Last night, I saw a tweet from Sarah Kliff on how healthcare.gov had opened a place to do “window-shopping” in the exchanges. I was excited about this, as I’ve been trying to look at options in Indiana for informational purposes only. While I’ve been able to get an account in the Indiana exchange, I’ve still be unable to see any actual offerings in the exchange. I’m as frustrated by this as many of you.
So I wandered over to this information-only area, and what do you know! It worked! I was able to see offerings from three insurance companies for catastrophic, bronze, gold, and silver plans. There were more than I expected, to be honest. There wasn’t any information about deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance (or networks), but at least I could see premiums.
Silver plans for an individual range from $278 to $301 a month (before subsidies). This is far less than what the state released a while ago. For a family like mine, silver plans range from $938 to $1018 a month (before subsidies). What’s more, even the gold plans range from only $1175 to $1329 a month.
Since we know that the average employer sponsored health insurance plan for a family in the US is $16,351, that means the most expensive gold plan on the exchange, at $15,948, is cheaper. Let me say that again: The most expensive plan I could find for a family line mine on the Indiana Health Insurance Exchange is less expensive than the average employer sponsored health insurance plan in the US.
There will be plenty of RATE SHOCK stories in the next few months. Keep this in mind when you read them.
