I’m the family health insurance guy as I’ve worked in the industry long enough to ocassionally have a clue. Thanksgiving is my peak family question time of the year as quite a few group insurance plans are in their open enrollment slots right now, so Sister #1 wants to know if she do an HSA or a PPO and my brother in law wants to know why his insurance company won’t let him get his elbow fixed by the same guy who took care of his favorite team’s quarterback last off season.
This year, I figure my question load will be higher, so here are my talking points and some links:
- Be aware that Cyber Monday will also apply to the Exchanges — be patient on Monday or let’s grab a beer and get you signed up tonight.
- Payment needs to be received before the policy is valid
- If you’re making less than 250% FPL and think you’ll have more than three sick PCP visits this year, go Silver with Cost Sharing instead of Bronze. You’ll pay more after subsidy but could cut your out of pocket by 90%.
- Medicaid is not shameful. It is to help people who need some help right now.
- No, this will not make America like Sweden.
- Look at the networks, make sure either your doc is in the network or you are okay with getting a new doc.
- Shop like you are buying porn
- Income estimates are just that, estimates. Good faith estimates are expected so if you’re low by a little bit, you will owe some money on the back-end on the 2015 tax filing season… If you are only a W-2 or regular check family (disability, pension, SSI, Social Security) take the gross amount and multiply it by the number of checks you get and then maybe add 2%. For the damn freelancers, take your best guess.
- I get a 85% subsidy via work, we just hide it better than the subsidy people get on the Exchanges.
- This will work, you can get that mole checked out sometime this winter.
Bangor Daily News has a great column on health insurance: Health Unsurance
Health Sherpa for a good guesstimate on subsidies and policy options.
Kaiser Family Foundation calculator and consumer information….