Ratigan Tweets displeasure at ACA premium increase; doesn't appear to know what he is talking about
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Now, based on some readily available info about Ratigan, it looks like he can do better -- a lot better. He just needs to go to the "Covered California" site and do his homework. He can get a Bronze level plan for $222 a month from Anthem Blue Cross, or, at the other end of the spectrum, he can get a Platinum plan (the very best plan possible) for $420 a month from Anthem Blue Cross. That's what I found when I searched for available plans for Ratigan as a single male, age 41, in Dana Point, California 92629 (information about Ratigan I found after 3 minutes of Googling). Now, it's very possible that Ratigan's insurance company is pushing an expensive plan on him and counting on the fact that he won't check it out himself (like I did on his behalf, in about 5 minutes). This scam has been well covered by Kossack Vyan and others, so let me continue with Ratigan.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/08/1254200/-Ratigan-Tweets-displeasure-at-ACA-premium-increase-doesn-t-appear-to-know-what-he-is-talking-aboutPeople who take their insurance company's quote and fail to shop the exchange for a better plan likely have no idea they're being screwed or misled.
If Ratigan shopped the exchange, he could also find castastrophic coverage (that meets the ACA standards) at a lower cost than the bronze plan.
A catastrophic plan generally requires you to pay all of your medical costs up to a certain amount, usually several thousand dollars. Costs for essential health benefits over that are generally paid by the insurance company.
These policies usually have lower premiums than a comprehensive plan,
but cover you only if you need a lot of care. They basically protect you from worst-case scenarios.
Marketplace catastrophic plans cover prevention
In the Marketplace, catastrophic policies cover 3 primary care visits per year at no cost. They also cover free preventive benefits.
If you buy a catastrophic plan in the Marketplace, you can’t get lower costs on your monthly premiums or out-of-pocket costs based on your income. Regardless of your income, you pay the standard price for the catastrophic plan.
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https://www.healthcare.gov/can-i-buy-a-catastrophic-plan/Reminder for people getting those letters from their insurers: You're not their captive anymore
by Joan McCarter
In an excellent post on the Republican attacks on Obamacare "rate shock," Brian Beutler makes a point that hasn't been talked about enough.
(I)t’s important to distinguish complaints about cancellation notices from complaints about rate shock. Critics of the law have done their level best to create the impression that everyone who’s received a cancellation notice has experienced, or will soon experience, rate shock. But it’s not true.
Some people who receive these notices will be pleasantly surprised to find that the most similar new plan offered by their current provider is actually cheaper than their old one. Others will be told that a similar plan will cost more. What they won’t be told, because insurers don’t want to downsell or advertise for their competitors, is that they’re likely to find a different plan available through their state exchange that’s closer to the same price or cheaper. If they can’t find a cheaper one, then there’s a decent chance that federal subsidies will reduce their out-of-pocket costs. It’s only the remainder—and it’s likely to be a small remainder — that genuinely will have no choice but to either pay more money (in some cases significantly more) or pay a fine and go without coverage.
Insurers are sending out these letters, telling people they'll be automatically enrolled in other, more expensive plans. They're not telling people they can shop around for a better deal. Which is precisely the point of the health insurance exchanges. These insurers are betting that people will go the route of least resistance, and just fork up the money for the plan they're being pushed toward. Of course insurers are doing that! They're going to squeeze whatever extra money they can get out of people because that's what they do.
No one is actually losing their health insurance, a fact that Republicans in hearings and conservative commenters (and bad reporters) aren't talking about. They're also not talking about the fact that people now have options, in lots of states, lots of options, and they don't have to take what their current health insurer is selling.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/30/1251888/-Reminder-for-people-getting-those-letters-from-their-insurers-You-re-not-their-captive-nbsp-anymore
Apparently, some of the letters aren't letting people know they can shop the exchanges.
Here is where it gets a bit more interesting. The "cancellation letter" directed us to the BCBS website, where we could shop through various other options...It has become quite clear over the past couple of weeks that BCBS does not want us shopping on the Illinois Exchange.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023949034
Consumer Reports destroys 'rate shock' horror story
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023962640
Time to Investigate Those Insurance Company Letters
Paul Waldman
October 29, 2013
Are they trying to pull a fast one on their customers?
As a follow-up to this post, I want to talk about the thing that spawns some of these phony Obamacare victim stories: the letters that insurers are sending to people in the individual market. People all over the country are getting these letters, which say "We're cancelling your current policy because of the new health-care law. Here's another policy you can get for much more money." Reporters are doing stories about these people and their terrifying letters without bothering to check what other insurance options are available to them.
There's something fishy going on here, not just from the reporters, but from the insurance companies. It's time somebody did a detailed investigation of these letters to find out just what they're telling their customers. Because they could have told them, "As a result of the new health-care law, your plan, StrawberryCare, has now been changed to include more benefits. The premium is going up, just as your premium has gone up every year since forever." But instead, they're just eliminating those plans entirely and offering people new plans. If the woman I discussed from that NBC story is any indication, what the insurance company is offering is something much more expensive,
even though they might have something cheaper available. They may be taking the opportunity to try to shunt people into higher-priced plans. It's as though you get a letter from your car dealer saying, "That 2010 Toyota Corolla you're leasing has been recalled. We can supply you with a Toyota Avalon for twice the price." They're not telling you that you can also get a 2013 Toyota Corolla for something like what you're paying now.
I'm not sure that's what's happening, and it may be happening only with some insurers but not others. But with hundreds of thousands of these letters going out and frightening people into thinking they have no choice but to sign up for a much more expensive plan, it's definitely something someone should look into. Like, say, giant news organizations with lots of money and resources.
Now, it should be said that when President Obama said during the debate over the Affordable Care Act in Congress that if you like your health coverage you can keep it, he was only half right. The reason he repeated it so many times was that he and his advisors firmly believed that one of the main reasons Bill Clinton's health-care reform failed was that it changed things too much for too many, and people fear change. In Clinton's plan, pretty much everybody not on Medicare or Medicaid would have had to go into a new insurance plan. That those plans might be better than what they had didn't matter; the idea frightened people. So the Obama administration took pains to emphasize that the government would not require anyone to change their insurance. That didn't mean they were guaranteeing that no insurance company would ever make changes to anyone's plan, because insurance companies do that all the time. But the law wouldn't mandate that, say, you leave Aetna and join Blue Cross.
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http://prospect.org/article/time-investigate-those-insurance-company-letters
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