# With a week to go for 2014 enrollees, did you get an Obamacare plan? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 24, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470 "2014-03-24T19:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/41 "2014-03-26T21:01:58Z")
$129/mo., 100% coverage for emergency care, two free regular visits a year, $25 deductible after two. No subsidy. ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/42 "2014-03-26T21:02:22Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > why is there an enrollment deadline? If a carrier was to sell me coverage on April 2, would they be breaking the law? Why? There are actually two things that come together to make the deadline March 31 this year (skipping the extensions that screw with this). 1. You are exempted from the tax penalty for not having insurance if you have it at least 9 months (so need to have by April 1). 2. Open enrollment ends March 31. This is to stop people from signing up only when they get sick. If you lose your job, your insurance gets cancelled, etc (whole list of conditions) you can get insurance outside of open enrollment. As for me, I have an ACA plan I started on March 1. I was on an individual plan before. Same company as before, under old “cancelled” plan, was $700.74, now 638.65. Almost exactly the same network (PPO), but family deductible goes from $4000 to ~$12k. Basically all the HSA eligible plans had max allowed deductible. Coinsurance percentages, particularly for out of network are far lower/worse on the new plan (was 100%/70% i think, now 80/60 or 80/50). In exchange I get maternity coverage (and some other more minor coverages) added that basically wasn’t available at all on individual plans. I say “cancelled” plan because I think Illinois jumped on the keep your existing plan for another year, but I didn’t want to wait. Not getting the advance tax credit - I tried to signup in november and it mistakenly said I was eligible for medicaid and refused to let me sign up for an actual plan. Once they got the site working I was able to call to have them delete the old app and do another app, this time without putting in my income at all. If I am eligible for a tax credit I will get it at the end of the year on my taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/43 "2014-03-26T21:11:00Z")
> [@LynnM](#): > > jasg, may I ask you to elaborate? > > By “aged out of the ACA” do you mean you qualify only for Medicare? That after a certain age, you must get on Medicare instead of another plan? > > If Mrs. jasg is 60+, does that mean she does not yet qualify for Medicare? > > I’ve never quite understood this stuff, never had to…until about now. Thanks– That’s the way I read it. I just turned 65 and applied for Medicare. There’s a seven month enrollment period…Your birth month and three months before it and three months after it. I also assumed Mrs. jasq is under 65 and not disabled. I’m still covered at work but if you put off Medicare Part B , which requires a premium, the premium goes up 10% every 12 months. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/44 "2014-03-26T21:50:20Z")
> [@Doug\_Bowe](#): > > That’s the way I read it. I just turned 65 and applied for Medicare. There’s a seven month enrollment period…Your birth month and three months before it and three months after it. > I also assumed Mrs. jasq is under 65 and not disabled. > I’m still covered at work but if you put off Medicare Part B , which requires a premium, the premium goes up 10% every 12 months. Since my wife is 10 months younger than me, and covered on my work insurance, I was thinking of putting of retiring until she hits 65. Does the Plan B premium increase happen even if you do sign up at 65, or only if you delay. My father-in-law signed up for Plan B for the first time at age 96 (when his group plan kicked him out for being the only survivor in the group) and the Plan B premiums seemed reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/45 "2014-03-26T22:10:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Since my wife is 10 months younger than me, and covered on my work insurance, I was thinking of putting of retiring until she hits 65. Does the Plan B premium increase happen even if you do sign up at 65, or only if you delay. > My father-in-law signed up for Plan B for the first time at age 96 (when his group plan kicked him out for being the only survivor in the group) and the Plan B premiums seemed reasonable. It’s based on information from “Medicare for Dummies” and various websites that popup in places like Yahoo finance and AOL finance. I don’t know if this is a recent thing or not, but they all said that putting off Plan B will cause the premium to increase. ## Here you go…this is from the [Medicare.gov](http://Medicare.gov) site Part B late enrollment penalty If you don’t sign up for Part B when you’re first eligible or if you drop Part B and then get it later, you may have to pay a late enrollment penalty for as long as you have Medicare. Your monthly premium for Part B may go up 10% for each full 12-month period that you could have had Part B, but didn’t sign up for it. ## Usually, you don’t pay a late enrollment penalty if you meet certain conditions that allow you to sign up for Part B during a Special Enrollment Period. Notice those weasel words “you may have to pay.” Your father-in-law may have met those “certain conditions.” I didn’t want to take a chance not meeting those conditions and the monthly is just $104.90, so poop, go for it. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/46 "2014-03-26T22:48:11Z")
Military retiree paying for Tricare Prime. No change at all, since I’m already in a [“minimum essential coverage” plan](http://www.tricare.mil/ACA). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/47 "2014-03-27T00:10:25Z")
I’m amazed by these low monthly premiums. My plan, which is far from the most expensive, is $1100 per month, for three people. That’s still less expensive than Cobra, which was $1500 per month. Our income is around $90,000 per year, including unemployment (my wife still works), so that makes us not eligible for any subsidies. It’s a significant chunk of our gross income! ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/48 "2014-03-27T02:24:58Z")
> [@LynnM](#): > > jasg, may I ask you to elaborate? Sure. > [@](#): > > By “aged out of the ACA” do you mean you qualify only for Medicare? That after a certain age, you must get on Medicare instead of another plan? Yep. My pre-ACA policy was cancelled, but they automatically enrolled me in a new policy. I turned 65 a month later, so 1 month of ACA coverage. > [@](#): > > If Mrs. jasg is 60+, does that mean she does not yet qualify for Medicare? Yes and at 63 her premiums are about as high as they get. It is much cheaper than Cobra and better coverage than my pre-ACA policy. > [@](#): > > I’ve never quite understood this stuff, never had to…until about now. Thanks– Healthcare is extremely confusing in this country. It seems easy (and ignored) when one is young and employed but in fact, it is one the most complex things anyone will ever deal with. Very complicated choices to make and it is still hard under Medicare. Medicare does not cover everything - there are many options from private companies but if you choose wrong you can be screwed. Unless you want to spend a lot of time researching healthcare options, seek out a good insurance broker or your state healthcare hotline for advice. (Or write your congress critter with support for universal single payer like the rest of the civilized world). It is no wonder Dopers from outside the US just shake their heads in disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![LynnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@LynnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LynnM)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/49 "2014-03-27T23:50:09Z")
So, if a person is 65 or older, they must go on Medicare? They cannot buy different health insurance? ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/50 "2014-03-28T06:36:22Z")
At age 53, my plan is $350 a month. For that, I have a 2100 deductible, which is also my out of pocket, so one I meet it, coverage is 100%. I met it earlier this month, so my care is covered for the rest of 2014. No subsidy for me. I am happy with my coverage so far. It’s a BCBS plan, and I haven’t had any trouble finding providers. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/51 "2014-03-28T14:12:07Z")
> [@LynnM](#): > > So, if a person is 65 or older, they must go on Medicare? They cannot buy different health insurance? If you are still covered at work you don’t have to sign up for all of Medicare - otherwise late signups have penalties (described above). Private insurance is available but would be quite expensive. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/52 "2014-03-28T15:29:54Z")
Our small business encouraged people to look at the exchanges to compare costs and offered to subsidize us if we went that way, but we found a new compliant plan from a new company that was slightly cheaper to just deal with directly as a pool. For me, it’s fantastic. My premium is going up $21 a month, but that’s because I switched from a Gold to a Platinum plan. As I have significant medical issues and am doing a lot of physical therapy, this is going to save me thousands this year alone. Plus, switching plans mid-year means my PT visit maximum for the year starts over (but, oddly, my deductible does not), which is going to be wonderfully helpful for my recovery. The new plan also covers the first 3 co-pays of the year, including specialist visits, and pays me $100 to get a physical. All in all, I’m pretty primed for it. This new company apparently formed in response to the opening of the exchanges; if we had stayed with our old company, we were looking at a 35% increase to keep our same coverage. So all in all, I’m pretty pumped for the ACA even though I didn’t go through the exchanges myself. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/53 "2014-03-31T12:19:03Z")
Whelp… finally pulled the trigger and signed up. I’m a procrastinator. The plan for my wife and me comes to a total of $940/mo. It’s a gold plan with BCBS, $1000 deductable. Can’t say whether or not I’m happy with the plan as of yet. I’ll see when I try to use it when it comes into full effect. As a Canadian living in the US for quite some time, I’ve never come to terms with the US healthcare system. It strikes me as both primitive (not from a quality of care point of view) and predatory. The ACA is a small step in the right direction but there is much more progress to be made. I would love to see the insurance companies out of the healthcare business and a socialized healthcare system implemented. The sooner, the better. But just to put it in perspective, I [found this cite](http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/news/display.aspx?id=20232) for how much an average Canadian (families and individuals) can expect to pay for healthcare through taxes: > [@](#): > > Using data from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the report calculates the amount of taxes Canadian families will pay to all levels of government in a year and the share of their total tax bill earmarked for public health insurance: > > Family consisting of two parents with one child (average income: $108,609) will pay $10,989. > Family consisting of two parents with two children (average income: $113,247) will pay $11,320. > Family consisting of one parent with one child (average income: $49,619) will pay $3,905. > Family consisting of one parent with two children (average income: $49,372) will pay $3,387. > Family consisting of two adults with no children (average income: $99,226) at home will pay $11,381. > Unattached individuals (average income: $39,039) will pay $3,780. So not very far out of line with what we’d be paying in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/54 "2014-03-31T12:47:06Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It took me about six weeks to get thru the process, including the roughly ten hours I spent on hold trying to get someone to tell me why the website kept asking for things and then telling me I couldn’t enter what it asked for. My premiums a bit more than doubled, and my deductible went up 300%. > > I hope proctology is covered because Obama can stick his health care plan up his ass. > > Regards, > Shodan Voyager asked you about this a few days ago, and I’m also curious why your result is so different. Is it the state you live in or your income level or something? I’d be talking to an insurance agent or somebody else in the know if something like that happened to me. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/55 "2014-03-31T13:12:49Z")
Got my card in the mail last week, which means it’s official! I am a single, 34yr old male, and was uninsured before this (and aside from one year where I was able to be covered by my then-girlfriend’s insurance, have been uninsured for about a decade). I got the gold plan, which, after subsidies, is costing a little under $200/mo. My part-time employer is going to pay me a stipend to cover a large portion of that, which is why I went for the pricier plan. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/56 "2014-03-31T17:36:30Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > I tried. I thought supporting 3 people on $19k/year would make me a shoe in for a subsidy. > > Apparently I make so little that I don’t qualify for a subsidy since under federal guidelines I qualify for Medicaid. On the same page, according to Ga guidelines, I don’t qualify for Medicaid, so I can’t get either. The cheapest half decent plan I can get is $220/month. When I bring home $300/week that is just more than I can afford. You can thank Gov. Deal. He, like many Republican governors refused to expand Medicaid even though most of the cost would be paid by Fed dollars especially initially. Since it will cost Georgia much more to pay for ER visits for the uninsured than any added state cost for Medicaid expansion I’ll leave it to you to figure out the governors’ motivation. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470/57 "2014-03-31T18:03:38Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > You can thank Gov. Deal. He, like many Republican governors refused to expand Medicaid even though most of the cost would be paid by Fed dollars especially initially. Since it will cost Georgia much more to pay for ER visits for the uninsured than any added state cost for Medicaid expansion I’ll leave it to you to figure out the governors’ motivation. I know that the people affected are just barely keeping their heads above the water, but this would seem to be a great time for a march on the capital to put a human face on the problem. Let’s have some pictures of the kids who are not going to get adequate treatment because the governor and legislature can’t stand to shell out a reasonably small amount of money for it in the future. (The feds cover 100% now.) But government in these places is hardly for all the people, is it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-week-to-go-for-2014-enrollees-did-you-get-an-obamacare-plan/684470.md?page=2)