The Future of Health Insurance

[Sherota1]

Will The ACA Lead To Fewer Health Insurance Agents?

Some say yes some say no. What do you say?

Has Obamacare Lead to Fewer Health Insurance Agent?-DEBATED

 

[Brian F 11]

You said you live in Central Florida and one company has cornered the market? Care to say who? I'm in Central Fl and in this last OEP, UHC, Humana and Florida blue were all neck in neck with premiums. With Humana arguably with the lowest. But not cornered by any means.

Not sure what marketplace you used, lol. For almost any demographic, the top 3-5 lowest premium on Market Plans at any metal level, belonged to one carrier. The next 2-3 plans were offered by a little known company who stopped offering appointments.

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I do wonder how Sanders promotes a national single payer system when the single payer system in his home state of Vermont started and failed in 2014.

Uncle Bernie looks to tax the wealthy to pay for single payer. How high will that tax be to replace 20% (or more) of the country's GDP?

Who will he tax to increase min wage to $15HR?

Shouldn't basics economics be a pre-requisite for running for an office that impacts economics?

None of those things make any sense, you know, economically.

Maybe economics has changed since his last class in 1883.

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[Tkruger]

You said you live in Central Florida and one company has cornered the market? Care to say who? I'm in Central Fl and in this last OEP, UHC, Humana and Florida blue were all neck in neck with premiums. With Humana arguably with the lowest. But not cornered by any means.

Also in FL along with 19 other states. A valid question was asked. Please supply a reply.

 

[FLM2]

Not sure what marketplace you used, lol. For almost any demographic, the top 3-5 lowest premium on Market Plans at any metal level, belonged to one carrier. The next 2-3 plans were offered by a little known company who stopped offering appointments.

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That's not accurate at all for central Florida, here is the complete list for a 40 year old, non-smoker in Orange County:

https://www.healthsherpa.com/find-plans/plans?zip_code=32803&fip_code=12095&people=[40a]&size=1&income=100000&cs=premium&year=2016&page=1

Florida Blue's low cost plans are for My Blue and Blue Select, which both have very poor networks.

Next year will be dismal in Florida because it will either be Florida Blue or a small HMO network for almost everyone but for the past 3 years there have been a good choice of plans and networks.

 

[Brian F 11]

Based on what you posted 6/10 plans on the first page are from one carrier. Including the lowest premium plan, but never mind that.

Let me clarify, rerun that quote for the Tampa Bay Area. Try Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas counties.

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Also in FL along with 19 other states. A valid question was asked. Please supply a reply.

FL Blue followed by Ambetter. FL Blue appointments are no go. That is why there were so many agents on here screaming for an Ambetter appointment.

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[Tkruger]

FL Blue followed by Ambetter. FL Blue appointments are no go. That is why there were so many agents on here screaming for an Ambetter appointment.

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Humana beat Blue in Pinellas County for the lowest cost plan. Now if you go look at actual plan benefits the fist 2 bronze plans (1 from Ambetter and the other from Humana) both are junk plans IMO.

The next 4 are Ambetter and only improve in bennies by offering Vision and or Vision and Dental coverage included.

Next comes Blue....with a similarly junk plan as the 2 cheapest plans first noted above.

It should be noted that there is a reason that Ambetter stopped offering appointments. They wanted educated persons to stop offering real and practical advise in purchasing their plans.

Note that no digging into the networks was done, however I have along with our clients experienced network issues with Humana in central Florida.

So, that said your Am and Blue comment corning the market has been proven by the MythBusters to be BUSTED!

 

[somarco]

Ambetter stopped offering appointments. They wanted educated persons to stop offering real and practical advise in purchasing their plans.

"Traditional" carriers have the same attitude. They don't want educated policyholders. Just those that look for the lowest monthly premium.

 

[Tkruger]

"Traditional" carriers have the same attitude. They don't want educated policyholders. Just those that look for the lowest monthly premium.

As has been discussed on many...many threads here.

 

[somarco]

Sometimes it just bears repeating Ted. Not everyone spends as much time as you and I do, pouring over the threads for interesting tidbits.

 

[Brian F 11]

That's not accurate at all for central Florida, here is the complete list for a 40 year old, non-smoker in Orange County: https://www.healthsherpa.com/find-plans/plans?zip_code=32803&fip_code=12095&people=[40a]&size=1&income=100000&cs=premium&year=2016&page=1 Florida Blue's low cost plans are for My Blue and Blue Select, which both have very poor networks. Next year will be dismal in Florida because it will either be Florida Blue or a small HMO network for almost everyone but for the past 3 years there have been a good choice of plans and networks.

That's not accurate at all for central Florida, here is the complete list for a 40 year old, non-smoker in Orange County: https://www.healthsherpa.com/find-plans/plans?zip_code=32803&fip_code=12095&people=[40a]&size=1&income=100000&cs=premium&year=2016&page=1 Florida Blue's low cost plans are for My Blue and Blue Select, which both have very poor networks. Next year will be dismal in Florida because it will either be Florida Blue or a small HMO network for almost everyone but for the past 3 years there have been a good choice of plans and networks.

Humana beat Blue in Pinellas County for the lowest cost plan. Now if you go look at actual plan benefits the fist 2 bronze plans (1 from Ambetter and the other from Humana) both are junk plans IMO. The next 4 are Ambetter and only improve in bennies by offering Vision and or Vision and Dental coverage included. Next comes Blue....with a similarly junk plan as the 2 cheapest plans first noted above. It should be noted that there is a reason that Ambetter stopped offering appointments. They wanted educated persons to stop offering real and practical advise in purchasing their plans. Note that no digging into the networks was done, however I have along with our clients experienced network issues with Humana in central Florida. So, that said your Am and Blue comment corning the market has been proven by the MythBusters to be BUSTED!

MythBusters bust myths. You confuse the hell out of facts. Going back to what you said above, removing the junk, you reinforced EXACTLY what I said. The link you provided shows 6/10 plans are FL Blue, and they are the CHEAPEST plans. You didn't count those because you don't like the networks lol. Looking at bronze only plans, 7/10 are FL Blue.

Ambetter does not write business in the zip code that you used, if they did, all but 1 Humana would be bumped to the 2nd page.

What is your idea of neck and neck????? You think people who already get sticker shock on page 1 dare venture move on to page 2?

For those who qualified for CSR, FL Blue and Ambetter offered multiple $0 premium silver plans in every case I looked at. Humana or UHC the customer would have to pay additional premiums.

To be fair to you I ran a few quotes in other counties using FFM, finder.healthcare.gov in Orange County Family of 4, still no Ambetter plans in the area, the lowest cost bronze plan belongs to Avmed followed by FL Blue, $40 less than the lowest cost Humana Plan. Also note that once again, most of the plans available are FL Blue.

We know they are lower for family coverage, let's go back to male single non smoker age 35. Same county, bronze plans Blue offers majority of the plans. Silver plans (just for fun). Maybe it will make a difference if you can see it, top 10 plans arranged by premium low to high
1. - Blue Silver HMO
2. - Blue Silver EPO
3. - Blue Silver HMO
4. - Avmed HMO
5. - Blue Silver EPO
6. - Avmed HMO
7. - Blue Silver HMO
8. - Humana HMO
9. - Blue Silver EPO
10. - Avmed HMO

Where is the competition?

There is 1 Humana Plan in there, 8th from the top. No UHC listed in the first dozen plans or so.

Moving onto Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Hillsborough County. In both Hillsborough and Pasco Counties, Top dozen or so plans belong to Florida Blue or Ambetter, flip flopping by zip code. No UHC, No Humana.

Polk County is pretty much owned by FL Blue.

FACT: The ONLY county I see that shows Humana as the lowest cost HMO Bronze Plan is Pinellas County. The rest of the plans are Blue and Ambetter. You must have really checked around to find that one instance.

Looking at Pinellas County Silver Plans, back to the norm, the first 3 lowest cost plans are Blue and Ambetter. The remainder of the page shows 2 Humana HMO Plans mixed in with the dozen FL Blue and Ambetter Plans.

Is that enough? Or do we need to look up every demographic in every zip code for you?

Fact is, those two companies found an easy way to saturate the FFM with many cheap plans, adding 1 or 2 benefits here and there.

Anyone using the FFM in Central Florida is going to see a page LOADED up with FL Blue Plans showing among the lowest cost plans, if not the lowest. Toss Avmed or Ambetter into the mix for most of the counties out there and only 1/10 (or more) of the plans are Humana or UHC. They are going to pay $20-$50 more per person or $50-$200 more per family? Good Luck.

It's no secret Humana's HMOx Network is just as bad as the rest of the Obamacare Plans. We have experienced the Humana Network issues in the bay area as well.

Cheapest Plans, EPO Network, No Referrals needed for most services, Name Recognition, available just about everywhere........sounds like FL Blue domination, not competition.

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Also, something to note, using Health Sherpa, when someone qualifies for the APTC resulting in $0 premium, it will bump Humana to the top of the list for some reason.

Most people I spoke with wanted us to look along with them on the FFM, which does not do that. Many cases especially in this market, Humana wouldn't show until you got halfway to the 2nd page.

Again, for the on market plans they were just not competitive in most cases.

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