According to an article written in the
Life and Health Insurance News website, it appears likely that consumers who purchase the minimum required level of health care coverage
could be responsible for handling thousands of dollars of medical costs out of pocket. The following information and research is courtesy of
The National Underwriter, publishers of Life and Health Insurance News.
Analysts at the
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation came to the conclusion in a report prepared using actuarial analyses from the
Actuarial Research Corporation,
The Aon Hewitt of Aon and
Towers Watson and Company. The analysts looked at the deductibles and out-of-pocket spending limits consumers might see if they buy individual health coverage through the new health insurance exchanges that are supposed to come online in 2014.
If the PPACA takes effect as written and works as supporters have hoped, consumers will be able to use subsidies to buy coverage through the exchanges, which are supposed to help match consumers and small employer groups with health insurers.
The PPACA requires exchanges to offer coverage with four levels of actuarial value: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum plans. The Bronze level plans are supposed to cost the least and cover the smallest share of enrollee's expenses, and the platinum-level plans are supposed to cover the most and offer the richest level of coverage.
When the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was considering PPACA, it did NOT provide estimates of exchange plan deductibles or analyses of out-of-pocket costs totals, the Kaiser analysts say.
As an editorial note- how in the world did our Congressional leaders and our President not even consider the effect this would have on out-of-pockets costs? This would seem to be one of the more basic concerns, as the Act is titled The "Affordable Care Act" and if costs go through the roof? The term "affordable" should be stricken from the Act's verbiage... take a look at the potential cost issues in the rest of this post. Back to the article:
The analysts commissioned the three separate deductibles and out-of-pocket cost forecasts to deal with variations in estimation techniques and assumptions.
The firms found, for example, that an individual who owned a bronze-level plan could end up facing a deductible of anywhere from
$2,750 to $6,350 and a coinsurance rate
up to 30%. In addition, the bronze-level plan would only cover 60% of expenses before the out-of-pocket limits kicked in.
Hmmmmm....... Comments?