Switching health insurance plans

amother

Amethyst

Tue, Sep 08 2015, 11:41 am

Hi,
I need to switch my health insurance plan to a cheaper option, and my broker is telling me I cant switch until January.
I am on a very expensive plan and this will cost me an extra $2000
Is there any way around this?

Amarante

Tue, Sep 08 2015, 12:12 pm

Your broker is correct.

Unless your circumstances have changed in very specific ways, you cannot switch policies except during the Open Enrollment (from October through December) and the changes would take effect in January.

This is true whether you get health insurance through a corporate plan or get private insurance. It's the only way the plans could function. This is not unique to "Obamacare" plans.

It is difficult to determine what insurance plan makes the most sense for many people since in the simplest terms one can either pay a high premium or then have a wide network of doctors and lower co-pays and deductibles or pay a lower premium and then have to pay more for medical care during the year if one uses it (I.e. high deductible/higher co-pays and smaller network of providers).

Amarante

Tue, Sep 08 2015, 2:55 pm

amother wrote:

No way around it?
Crazy

It makes sense within the context of how health insurance works. Since no one can be denied health insurance, there have to be measures in place so that people don't wait to purchase insurance when they need it - or buy a cheap plan and then if they find they need better medical coverage, upgrade it.

It's also the reason why (unless you have certain life altering events), your insurance coverage runs from January based on what you select during Open Enrollment in the Fall.

You don't mention why your insurance is now "expensive" - Some people's insurance is expensive because the premiums are high and they find that they don't really need a "platinum" plan whereas some people find that their plan is expensive because they opted for lower premiums and are winding up with higher out of pocket costs when they actually access medical care.

Given that it's already September, you can select a plan for 2016 that better suits your family's needs since you only have October, November and December left on your current plan since you are already in September coverage under your current plan.