Obamacare: High Deductibles and Higher Premiums

Bad news for Obamacare enrollees, reports said that there will be an increase in the out-of-pocket costs for deductibles next year 2016 that will significantly diminish the benefits of consumers health care plans and this will further discourage some from purchasing coverage.

Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy & Strategy Associates, said “That these deductibles are so high is clearly one of the reasons people aren’t buying a plan—they simply don’t see themselves getting anything for the money.”

People have until the end of the year to enroll themselves for the 3rd season of Obamacare. The government said that there are a lot of plans available with low premiums however, most of those plans requires you to pay huge out of pocket costs before they Obamacare coverage actually kicks in.

The average annual out-of-pocket costs per worker increased nearly 230 percent between 2006 and 2015, according to an annual survey of employer health benefits coverage by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The New York Times report said that majority of the states and more than half the plans being sold on Obamacare insurance exchanges have a deductible of $3,000 or more.

Median deductible in Miami is $5,000. In Jackson, Miss the median deductible is $5,500. Chicago is $3,400. Phoenix $4,000. While in Des Moines, Iowa, it is $3,000.

It is also revealed by the government that Obamacare will not hit their 10 million target by next year. Also another problem hounding the Obamacare is the rising premiums for policies the median rate increase for the lowest priced, most popular “Silver” plan will rise by 11% compared to just a 7% increase in 2015.

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Affordable Care Act: 500,000 plus sign up for Insurance

More than 500,000 has already submitted their application to purchase insurance under the Affordable Care Act on healthcare.gov according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Department spokesman Benjamin Wakana said that 250,000 applications were sent in the first 48 hours.

Enrollment for 2016 opened on November 1, 2015 throughout the country. They want to see if the number of uninsured people will drop. 28.5 million people in the US are still uninsured according to  the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics.

Texas topped the states with the most number of uninsured (20% or about 5 million people), followed by Alaska (17.2%), Florida (16.6%), Georgia (15.8%) and Oklahoma (15.4%).

Enrollment will continue up to January 31, 2015. Federal officials urge people to consider enrolling early or by mid-December to ensure uninterrupted coverage.

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Obamacare: Open enrollment Nov 1 to Jan 31

The open enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will start on November 1 to January 31, 2015. This will be the 3rd year of health care sign-ups. Covered California officials said that there are still 2 million residents who are uninsured, primarily Latinos and African Americans and 36% of them don't know that they may be entitled to premium subsidies available under the Affordable Care Act. In contrast, only 16% didn't know about the tax penalty for lacking health coverage.

Covered California exchange have 500 storefront locations, they employ thousands of enrollment counselors, and have launched a $29 million advertising campaign and a statewide bus tour, to encourage more Californians to come under the health care umbrella.

They said that about 90% of the 1.3 million Covered California enrollees receive subsidies, and more than 200,000 people pay less than $50 a month thanks to that financial assistance.

For those who are uninsured tax penalties for not having health care coverage will increase again in 2016. Under the federal health care law, those without health insurance in 2016 may be subject to a federal tax penalty, which starts at $695 per person in a household or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater. For a family of four earning $70,000 a year that chooses not to purchase health care coverage for 2016, the tax penalty could be $2,085, according to Covered California.

For a family of three with an annual income of $61,021 living in Los Angeles I got these premium rates: Molina bronze $332, $0 monthly premium assistance, Oscar Bronze $396, Anthem Bronze $398 and Kaiser Permanente $403. Well, if you ask me those rate are expensive no wonder they are not signing up. If they just used the $29 million they pay for advertising in improving the discount then it would have been great.

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Brace Yourself Health Insurance Companies are Seeking Rate Increases up to 27%

For Arizona residents who purchase their own health insurance maybe in for a big surprise next year they are faced up to 27% rate increase. Health Insurance companies said that the increase reflect the higher medical expenses of their customers. They have filed the necessary paperwork with the state and federal regulators to increase the premiums by 11 to 27% for 15 individual plans sold on and off the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

The proposed rate hikes will not affect most Arizonans who get health insurance through an employer or a government-sponsored health plan such as Medicare, Medicaid or Veterans Affairs.

Full story here

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Uninsured Citizens Can Still Avoid being Penalized by Obamacare

Citizens who have not yet purchased a health insurance plan can still avoid federal fines, since Washington has offered a second chance. The enrollment period will give a million people who have not yet signed up for Obamacare a one-time chance to enroll.

Most people has negative feedback with President Obama’s healthcare law it has been criticized by a lot of people. The average federal fine is at $170 which will be deducted from tax refund. 2015 will be the first year in which fines are being collected from uninsured people who are able to afford insurance.

The low and middle income individuals and self employed businessmen are among the people fined for not opting for affordable coverage. The government said that about 4 million people will have to pay fines this year if they don't sign up for the coverage during the limited-time window.

The limited time window to enroll for healthcare coverage will be open up to April 30. The penalties for this year will be higher, at $325 for 12 months.

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