For Full-Pay Clients, Individual Health Premiums Are Hell: Web Broker

News September 25, 2018 at 01:49 PM
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At some Affordable Care Act (ACA) public exchange programs, the average monthly rates customers are paying out-of-pocket for coverage are about the same now as they were a year ago.

The picture is a lot different for people who have to pay the full cost of the coverage out of their own pockets, without help from the ACA premium tax credit subsidy, according to analysts at eHealth Inc., the parent of the eHealth health insurance shopping website.

The web broker's individual major medical customers are now paying $440 per month for coverage, or 16% more than they were paying a year ago.

The 16% year-over-year increase is narrower than the 18% year-over-year increase eHealth reported for 2017 coverage, but the company's individual health customers are still paying 62% more than they were paying in 2014, when the current ACA individual major medical market framework came to life.

The average annual deductible for that individual coverage has increased to $4,578, from $4,449.

Under the ACA rules, insurers can still charge older purchasers more than they charge younger purchasers.

The average eHealth premium for individual health customers ages 18 to 24 is $257.

The average for customers ages 55 to 64 is $790.

About 56% of the individual and family customers chose health maintenance organization (HMO) plans this year, up from a 53% share for HMOs in 2017, and a 39% share for HMOs in 2014.

A copy of the full eHealth report is available here.

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