Covering Members Of Your Family with Insurance

Health Insurance On The Health Insurance Exchange: Is It Worth It?

by Billie Hughes

President Obama's intent to create affordable healthcare has been met with mixed results. For people who were paying much higher rates with much higher and more expensive deductibles, the bill and the Insurance Exchange Marketplace came as a financial relief. For people who did not have insurance at all, it was a financial burden. So, as you begin searching for a health care plan, you may be wondering if the health insurance plans offered by the Exchange are worth it. Here is the short set of answers.

Bumped off Medicaid

Many single-parent families and lower-income households lost coverage in some states. Wisconsin is a good example of this. Their governor, Scott Walker, refused hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding that would have supported individuals on Medicaid. By refusing these funds, hundreds of thousands of adults (and just the adults) were pushed out of the program and had/have no health insurance.

Unfortunately, these individuals and parents have income that is near or slightly above the federal poverty guidelines. They cannot afford plans on the Exchange, even with government subsidies, and here is why.

  1. The most "affordable" plans on the Exchange have monthly premiums of just a few cents. However, the deductibles for these plans reach into the thousands, which means that you have to pay "x" amount of dollars out of pocket before the insurance ever kicks in.
  2. If you sign up for a plan with a higher monthly payment and a lower deductible, you are still paying out of pocket to meet the deductible while you pay between $100-$1,000/mo. for individual/family premiums. For single people and single parents that were on Medicaid, that is neither reasonable nor affordable.

If you are part of the cross-section of the population that could not afford health insurance before and you were on Medicaid, it may be impossible for you now. Even worse, the plans on the Exchange do not cover dental insurance; you have to select and pay for unsubsidized dental insurance separately on the Exchange. Sometimes, it is just better to go through insurance companies directly because insurance companies can cut deals and give discounts directly to consumers (something they cannot do on the Exchange).

Purchasing Insurance Policies Directly

Consumers are often extremely surprised to learn that health and dental insurance companies still sell policies directly to the public. In many cases, the coverage and discounts are better than policies offered through the Exchange. Talk to a health insurance sales agent with any insurance company to see how much better your insurance can be.

You can also check out a website like http://continsurance.com/ for more information.

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