Medical insurance a lot more Expensive under the affordable care act
Medical Insurance a Lot More Expensive
Just how much are consumers actually paying for health insurance ever since The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed? According to a recent article by Benefitspro, This dreaded truth is coming to light.
Health insurance on the individual marketplace is a lot more expensive under ACA. The promises by the President of every American saving almost $2400 a year was false.
On Wednesday, February 26th, eHealth, launched a Health Insurance Price Index, “the first and only tool of its kind that tracks on a daily basis the average monthly cost of individual and family health insurance for plans based on applications submitted nationwide through eHealth,” the organization said.
The price index charts daily changes in health insurance costs and comparisons to pre-ACA coverage.
The average premium for a person health plan selected through eHealth with no subsidy was $274 per month, as of Feb. 24. That’s a 39 percent increase from the average individual premium for pre-Obamacare coverage, eHealth said.
And the average family plan cost $663 per month, up 56 percent from a last year.
But deductibles fell in 2014, from $4,900 a year for an individual in 2013, to $3,768 this current year. For families, 2014 deductibles average $7,194 a year, lower than the $10,568 it was in 2013.
Premiums are much higher, eHealth explains, because of beefed-up benefits in ACA-compliant plans. The increase is also due partly to consumers choosing plans with fewer out-of-pocket costs.
Gary Lauer, CEO of eHealth Insurance, said the latest index, which tracks health insurance prices, is all about transparency.
“We’ve seen from other studies that prices have increased across the board; our index shows exactly what the average consumer has the capacity to spend on new ACA-compliant plans, with virtually no premium assistance,” Lauer said. “This causes it to be the first and best-available snapshot of enrollment trends away from government exchanges.”
Lauer also said that a change in shopper demographics in recent weeks has resulted in lower premiums. In October, eHealth found the average customer was 44 and paid a premium of $374. In recent weeks, Lauer said, the typical customer was 35 and paid a $273 premium. The average premium for family plans selected by eHealth customers went from $779 in mid-October 2013 to $663 on Feb. 25.
The eHealth index also found:
For both individual and family applicants, bronze plans happen to be the most used since the beginning of open enrollment.
39 percent of the individual and family applications submitted from the fourth quarter of 2013 at eHealth were from individuals between the ages of 18-34.
The average premium for individual policy owners in the 55 to 64 age range was $520 per month, and 21 percent of applicants were in this age range.
Among 2014 plans selected in the fourth quarter of 2013, the greatest average monthly premium for individual plans was found in the state of Alaska ($496) as well as the highest average monthly premium for family plans was discovered in New Jersey ($1,004).
