Surprise! Even the Bronze plans may cost a lot more than you expect

Hotair ^ | 12/27/2013 | Ed Morrissey

[SeekAndFind]

Oh, not up front — although the bronze plan premiums do cost more than many paid before ObamaCare’s mandates went into effect. No, McClatchy and Kaiser Health News worry about the big hike in overall cost that will hit consumers who choose the so-called “affordable” low-tier plans in the ObamaCare exchanges. They may not cover what people think — or anything at all, until those consumers pay thousands of dollars out of pocket first (via Gabriel Malor):

If you buy one of the less expensive insurance plans sold through the new health law’s marketplaces, you may be in for a surprise: Some plans won’t pay for doctor visits before you meet your annual deductible, which could be thousands of dollars.

“This could be the next shoe to drop, as people don’t realize that if they’re buying a bronze plan, they may have to pay $5,000 out of pocket before it contributes a penny,” said Carl McDonald, senior analyst with Citi Investment Research, speaking at a conference last month in Washington.

Comprehensive plans with deductibles usually cover wellness checks from the start (especially in group plans) — or at least they did until ObamaCare made the entire risk pool a lot more costly. In order to trim costs, especially with millions of new policyholders expected to flood the risk pools, insurers have shielded themselves against the larger risk. Unfortunately, that will have a dampening effect on what Democrats said would be the biggest benefit of ObamaCare — heightened access to routine care:

Experts are worrying that some new enrollees will be discouraged from seeing doctors if they have to pay the full charge, rather than simply a copayment. In Miami, for example, 40 percent of bronze plans require consumers to pay the full deductible before coverage kicks in, according to an analysis by online broker eHealthinsurance.com, a private online marketplace, for Kaiser Health News. The average deductible among the examined bronze plans in Miami is $5,735.

Patients in those plans who haven’t yet met their annual deductibles would have to pay the full cost of the visits, unless they were for preventive services mandated by the law. A typical office visit can run $65 to $85, while more complex visits may cost more.

Put it this way: If the average deductible is $5,735 and a doctor visit is $85, it would take sixty-eight doctor visits before the insurance kicked in — more than one visit per week. And it would start all over again every year.

In one sense, Karl is right:

.@gabrielmalor @EdMorrissey BTW, that's not necessarily bad policy. But it's not what people were led to believe ACA would be like.

— Just Karl (@justkarl) December 27, 2013

A proper reform of the health-insurance sector would eliminate (or at least greatly reduce) the footprint of third-party payers in most routine care, as well as transform health insurance into what it should be — a protection against catastrophe, not a club for medical care. That would introduce price transparency to the consumer, relieve most providers of a ridiculous amount of overhead, and reduce premiums to a realistic level for catastrophic coverage.

This, however, is the worst of both worlds. The law forces people to pay higher premiums for largely unnecessary comprehensive coverage — especially the middle class — and then forces them to pay for the routine care out of pocket anyway. Health-savings accounts that might have shielded consumers from the pain are now being discouraged, which means this comes out of their checking accounts, right along with the higher premiums.

The result? People will pay more for less coverage, and then spend thousands of dollars before seeing the first dollar in benefits, except for certain preventive tests that HHS deemed mandatory. This will discourage people from getting normal wellness care and quick intervention on illnesses, forcing them to wait until they’re very sick to see a doctor. And even that might be not so bad, considering how often people fill waiting rooms for cold and flu symptoms that could easily be handled with over-the-counter treatment, but it’s not what the Obama administration and Democrats promised. And it’s certainly not “affordable care.”

This is just one reason why the unfolding of ObamaCare in 2014 will be the biggest longterm political issue. It will drain American bank accounts every day, all year long, and each unexpected cost will rub a little more salt in the wound of betrayal. Just wait until the employer mandates take effect, and businesses kick employees out of group-plan coverage and into the ObamaCare exchanges … right before the midterms.

[rdcbn]

If you get seriously sick, the Bronze Plan may cost you everything

[Paulie]

Why do we have to wait until this kicks in or that kicks in or employeer plans get cancelled? This is all known in advance - why is this still the ‘law of the land’?

[Jim Robinson]

I guess birth control is one of the required freebies. And abortion another?

[Black Agnes]

All part of the big plan to get the middle class to agitate for single payer.

[Gay State Conservative]

I think Rush...and others...are right.The primary aim of OsamaObamaCare is to drive private health insurers out of business....by way of bankrupting them and/or making the tens of thousands of pages of regulations and rulings so difficult that they just throw up their hands.Once that's accomplished the complete takeover of our healthcare system is a piece of cake.

[Gay State Conservative]

And abortion another?

And don't forget "sex change" operations.

[Iron Munro]

Only a card carrying idiot would believe that Obama could drop health care insurance costs by $2,500 a person while:

- Increasing the quality of health insurance and health care

- Paying for a massive, new government bureaucracy to be injected into the system between people and their health care providers

- Providing free health care insurance and health care for 30 million people

- Generating billions of dollars in new taxes for his wealth redistribution schemes

- Save the federal government billions of dollars by reducing the overall costs of health care

[forgotten man]

It makes no economic sense to pay for these high deductible b.s. plans. A rational healthy person will a) not buy or pay for the insurance b) pay the fine of 1% of adjusted gross income c) wait until they are hospitalized before they buy insurance, and d) stop paying for the insurance after they get better.

[GeronL]

exactly

destroy the system and blame the free market, some how.

[Chgogal]

Under the law, Congress granted insurers leeway in how they design their plans, so long as bronze plans cover at least 60 percent of the costs of a typical policyholder, silver plans cover 70 percent, gold plans cover 80 percent and platinum plans cover 90 percent – with consumers on the hook for the remainder. Gold and platinum plans weren’t included in the eHealthinsurance-Kaiser Health News analysis because they generally cover more services with less cost-sharing by consumers.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/12/26/212833/low-premiums-may-mean-high-out.html#storylink=cpy

MSM (including FOX) still has not communicated to the public that they are on the hook for 40% of medical costs under the Bronze Plan AFTER deductibles. Thank You Supreme Court, Congress and Obama for royally effing us. It's time to leave these shores before you're totally bankrupt.

[DaxtonBrown]

The good news is it won’t drain personal bank accounts because people will just refuse to sign up. The bad news is the only people with healthcare will be those on the dole.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It's unfair that some people are able to save and acquire assets when other people cannot.

The purpose of Obamacare is to vacuum up the savings and assets of those people who have more than they need.

The ultimate goal is to have everybody living hand to mouth in eternal gratitude to their government overlords.

[Chgogal]

Even when you sign up after the fact you are still royally screwed. See post 11 below at link.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3105847/posts?page=11#11

[Tzimisce]

No one who was paying attention is surprised.

[sheana]

Why would insurance companies go bankrupt? They will be receiving premiums every month for insurance policies that don’t pay out a dime unless someone is very ill.

[Chgogal]

Not many people are paying attention. If they were Obama would not have been reelected and the Democrats would have been blamed for the shut down.

[Chgogal]

Plus if there if the insurance companies aren't collecting enough Obama and the Democratic Congress promised to pay the difference with tax payer money.