So, got the December renewal for one of my "grandmothered" small group plans, which indicated a hefty 17+% rate hike.
And that was the good news!
Here's why:
This group of just under a dozen employees (plus various dependents) is pretty generic: $30 doc visit co-pays, a prescription card benefit, $2500 per person deductible (max $5000 per family). The Maximum Out-of-Pocket (MOOP) is $3500 per person ($7000 per family). The group's renewal rate is about $7500 per month.
Or, they could choose to "upgrade" to a fully ACA-compliant plan for a ... might want to sit down for this ... 93% rate hike (to $12,000 per month). This included the privilege of upping the family MOOP from $7,000 to $8,500.
Yeah, I didn't get it, either.
Still, we decided that it was worth shopping around to see if we could do better. At the outset, I warned my client that he shouldn't get his hopes up too high, since all the plans we'd be looking at have to be ACA-compliant.
And I was not disappointed. To their credit, the quotes came in pretty quickly; I tried to pick out the plans that most closely resembled the current design:
Company A offered a $2,000/person deductible plan, co-pays and rx, with a $12,000 family MOOP for $12,700/month
Company M's plan had a $5,000/person deductible, co-pays and rx, with 1 $12,700 family MOOP, for the bargain price of $12,300/month
Company I was the best "deal" of the lot; its plan featured a $2,000 deductible, co-pays and rx card, and a $12,700 family MOOP for only $10,400/month
Finally, Company U had a $3,000 deductible, co-pays and rx, with a $12,500 family MOOP for a bit over $11,000/month
So you can see why this employer, at least, was singularly unimpressed.
The big question is how much longer we can hold onto his existing plan.
Time will tell.
And that was the good news!
Here's why:
This group of just under a dozen employees (plus various dependents) is pretty generic: $30 doc visit co-pays, a prescription card benefit, $2500 per person deductible (max $5000 per family). The Maximum Out-of-Pocket (MOOP) is $3500 per person ($7000 per family). The group's renewal rate is about $7500 per month.
Or, they could choose to "upgrade" to a fully ACA-compliant plan for a ... might want to sit down for this ... 93% rate hike (to $12,000 per month). This included the privilege of upping the family MOOP from $7,000 to $8,500.
Yeah, I didn't get it, either.
Still, we decided that it was worth shopping around to see if we could do better. At the outset, I warned my client that he shouldn't get his hopes up too high, since all the plans we'd be looking at have to be ACA-compliant.
And I was not disappointed. To their credit, the quotes came in pretty quickly; I tried to pick out the plans that most closely resembled the current design:
Company A offered a $2,000/person deductible plan, co-pays and rx, with a $12,000 family MOOP for $12,700/month
Company M's plan had a $5,000/person deductible, co-pays and rx, with 1 $12,700 family MOOP, for the bargain price of $12,300/month
Company I was the best "deal" of the lot; its plan featured a $2,000 deductible, co-pays and rx card, and a $12,700 family MOOP for only $10,400/month
Finally, Company U had a $3,000 deductible, co-pays and rx, with a $12,500 family MOOP for a bit over $11,000/month
So you can see why this employer, at least, was singularly unimpressed.
The big question is how much longer we can hold onto his existing plan.
Time will tell.
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