AbledHealth-Obamacare-Beware Of Automatic Renewal To Avoid Insurance Premium Sticker Shock
ObamaCare is the un-official nickname given to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which was signed into law in the United States by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
ObamaCare’s main focus is on providing more Americans with access to affordable health insurance improving the quality of health care and health insurance, regulating the health insurance industry, and reducing health care spending in the U.S.
Source: ObamaCareFacts.com
ObamaCare explained in 214 words from WhiteHouse.gov:
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, putting in place comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and protect consumers from abusive insurance company practices.
For those Americans who already have health insurance, the only changes you will see under the law are new benefits, better protections from insurance company abuses, and more value for every dollar you spend on health care. If you like your plan you can keep it and you don’t have to change a thing due to the health care law. The President addressed concerns from Americans who have received letters of policy cancellations or changes from their insurance companies in an interview with NBC News,watch the video or read a transcript.
Key Elements:
- If you have health coverage you like, you can keep it. Children under 26 can stay on a parent’s health insurance plan.
- If you don’t have coverage, you can use the new Health Insurance Marketplace to buy a private insurance plan.
- Pre-existing conditions are covered. So are many preventive services and 10 essential health benefits.
- Depending on your family size and income, you may get lower costs on monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
- You may also qualify for free or low-cost coverage from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Many states are expanding Medicaid to cover more people in 2014.
- If you don’t have coverage in 2014 you’ll have to pay a fee. In 2014 it’s $95 per adult ($47.50 per child) or 1% of income, whichever is higher. The family max is $285.
- If you have coverage and want to explore Marketplace plans, you can. But if you have an offer of insurance from an employer, you may not be able to get lower costs on Marketplace insurance based on your income. It depends on whether the insurance you’re offered is considered affordable and meets minimum standards.
- Medicare isn’t part of the Marketplace. If you have Medicare, keep it.
Don’t Let Big Premium Increases Catch You By Surprise
If you’re one of the 10.3 million U.S. consumers who have signed up for what’s been nicknamed ‘ObamaCare’, you’ll have to be extra vigilant when your coverage comes up for renewal. You could end up paying more if you’re not paying attention to some of the ‘fine print’ items.
Health and Human Services, hoping to prevent logjams during the 2015 open enrollment season, have proposed making automatic renewals available to the 10.3 million who have already enrolled saying they will get ‘the exact dollar amount’ they are currently receiving.
But the worry is that HHS isn’t taking into account a whole bunch of things such as cost of living adjustments, new plans and bids from insurance companies, and changes in the community benchmark plans because millions of new customers will be signing up for coverage when open enrollment begins on November 15.
If you currently have coverage, you’ll have almost a month to renew or make changes to your policy, otherwise you’ll suffer a gap in coverage come January 1, 2015.
And because the financial aid subsidy that benefits about 80% of those who signed up for private coverage is, to put it politely, is quite complex, you’d probably do yourself a favor by contacting your health insurance exchange to update any changes in income, job status, family size, whether you’ve moved, or anything else that could have an impact on your subsidy.
You can do that anytime before the open enrollment floodgates open. If you want to change over to a new plan, you’ll have to wait until November 15. But in the meantime, you would do well to check on new and upcoming insurance plans and shop around because it will be quite likely that your current policy and subsidy formula will be out-of-date come the fall.
Despite the initial launch issues and partisan political naysaying along the way, HHS announced this week that those 10.3 million consumers have saved a total of $9 billion dollars on health insurance premiums.
