Health insurance a tough sell with low tax credits
Those eligible for the lowest subsidies to buy health insurance were the least likely to sign up for 2015 plans, studies show, another indication of the challenge of boosting enrollment for President Obama’s signature health care law in 2016.
The percentage of those choosing health plans dropped from about 75% for those earning $23,540 or less to about 14% for those earning about $47,000, new research from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) shows. Premium tax credits available on the federal and state insurance exchanges decrease as consumers earn closer to 400% of the federal poverty limit, which is about $47,000 for an individual.
This research and other studies of the 2016 plans on HealthCare.gov are likely to further hamper efforts to enroll some of the remaining people that Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell calls “hard to reach.”
Affordability is a big challenge for the uninsured.
When the insurance comparison site Healthpocket asked uninsured consumers how much they could spend on insurance a month, nearly 60% said $100 was their limit. That’s about the same percentage that said they had only $100 left after paying all their bills, RWJF found.
There was an 11% increase in the average deductible amount for individuals and a 10% leap for family deductibles, says Healthpocket.
A single man, 30, making about $35,000 a year, would have to pay nearly $300 to get a silver plan on HealthCare.gov. He could drop down to a bronze plan and save about $25 a month, but his deductible would average about $5,800 a year.
RWJF found 96% of the newly insured with 2015 plans purchased on the new health insurance exchanges reported being happy with their plans. That’s been evidenced by all the people re-enrolling rather than signing up for the first time with application counselors at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, says Bob Reed, the vice president of patient access.
For many uninsured consumers, having no insurance has “become a way of life,” says Katherine Hempstead, RWJF’s director of insurance coverage.
Many who lack coverage make do with low-cost drugs and health appointments available at retailers, including Walmart and Costco, Hempstead and others say.
Margaret Brawner of Charlotte says she is opting out of buying insurance again this year because of what she called “unaffordable premiums and ridiculous deductibles.”
Instead, she’ll continue getting discounted prescriptions from CVS and discounted services from her doctors.