Health insurance for the masses ontinues to be a good deal for most, at least when coverage policies are judged by their premiums.
A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report says that users of the HealthCare.gov insurance site "are actively shopping and saving money," a sign that Americans are becoming increasingly savvy about choosing health insurance.
The study showed that premiums remain affordable for most — the average premium was $408 — and that 83 percent of those using the exchange system are qualifying for premium tax credits.
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The average value of the credits was $294 per person per month in 2015, the report said, and the average post-credit premium was $113 per month — a 72 percent reduction.
Other highlights from the report:
• 3.6 million Americans reenrolled in exchange insurance in 2015, and 60 percent picked a different plan than they chose in 2014.
• Reenrollees who switched plans saved an average of $43 a month.
• Nearly 70 percent of enrollees had a premium plan option of less than $75 a month.
• 60 percent had a $50-per-month premium option.
• Nearly 2.5 million new plan enrollees joined the Obamacare ranks in 2015.
Of course, low-cost premium plans have been shown in other research to be quite costly to consumers over time, because they tend to have high deductibles and greater out-of-pocket costs. Government plan designers are working to solve that conundrum.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
