With the deadline to sign up for a new health care plan through Healthcare.gov approaching a couple weeks ago, I decided to give the web site one more try. After signing in I saw that there was an option to discard my previous application. Since that application never let me finish I scrapped it and started a new application. I was pleasantly surprised that the new application worked and I was able to sign up for a new health insurance plan. This is how the site should have worked when it first went live.
The only glitch was that when I finished the application there was a link to pay for my health insurance. That link didn’t work. I was able to contact the health insurance provider on my own and pay for the insurance. The health insurance company also left me a voice message and mailed me a bill although I’d already paid my premium by the time those arrived.
After deducting my subsidy amount I will be paying $56 a month for health insurance. That is $9 cheaper than I am currently paying, but the new plan would be $215 without the subsidy. If I make more money than I predicted I’ll have to pay back some or all of the subsidy. If I end up going full-time at my employer and receiving health insurance from them I’ll also have to pay back the subsidy. On the other hand, if I end up making less than I predicted I could receive an additional subsidy amount when I pay my taxes.
The new plan does have a much smaller maximum out of pocket cap of $6000 compared to the $13,000 of my current plan. That doesn’t seem like much of an improvement for a plan that costs $150 more a month. It doesn’t matter much if my maximum out of pocket is $6,000 or $13,000. Either way I have to pay out of pocket for doctor’s visits which means I won’t be going to the doctor and I won’t actually be receiving any health care for my money. Either plan only helps me if I become seriously ill or injured. I’m hoping someday the government can come up with a better solution to health care, but I’m doubtful that will happen.
Understood these are crap plans for crap health care and are designed to make money for insurance companies without benefits for people.
It does seem like a waste of money since I don’t get anything in return for my money, unless I get seriously ill or injured.
Sadly, the simplest way of keeping health care costs down are to make plans like this, which actively discourage you from using any health insurance and still paying into the system, subsidizing the old and unhealthy.
As for catastrophic coverage, $6,000 doesn’t sound to horrible. It’ll put a cap on surgeries and the like. I know I had a surprise surgery this year from what I thought was a minor injury, and the hospital bill for the 40 minute surgery and 6 hours in the hospital bed was $12,000 (if I recall correctly). It’s incredible how walking through a hospital’s doors will virtually ensure you reach your deductible.
Yeah, it wouldn’t take much to get to the $6000 cap. Other than a couple of doctor visits, I haven’t had anything covered by health insurance since I had my gall bladder out 20 years ago. That is a lot of premiums paid for very little benefit.