US Health Insurance Marketplace: Research Well Before Enrollment

In the US, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced that consumers can visit HealthCare.gov to study the details regarding each health insurance plan offered in their area before applying for the open enrollment from November 15. This year consumers will get more affordable options for themselves and their families as there are more issuers selling coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Consumers will be able to compare plans by answering few questions related to location and family size. This will further act as guidelines to find out about the estimate on how much financial assistance they may qualify for when shopping for coverage.

“Consumers can prepare for open enrolment by visiting HealthCare.gov and using the window shopping feature to see what plans will be available in their area,” said Administrator Tavenner.

Many Americans are giving lower health insurance premiums in exchange for high deductibles, thinking that if they save money now they won’t be in a tough financial condition in case they get high medical bills.

High-deductible health plans are those policies where policyholders need to spend a certain amount of money on their healthcare before the coverage actually starts.

“Deductibles are a fairly new concept,” says Sabrina Corlette, a senior research fellow with Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. Over time, “people realized it was a way to reduce the use of health care services. Because if people are required to pay for some of these costs up front, they are less likely to use nonessential services.”

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It has been observed that deductibles have grown in popularity and price tag in order to cut the rising healthcare costs. In 2014, 80 percent insured workers had policies that included a deductible, as per 2014 Employer Health Benefits Survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Research & Educational Trust.

A recent survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that more than 50 percent of Americans who have their own private insurance would opt to pay a higher premium, leading to lower out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and copays.

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Source-Medindia