Health insurance deductibles - ouch

[disneysteve]

The Aetna Whole Network is NOT the same as the Aetna Network. I'm not sure what part of this you do not understand.

Through my employer I had Aetna Whole Health.
Through the exchange I have Aetna Whole
Health.
It’s the same plan other than the copays and deductibles.
The Aetna Whole Health network is the same regardless of where you are getting the plan. Everybody who took it when I was insured through work still takes it now that I’m insured through the exchange.

I’m done trying to explain this to you.

[FrostedMoose]

Through my employer I had Aetna Whole Health.
Through the exchange I have Aetna Whole
Health.
It’s the same plan other than the copays and deductibles.
The Aetna Whole Health network is the same regardless of where you are getting the plan. Everybody who took it when I was insured through work still takes it now that I’m insured through the exchange.

I’m done trying to explain this to you.

You're done because you are untruthful. Your Aetna ACA provider network is limited, and I already demonstrated that to you by a direct comparison. You ignored it.

[ua_guy]

You've got things backwards with your wording:

SOME providers do not accept Medicaid: About 30 percent nationwide.

A FEW providers do not accept Medicare: About 7 percent nationwide.

MOST providers do not accept ACA: About 70 percent nationwide.

For which healthcare services? Homeopathy? Witchcraft? By which providers? Opthamologists turned politicians?

I see you refuse to respond to actual facts about where ACA is accepted and where it is not. That's telltale extremist agenda calling everyone on here a liar including those who actually know this stuff for a living.

[ua_guy]

Your insurance is cheap not because it's cheap, but because you are being subsidized by some schlub, probably me.

Oh wow. I hope you understand how insurance works. Healthy schlubs bear the cost of the sick schlubs and the whole model is based on risk and not everyone needing care at once.

Wait, aren't you the guy who buries money in your backyard?

Oh ****, now it makes sense

[disneysteve]

You're done because you are untruthful. Your Aetna ACA provider network is limited, and I already demonstrated that to you by a direct comparison. You ignored it.

No you didn’t. You compared Aetna Whole Health to Aetna Open Choice. Those are two different plans.

[NickGross]

That's a bunch of crap.

ACA only made things a lot worse. Before ACA, there were 11 insurers in my market for individual plans. I know because I shopped them every year. John Alden, Fortis, Humana, Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna, United, and a couple of local insurers. Our family rate was around $900 a month with a $1500 deductible. When ACA got passed, all of those insurers left the market except for Blue Cross and one local insurer. Their policies were deemed illegal. So we had to buy Blue Cross. It's now almost $3000 a month, and I believe our deductible is around $10,000 before insurance pays a dime. My "cost share" is almost $20,000!

Another thing - Blue Cross is now the only ACA insurer in our market. When my grand daughter got pregnant, there was no OB/GYN here taking ACA. The only in-network OB/GYN was 60 miles away in a town of around 12,000. Foreign medical graduate. She would have had to given birth at that tiny hospital with very marginal care. She had a miscarriage so we didn't have to endure all of that.
https://femia.health/health-library/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/can-you-get-botox-while-pregnant
ACA stuck responsible self-employed people with expensive, crap insurance. No one without some weird agenda likes ACA.

I can totally relate to your frustration. The ACA was supposed to make healthcare more accessible, but for many self-employed individuals, it has become a financial burden. The reduction in competition has driven up premiums and deductibles. In my case, I had to switch to a plan with much higher out-of-pocket costs. It’s disappointing to see that the promise of affordable healthcare hasn’t been fulfilled for everyone. Have you looked into any alternative solutions, like health-sharing ministries or direct primary care arrangements? These might offer some relief.

[Fishindude77]

ACA only made health insurance affordable for the very low income. The upper end of earners pay a premium, subsidizing the costs for the low earners.
You're both on the same plan, but the dude that makes $30k per year pays $100 per month, while a guy making $100k per year pays $1000 per month.

[disneysteve]

ACA only made health insurance affordable for the very low income.

If by "very low income" you mean families earning up to $180,000/year, then yes, that's true.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

If by "very low income" you mean families earning up to $180,000/year, then yes, that's true.

How much of a subsidy up to $180k?

[disneysteve]

How much of a subsidy up to $180k?

I don't know exactly because our income isn't quite that high. I think I used 150K for our income and that brought our cost down to $978 which I'm very happy with. It's half of what we were paying before we went on the ACA plan. No complaints here at all. Good coverage at a reasonable price.

[Fishindude77]

I don't know exactly because our income isn't quite that high. I think I used 150K for our income and that brought our cost down to $978 which I'm very happy with. It's half of what we were paying before we went on the ACA plan. No complaints here at all. Good coverage at a reasonable price.

Pre ACA, my self employed buddy was buying similar high deductible insurance for himself and spouse for about $600 per month.
Nothing was income based and there were many companies competing for the business. When ACA was forced on them, his premiums went up considerably.

I have no first hand on this because ACA was already in place when Cobra ran out after retirement.

[anhtuvp]

I hear you on the sticker shock of a higher deductible—it’s a big change, especially after having no deductible for so long. At least the lower premium helps cushion it a bit. I switched to a plan with a $3,000 deductible not too long ago, and it took a bit of adjusting, but like you said, knowing there’s an endpoint if you hit that max helps make it feel more manageable. Fingers crossed you don’t end up having to pay that full amount, but it’s good to keep an eye on your bills just in case!

[Atretes1]

I am researching health care costs. I will retire in 7.5 years at age 56. So, I will need to pay for my own insurance. I am looking at the ACA plans now. As if, I was needing insurance this year. If I were to take COBRA insurance currently my premium would be $7300 a year. The cheapest ACA plan premium for me is $9696 a year with higher deductibles and out of pockets. I will have a pension and rental income in retirement so I will not get an ACA discount. If I was retiring now, I definitely would use cobra until it expired. I realize things will change in 7 years, but I am surprised that I cannot find something that's the same or better than my cobra premium would be.