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Heritage
Network
Morning
Bell: Countdown to Obamacare Exchanges
Amy
Payne
September
3, 2013
While
America was resting from its labors, the countdown to Obamacare
began.
In
just 27 days, the Obamacare exchanges are scheduled to open, and
people who don’t get health insurance through their employers (or
through the government already) will start buying coverage.
Sixteen
states are doing their own insurance exchanges, while the federal
government is running exchanges in 34 states.
Many
states have been aggressively advertising and promoting their
exchanges. But there is still a lot we don’t know. Several
questions we’re still asking:
How
many insurers will participate?
So
far, the number of insurance companies offering plans through the
exchanges varies widely from state to state. And in some, it’s
nearly chaotic. Consider Mississippi. Heritage expert Alyene Senger
details that state’s woes: Initially, only two insurers applied to
offer coverage in the exchange—and they weren’t even going to
provide coverage for the entire state. Humana later said it would
provide coverage to the uncovered counties. But it remains that the
vast majority of Mississippians in the exchange will only be able to
do business with one insurer.
Which
doctors and hospitals will be covered?
Exchange
customers may not have access to the same doctors and hospitals that
other patients have. Senger writes that “limited networks have
resulted in major hospitals being excluded in California’s
exchange.”
How
much will coverage cost?
Most
people probably don’t know yet how much their exchange insurance
plans will cost. Senger warns that premiums aren’t the only
cost—people could also see co-pays and deductibles go up.
For
example, Ohio announced that premiums in their exchange will increase
on average by 41 percent compared to the premiums that Ohio companies
reported at the end of 2012. In addition to premium projections, the
Ohio Department of Insurance also provided a projection for the
increase in the total cost of coverage, called the average index
rate, which is projected to be a dramatic 83 percent increase.
How
safe will your personal information be...
Read the rest of the
article at the Heritage Network
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