10 ways to get ready for the Health Insurance Marketplace

Open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace is coming soon. Here’s how you can get ready to enroll starting October 1, 2013.

1. Find the Marketplace in your state and get your options & info.
2. Sign up for email or text updates about the Marketplace and connect with us on social media.
3. Gather basic information about your household income to see if you qualify for lower costs on Marketplace coverage. Use this checklist to get started.
4. Set your budget and estimate your costs and savings in the Marketplace.
5. Make sure you understand how coverage works, including things like premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, copayments, and coinsurance.
6. Learn about the different types of health coverage.
7. Explore your current options. You may be able to get coverage that starts before January 1, 2014 through existing programs.
8. Ask your employer if it plans to offer health insurance in 2014. If you don’t have coverage, you may have to pay a fee.
9. Learn how to get help with your Marketplace application. Visit LocalHelp.HealthCare.gov to find help in your area.
10. Get help with a Marketplace question. You can call 1-800-318-2596, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. TTY users should call 1-855-889-4325. Online chat is also available 24/7.

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More Predictions of Rate Shock Because of the New Health Law

Last week, I reported on my informal survey of health insurance companies and their estimate for how much rates will rise on account of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").

Today, there are press reports quoting the CEO of Aetna with their estimate. The Aetna estimate is worse than mine.

From Bloomberg:

Health insurance premiums may as
much as double for some small businesses and individual

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The Affordable Care Act: Ten Months to Launch "Obamacare"––Get Ready for Some Startling Rate Increases

What will health insurance cost in 2014?

Will the new health insurance exchanges be ready on time or will the law have to be delayed?

There Will Be Sticker Shock!
First, get ready for some startling rate increases in the individual and small group health insurance marketplace due to the changes the law dictates.

In a November 2009 report, the CBO estimated that premiums in the individual

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What Would Individual Health Insurance Cost if the Court Strikes the Mandate Down and Still Requires Insurers to Cover Everyone?

With the Supreme Court justices sounding like they might strike the mandate down, this is a question I've been getting a lot lately.I have pointed to New Jersey as a real life example of what can happen when insurance reforms take place but there is no incentive for consumers to buy it until the day they need it.In 1992, New Jersey passed health insurance reform that required insurance carriers

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If the Supreme Court Overturns the Individual Mandate

First, trying to predict how the Court will rule is at best just speculation. I know what Justice Kennedy said both today and yesterday and it certainly doesn’t look good for the Obama administration and upholding at least the mandate.But I will remind everyone, based upon oral arguments, most Court watchers expected a ruling in favor of the biotech industry on a recent case involving health care

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Wellpoint and Their “39%” Rate Increase

Wellpoint is getting killed in the press over a “39%” rate increase for their individual health insurance block in California.HHS Secretary Sebelius has pointed to the Wellpoint individual rate increases demanding an explanation. The President even brought it up in his interview on Sunday. At a time Democrats are fond of calling insurance executives “villains” this story just adds more fuel to

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The Senate Finance Health Bill Has No Clothes

Readers of this blog know that I have lots of concerns for the Senate Finance health bill primarily because it does not so much represent health care reform as just an expensive entitlement expansion.Readers also know the insurance lobby--AHIP--is not one of my favorite organizations.But I will tell you the report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) commissioned by the AHIP and released this morning

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Will Eliminating Medical Underwriting and Merging the Small Group and Individual Market Into a New Insurance Exchange Work? Lessons From Massachusetts

Creating a universal system of health insurance is everyone’s objective. But even if we pass an expensive health care bill in 2009 we won’t achieve it. We just don’t have enough money to cover everyone. Maybe, in the most expensive proposals, we would make it possible for 90% to be covered. In others, far less.The problem is that without an absolutely seamless system there will still be people

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The Dumbest Thing I have Ever Seen a Health Insurance Company Do––And Three of Them Took Their Turn Doing It in Front of the United States Congress

And, I’ve been in the business for 37 years.First, let me stipulate we really need a system of universal care where everyone gets to have insurance. But we don’t yet so certain rules are unavoidable until we do.Here are a few separate clips from today's Los Angeles Times article, "Health Insurers Refuse to Limit Rescission of Coverage:""Executives of three of the nation's largest health insurers

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State of California "Fearful" of Enforcing $1 Million Fine Against Wellpoint/Anthem Blue Cross for "Illegal" Health Insurance Policy Rescissions

Crazy as it sounds an AP story on Thursday reported that the California Department of Managed Care "didn't even try to enforce a million-dollar fine against health insurer Anthem Blue Cross because they feared they would be outgunned in court."Last year the department announced that it would fine the insurer for improperly rescinding individual heath insurance policies in the midst of the

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Democrats Ask GAO to Study the Individual Health Insurance Market--They Are Really Trying to Set Up McCain and Cast Doubt on His Health Reform Plan

There is an old salesman's axiom, "Don't ever ask a question you don't already know the answer to."Key House Democrats have asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to take a look at the current state of the individual health insurance market. They also want the GAO to review the operation of the state high risk pools designed to provide a safety net for those who can't get coverage in

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