Today is the first day Lynn Eaton Church of Lewis Run is able to sign up for a healthcare plan that would cost her more than $600 a month.
“My mind right now is a fog. So much stress and praying we don’t get sick (next) year,” she said.
Individuals who have no other means of insurance have until Dec. 15 to enroll in the federal Health Insurance Exchange. Coverage would begin Jan. 1.
“We are going to have higher deductibles with larger payments. Higher prescription prices,” Church said via The Era’s Facebook page.
She said she is wondering why costs are going up. On top of that she is retired, and Church said she isn’t sure what the increased insurance costs are going to mean for her family’s way of life.
What is known is that she isn’t alone.
Stacie Danias Gorse said her insurance will double compared to what she is paying this year.
Currently, she said she pays $481 per month. The new premium under the new laws would be $1,185 per month to cover herself and her two children.
“Even with a tax credit for assistance, there will be no way to go forward and renew that policy,” Gorse said via Facebook. “We will have to go back (through) the marketplace and possibly explore other options. But at that price, the tax penalty for having NO insurance is cheaper and looks like a real possibility.”
Chanda Murphy of Eldred said she pays $108.80 per month for individual insurance. Without financial help, she said the insurance would cost $288.80 a month.
Next year, the same insurance would come to $258.31 a month with financial help; the full price would be $438.31.
“I certainly cannot afford that. That’s almost a whole paycheck,” Murphy said. “I’ll have to look into a different coverage, or have no insurance next year.”
The median income for someone living in Bradford is $31,857, and the median age is 37.3. Plugging that salary and 37 years old into the exchange website, a person, who would be eligible to obtain insurance through a spouse’s job but can’t afford to do so, would pay at least $254.66 a month. Through that catastrophic health plan, the person would see no charge for emergency room care, generic drugs, a primary doctor visit or a specialist doctor visit after the $7,350 deductible is met.
For those who do not re-enroll in the marketplace by Dec. 15, they will be automatically given the same or a similar health care plan. People can re-enroll in the same healthcare plan –– if the same one is offered; individuals should have already received a notice of renewal and discontinuance of their plan.
Those who go without insurance for any month would have to pay 2.5 percent of household income or $695 per adult or $347.50 per child under 18, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
For 2017, a total of 851 people in Elk County chose a marketplace plan; 782, McKean County; 542, Potter County; and 129, Cameron County, according to information from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“We can’t speculate on what the enrollment is going to be like” this time around, said an individual in the public relations department from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
To enroll in a marketplace plan, visit HealthCare.gov or call (800) 318-2596.
