probably lead to a less-than-optimal choice when the time comes for me and my family to get insured.
billcoop4
In the NY Exchange, my premium for the same Bronze plan (Fidelis) is going down next year.
OK, $10 per month down, but still down.
BC
Butch
I live in a rural area where there’s no competition but wow – I have to say something must have frightened Blue Cross. Options are looking way better than last year, although I’ll see what happens when we actually enroll. Thanks for your posts, David. Sometimes they go over my head but on the whole they’re really helpful. I’m thinking about using an insurance agent since I’ve heard the Healthcare.gov commissions are actually decent. Any thoughts on that?
Ohio Mom
What great timing you have David! I was just about to write you with a coverage question. For a friend, really.
My BFF fellow autism mom has dragged her feet about signing her son up for SSI, which as you know, comes with Medicaid. She wasn’t in a rush because who wants to do paperwork and Son has been covered by his dad’s health insurance.
So far so good, but apparently BFF has been operating under the assumption that Son would be able to stay on Dad’s insurance THROUGH his 26th year. She has just discovered this option ENDS on birthday #26 (yeah, you and I knew that but she didn’t). Which is just before Thanksgiving.
Dad’s company says they can put Son on COBRA (they live in Virginia). This is my entire question, Is this true? Young people aging out of their parents’ coverage can do 18 months of COBRA?
It would certainly be less hassle for BFF to pay for COBRA than wade through finding an Obamacare plan. Especially since she will be very busy pulling together the paperwork to apply for SSI (for that, she has a fabulous consultant, another Cincinnati autism mom who recently retired from a career at SSI and has started a very reasonable-priced private consultancy. Since SSI is a national program, the fact that BFF’s family moved out of state does not matter).
Eljai
@Lobo: Thanks, interesting article. I imagine it might be hard to replicate Maryland’s system in other states due to hospital groups fighting it tooth and nail. Nevertheless, it looks like a promising approach.
Roger Moore
@Jesse:
This is exactly what I was thinking of when I heard about there being that many plans to choose from. I definitely think the active purchaser system they have here in California, where the exchange is actively involved in choosing which plans make it on the exchange, is superior. Even though I live in LA County, surely a place where you’d expect a vigorous market to exist, there are only about 8-10 plans in each tier, with no more than two plans from any insurer at each level. That seems like a manageable number, and I can see an actual difference between the plans, even the two plans from a single insurer.
Mai Naem mobile
I went into the website just to take a quick look around. There’s a million silver ones from my insurer and I have to look up the plan code to be sure but I believe my plan is about the same price. Anyway, what surprised me is I supposedly qualify for a subsidy. Did they change the income levels for a subsidy? I’ve never qualified for a subsidy and nothing has changed except for my age. I even increased the income to see if that would get rid of the subsidy and it didn’t. It would be a pleasant surprise for this shitshow of a year.
Kelly
5 providers, 45 plans here in Marion County, OR. Obamacare’s first year we had 11 providers, I don’t recall how many plans.
I’m on Medicare now but Mrs Kelly will be on Obamacare for the next few years. Due to some sort of family glitch in the ACA the premium after subsidy for just her is $140 more than the premium was for both of us. Add my Medicare and Medigap premiums and we’re paying a lot more for health insurance now.
Fair Economist
Just checked my available plans in OC CA (seriously, as we are considering retirement) and it seems PPO plans have almost disappeared. It’s overwhelmingly HMO plans. Last year there were still lots of PPO plans. I’d be OK but I’m not sure my husband would.
David Anderson
@Ohio Mom: I am not sure. I would speak with a specific Autism support group or a licensed agent that routinely deals with folks who are aging out of their parents plans.
Old Man Shadow
And isn’t spending all of that time and energy shopping for the best plan that will do its best not to pay for your health care so much easier than just going to a doctor, showing them your National Health Insurance card, and having a very modest co-pay?
This isn’t a complaint about the ACA. It was the best we could get at the time. Just bitter at the Senate that we can’t have nicer things.
Hildebrand
I have a non-ACA question: My son is now covered under his grad school plan (because he turns 26 in January) – but there is absolutely no change in our premiums. Why is that?
David Anderson
@Hildebrand: Call your insurer and ask… I don’t have a good idea.
Ohio Mom
@David Anderson: Thanks. I think I will suggest to BFF that she call Virginia’s SHIP office for advice. When an expert like you doesn’t know the answer, my stomach sinks.