MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov.1,
2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Open enrollment for Obamacare starts today and
consumers shopping for health insurance will find significant
premium increases across the nation. The most popular marketplace
plan (Silver) is 31 percent more expensive this year than last
year, and the lower benefit marketplace plan (Bronze) is 22 percent
more expense than last year.* What this means to consumers shopping
for 2018 health insurance is that an average Obamacare premium will
be even higher than this year's $489
per month, assuming the consumer is not eligible for a government
premium subsidy. Almost every state is affected by the significant
rate increases. Below are state examples of the average
unsubsidized Bronze plan premiums for a 40-year-old male
non-smoker:
Arizona: $424.12 per month (with one carrier option,
except Pima county with two
carriers)
Georgia: $490.69 per month (with one carrier option in
89% of its 159 counties)
Iowa: $609.94
per month (with one carrier option statewide)
Health insurance products that are widely available alternatives
to Obamacare have not experienced the same rise in premiums. For
example, a short-term health insurance plan (with a deductible and
out-of-pocket cost comparable to a 2018 Obamacare Bronze plan) can
be purchased for less than $100/month
in most states. Comparisons in the same states above with plans
available on AgileHealthInsurance.com for the same 40-year-old male
non-smoker, short-term health insurance can be purchased at
premiums starting at:
Arizona: $70
per month (with five carrier options and 158 unique health
plans)
Georgia: $90 per
month (with four carrier options and 127 unique health
plans)
Iowa: $70
per month (with five carrier options and 158 unique health
plans)
For consumers who are priced out of the individual market and
lack employer or government health insurance coverage, there are
three well-established alternative forms of health coverage:
short-term health insurance, healthcare sharing ministry plans, and
health benefit insurance:
- Short-Term Health Insurance is a form of major medical
insurance designed to bridge gaps between other forms of health
coverage, and has been offered by insurance companies such as
UnitedHealthCare® for over three decades. Like other major medical
health plans, short-term health plans include coverage for doctor
and specialist visits, hospitalization, emergency care, and lab
tests. Most plans allow a member to choose any doctor or
hospital.
- Healthcare Sharing Ministries plans are technically not
insurance but a group of individuals and families who have joined
together to share the cost of healthcare across the group. Members
must agree to live by certain religious codes, such as limited
tobacco and alcohol use. Generally these plans do not discriminate
based on age, weight, or health history. Members are not limited to
any network and may seek providers both in and out of state.
- Health Benefit Insurance is a form of indemnity medical
insurance and has been offered to by insurance companies such as
Aflac® for over six decades. Heath benefit insurance plans will pay
a fixed cash benefit to members in the case of covered medical
event such as a doctor visit or hospital stay. Health benefit plans
are often combined with supplemental insurance products such as
accident or critical illness insurance, as well as supplemental
non-insurance services such telemedicine.
Consumers should understand that these three alternatives
generally will not cover pre-existing conditions and may not offer
all of the ten essential health benefits included in an ACA plan.
Consumers may also be subject to the IRS ACA tax penalty unless
they quality for a penalty exemption. Ministry plan members will
not be subject to the ACA tax penalty so long as the ministry was
established prior to 1999.
Bruce Telkamp, Founder and CEO of
AgileHealthInsurance said, "ACA open enrollment starts today but
millions of consumers will be priced out of the ACA market. This
year witnessed an unsustainable 31 percent increase over last
year's Silver premiums, without any new benefits being added to
these plans. In practical terms, this means the average
unsubsidized premium nationwide for a 40-year-old on Silver plan is
$537, which is more than the average
new car payment in the U.S. We strongly encourage consumers to
understand their alternatives to ACA plans, in particular, their
option to buy short-term health insurance on
AgileHealthInsurance.com. Short-term health insurance plans may be
ideal gap coverage until the broader individual market stabilizes
and becomes affordable again. Most consumers can choose from dozens
of short-term health insurance plans on the Agile website for under
$100 per month. Short-term health
insurance plans have similar deductibles and max out-of-pocket
limits to ACA plans, and consumers can use their short-term health
insurance plan to pay for access to most doctors and hospitals
across the U.S."
*Price increases cited are from a HealthPocket study. There are
multiple other studies that may differ a little due to differences
in the methodology used to calculate increases. For instance,
Avalere Health cited an increase of 34% in Silver and 18% in
Bronze.
HealthPocket and AgileHealthInsurance are the registered
trademarks of HealthPocket, Inc. All rights reserved. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used
herein for identification purposes only; such use does not imply
endorsement.
AgileHealthInsurance.com was created to educate people about the
benefits of short-term health insurance and provide a fast, online
process for purchasing these plans. Short-term health insurance is
a flexible and low-cost major medical insurance for individuals
without expensive pre-existing health conditions. It is not
Obamacare. Short-term health plans offer consumers the flexibility
to choose health plans with the benefits that matter most to them
and combine these benefits with broad provider networks. Additional
information about AgileHealthInsurance can be found at
www.AgileHealthInsurance.com.
On October 12, 2017, President
Trump issued Executive Order Promoting Healthcare Choice and
Competition Across the United States. The Order requires the
Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services
to propose or revise regulations to expand the use of short-term
health coverage.
AgileHealthInsurance is a Silicon Valley-based technology
company and independently managed division of Health Insurance
Innovations, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIIQ).
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are statements other than
historical fact, and may include statements relating to goals,
plans and projections regarding new markets, products, services,
growth strategies, anticipated trends in our business and
anticipated changes and developments in the United States health insurance system and
laws. Forward-looking statements are based on our current
assumptions, expectations and beliefs are generally identifiable by
use of words "may," "might," "will," "should," "expects," "plans,"
"anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or
"continue," or similar expressions and involve significant risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and
business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by
these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among
other things, our ability to maintain relationships and develop new
relationships with health insurance carriers and distributors, our
ability to retain our members, the demand for our products, the
amount of commissions paid to us or changes in health insurance
plan pricing practices, our ability to integrate our acquisitions,
competition, changes and developments in the United States health insurance system and
laws, and our ability to adapt to them, the ability to maintain and
enhance our name recognition, difficulties arising from
acquisitions or other strategic transactions, and our ability to
build the necessary infrastructure and processes to maintain
effective controls over financial reporting. These and other risk
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements are
discussed in HIIQ's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other
documents that may be filed by HIIQ from time to time with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at
www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press
release is based only on information currently available to us and
speaks only as of the date on which it is made. You should not rely
on any forward-looking statement as representing our views in the
future. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time, whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise.
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SOURCE AgileHealthInsurance