By Joe Touschner
As the Administration continues to improve Healthcare.gov, families, consumer assisters, advocates, and others may be looking for other sources of information about what plans will be available through marketplaces in 2014 and what they will cost after taking premium tax credits into account. Fortunately, there are some resources available from HHS and private parties that shed light on plans and prices.
It’s been widely reported that Healthcare.gov added a plan compare tool that does not require account creation, but the information it provides is limited. Less well known is that HHS has also made available downloadable data that lists the health plans and dental plans available and their full-cost prices for 6 different family scenarios. The plans and prices are available for nearly all counties in federally-facilitated and partnership marketplace states. Plan prices are available for children, a single adult at age 27 or 50, a couple both at age 40, and two family scenarios. While exact information is not provided for other ages, the scenarios give a good look at the number of plans, the companies offering them, and their prices available in many states.
In addition to a plan’s full price, it’s also important to calculate families’ premium tax credits to understand what they will pay for health coverage. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a calculator that provides illustrative examples of subsidy amounts, based on income, age, family size, and rough estimates of premiums.
An intriguing new resource that brings together actual premium prices, subsidy calculations, and some info on cost-sharing amounts comes from Value Penguin. The website claims that it analyzed insurance plans’ government filings and on an initial look, its results seem to agree with the sources linked above. It provides the monthly premium amounts, before and after tax credits, for every state. It’s the most comprehensive 2014 price calculator that I’ve seen, so is certainly worth a look for those trying to figure out effective premiums. The site further provides information on cost-sharing charges for some plans, but that info is incomplete and does not appear to take cost-sharing reductions into account.
Of course, tax credits are only available to those who qualify, while others will qualify for different insurance affordability programs like Medicaid and CHIP. For extensive information on figuring out who qualifies for what kind of assistance, the best resource out there is the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Beyond the Basics website.
While Healthcare.gov and the state marketplace websites continue to make improvements, these resources can help us all understand what kind of prices families will face.