By LOUISE RADNOFSKY, Wall Street Journal
U.S. officials for the first time disclosed insurance prices that will be offered through new federally run health-care exchanges starting Oct. 1, showing that young, healthy buyers likely will pay more than they do currently while older, sicker consumers should get a break.
The plans, offered under the health-care overhaul to people who don’t get insurance through an employer or government program, in many cases provide broader coverage than current policies.
Costs will vary widely from state to state and for different types of consumers. Government subsidies will cut costs for some lower-income consumers.
Across the country, the average premium for a 27-year-old nonsmoker, regardless of gender, will start at $163 a month for the lowest-cost “bronze” plan; $203 for the “silver” plan, which provides more benefits than bronze; and $240 for the more-comprehensive “gold” plan.
But for some buyers, prices will rise from today’s less-comprehensive policies. In Nashville, Tenn., a 27-year-old male nonsmoker could pay as little as $41 a month now for a bare-bones policy, but would pay $114 a month for the lowest-cost bronze option in the new federal health exchanges.
Likewise, the least-expensive bronze policy would rise to $195 a month in Philadelphia for that same 27-year-old, from $73 today. In Cheyenne, Wyo., the lowest-cost option would be $271 a month, up from $82 today.
What will the new health-care exchanges cost you? In many cases, more than you think. WSJ health policy reporter Louise Radnofsky explains. Photo: Getty.
The Affordable Care Act marks a fundamental shift in the way insurers price their products. Carriers won’t be allowed to charge higher premiums for consumers who have medical histories suggesting they might be more expensive to cover because they need more care. They will have to treat customers equally, with limited variation in premiums based on buyers’ ages or whether they smoke.
Insurers also will have to offer a more generous benefits package that includes hospital care, preventive services, prescription drugs and maternity coverage.
For consumers used to skimpier plans—or young, healthy people who previously enjoyed attractive rates—that could mean significantly higher premiums.
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The benefits are greater for people who previously were rejected for coverage because they were ill, or who were charged higher premiums. They are expected to find better coverage through the exchanges for the first time.
The concern for supporters of the law, and the administration, is whether enough healthy people sign up to balance the likely higher costs incurred by the sick and newly covered.
The data, which the administration was set to release Wednesday, cover 36 states where the federal government is operating insurance exchanges because state officials have declined to do so themselves. Fourteen states are operating exchanges on their own.
The Obama administration called the rates a good deal for consumers.
“The prices are affordable,” said Gary Cohen, a top regulator at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Read more and watch the video at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303983904579095731139251304.html?mod=djemalertNEWS#project%3DEXCHANGES0924%26articleTabs%3Darticle
