Will health insurance be more affordable under Obamacare

Quick! Name three major provisions of the new health reform law? Well?

I?m not sure which three popped into your mind (if, indeed, you were able to come up with that many), but I?d suggest that the three most far-reaching changes for consumers are the following:

• The ?mandate? requiring most people without health insurance to buy coverage on their own
• The rule making it impossible for anyone to be declined coverage based on a pre-existing medical condition
• The availability of federal government subsidies to help those who qualify afford health insurance

None of these come into effect until January 1, 2014. On that date the health insurance market in the United States will be a very different place than it is today. With an eye to 2014, we recently saw someone on Yahoo Answers ask a really terrific question:

Will Obamacare make health insurance more affordable for me?

Here?s the eHealthInsurance answer:

Not necessarily. The health reform law mandates improved benefits for most health insurance plans and richer benefits usually means higher costs. Though total costs may increase, however, the health reform law provides subsidies for people making up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, to help them afford coverage. Depending on how much money you make, the government subsidies may limit what you?re personally required to pay for coverage to between 4 and 9 percent of your adjusted gross income. So, though the cost of health insurance may increase overall, some people may find health insurance is more affordable for them personally.

You can bet we?ll be talking a lot about this and other reform-related issues in 2013!

Image by Flickr user DorkyMum

Source: http://blog.ehealthinsurance.com/2012/12/will-health-insurance-be-more-affordable-under-obamacare-consumer-qa/

brian van gorder blazing saddles lsu alabama lsu game lsu game beezow doo doo zopittybop bop bop cordova