Tag Archives: deductible

New reports show uninsured rate continued to drop in 2016

Source: NCHS, National Health Interview Survey, 2010-2016, Family Care component, released February 2017.Data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows the rate of growth of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) since 2010. A CDHP is an HDHP with a tax-advantaged health savings account.

Source: NCHS, National Health Interview Survey, 2010-2016, Family Care component, released February 2017.Data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows the rate of growth of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) since 2010. A CDHP is an HDHP with a tax-advantaged health savings account. (Click to enlarge.)

A report released today by the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that the uninsured rate among Americans of all ages was 8.8 percent in the third quarter of 2016.

The report shows that in the first nine months of last year, 28.2 million Americans remained uninsured, and this number was 20.4 million fewer than those uninsured in 2010, the year Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Continue reading

Getting behind the confusion that leads some to lose their subsidized health insurance

Photo: frances1972 via Flickr

Photo: frances1972 via Flickr

We posted recently about California’s assessment of who was dropping out of the exchange, including the finding that most people leaving Covered California were getting health insurance elsewhere.

But as Abby Goodnough later reported from Yazoo City, Miss., that’s not always the reason for higher turnover in other areas. Retaining enrollees is a challenge – and affordability is one big reason. That’s true even for people whose premiums are heavily subsidized. Continue reading

Find out if a ‘deductible’ is really a deductible

One of the “simple” aspects of health insurance is – naturally – not always so simple.

There’s been a lot of talk about high deductibles in marketplace plans – higher than what most of us pay if we have insurance through a job. And since it’s often misrepresented or misunderstood by some of the people out there either praising or (more often) condemning the Affordable Care Act because of the deductibles, it’s important to understand them so you know what questions to ask.

The simple standard definition of a deductible – what you have to spend out of pocket before insurance kicks in – is sometimes too simple. In some health plans, yes, the deductible is indeed that clear cut. Insurance doesn’t pay a penny until you pay X dollars out of pocket. But many of us get those complicated EoBs (explanation of benefits) that allocate some of our own out-of-pocket payment toward a copay, some toward the deductible – and still cover the service before that deductible is fully met. There may also be tiers or different deductible requirements depending whether the care is in or out of network, or whether it’s primary versus specialist care.

So, here are a few other things to remember when you write about the new coverage options and what they are or are not costing people. (Caveat: Some of the information comes in this post comes from educational material from the Department of Health and Human Services.)