A popular question these days in the healthcare insurance industry is: why do millions still shun the exchanges to buy individual health plans? This article may help to answer the question.
Kelly Fristoe operates his financial planning company in Wichita Falls, Texas, an oil-producing town about 140 miles northwest of Dallas, near the Oklahoma border.
As part of his job, Fristoe, CEO of Financial Partners, helps people in the area buy health insurance both on and off the exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act.
The oil industry, like other resource-based businesses, is fickle with people’s incomes. That can directly affect how people buy and retain coverage in the individual market under the healthcare law, Fristoe said. When times are good, well-paying jobs usually follow. Insurance is easier to afford if companies don’t offer it.
More recently, the price of crude oil has fallen precipitously. When that happens, employees in oil havens brace for pay cuts and layoffs. And even small changes in income can affect whether it makes sense to shop for health coverage in the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges.
The exchanges were built as an outlet for people to buy more affordable health plans in one streamlined setting if their jobs didn’t provide any coverage. Americans who make less than 400% of the federal poverty level receive tax credits that go toward paying premiums, and those who earn less than 250% can receive additional cost-sharing subsidies to help pay down deductibles and copayments. Exchange plan subsidies are also at the center of a major U.S. Supreme Court case to be decided next month.
Read the full article here.
Please contact Steven G. Cosby, MHSA, Group Health Insurance Broker and Agent with Cosby Insurance Group, with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.
