The ColoHealth Health & Wealth Newsletter
October 2022
Vol. 12, Issue 18
How Your Health Insurance Could Change in 2023
Inflation is affecting everyone this year. And the health insurance industry is no exception.
According to a recent survey of insurance carrier filings, health insurance rates are going up in 2023 by an average of about 10%. Some are increasing premiums by 14% or more.
That’s well above the rate of inflation – even in this high-inflation year.
But most people won’t actually see a very big change.
What Happens to Subsidies
If you receive an Affordable Care Act subsidy, most or all of the increase will probably be paid for by the taxpayer.
As premiums increase, so do the subsidies.
Also note that if you had a change in income, that could make a big difference in how much of a subsidy your family can qualify for. If your income went up and you had a subsidy this year, you will probably have to pay more out of pocket for the same plan next year.
Additionally, a few plans will be discontinuing in 2023. You will receive notification from your carrier within the next few weeks if your insurer is canceling its plan. If they do, most carriers will map you over to a new similar plan. However, you might want to consider your options going forward.
Marketplace Open Enrollment
Fortunately, you have an opportunity coming up to keep the health insurance companies honest, and force them to compete for your business: Open enrollment period.
The Marketplace open enrollment period starts November 1st, and continues through January 15th in most states. (Idaho residents, your open enrollment period starts October 15th!)
If you make a change by December 15th, your new plan will become effective the first of the year. Otherwise, your new plan will become effective on February 1st.
What to do now
If you are very happy with your current plan and they aren’t hitting you with a significant price increase, you can do nothing.
That’s fine! Most of our clients we do an annual review with, choose to do just that.
We try to get our clients in a great plan the first time!
Nevertheless, there are many reasons you might want change your plans this year:
1. Your income, and therefore your subsidy changed
2. Your plan changed or discontinued
3. You are getting unreasonable denials from your current health care plan
4. You need a plan with different features and benefits
5. You aren’t happy with your customer service
6. You prefer a plan that recently became available in your area.
If you are not satisfied with your current plan for whatever reason, you have a few options:
- Switch to a different Affordable Care Act plan.
- Switch to an off-exchange health insurance plan. These won’t qualify for an ACA subsidy. But if you earn too much money, you may not qualify for a subsidy anyway. And expanding your search to include these non-ACA plans may give you more choices.
3. Switch to a health sharing organization (instead of health insurance). These are innovative alternatives to traditional insurance. These organizations facilitate the sharing of medical bills among a pool of voluntary, like-minded, health-conscious members, reducing the financial shock of a large medical expense for any single member.
The Health Sharing Alternative
Health sharing plans are not insurance plans. They are an alternative model to insurance that still offers substantial protection against the skyrocketing costs of health care – at a fraction of the cost. And health sharing members are exempt from the ACA’s mandate to purchase health insurance.
Unlike health insurance carriers, health sharing organizations must be organized as 501(c)(3) non-profits. Instead of paying premiums, healthsharing organization members pay a monthly contribution into a special escrow account.
The healthsharing organization uses that money, along with contributed funds of thousands of others, to help other members who have health expenses that month pay their bills.
Because they aren’t selling health insurance per se, health sharing companies are exempt from state level insurance regulation and Affordable Care Act rules.
This allows them to place waiting periods before expenses for pre-existing conditions are shared. Most healthshares also do not pay for certain expenses, such as drug addiction treatment or sex-change operations.
That means members aren’t forced to pay for unneeeded coverage, like sex change operations or abortion, like they are under minimum essential coverage rules that affect traditional insurance companies.
Health sharing isn’t for everyone: If you have preexisting conditions, you may find that your health sharing plan provides very limited benefits for the first couple of years. Many (but not all) healthshares also have religious beliefs you need to agree with in order to join.
Click here if you want to learn more.
If you want to consider your options, you can get quotes from plans in your area, or sign up for plans right from our website.
We’re Here to Help
Hopefully, you’re still all good with your current health insurance and can just chill.
But if you do need to consider other options, we’re here to help.
To talk to us, click the calendar link of your Personal Benefits Manager who sent you this email.
There’s never any charge for our services.
To Your Health and Wealth,
Wiley P. Long III
President- ColoHealth
The ColoHealth Health & Wealth Newsletter is published monthly and emailed to subscribers at no charge. Subscribe now to stay on top of the critical information you need to know about health insurance, healthshare plans and managing your finances to achieve financial security.
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