When an insurance company “changes” the rate, what they almost always mean is they’re increasing the rate. To those people who aren’t paying attention during the health insurance renewal, this could be an expensive surprise. By the time they realize what’s going on it could be too late to do anything about it!
When is the best time to review my plan?
The best time to review your plan is just before your health insurance renewal. Every (non-grandfathered) individual health insurance plan in Nevada renews on January 1. Sometime before this, November or EARLY December, it’s good to go over alternate options from different companies. The best way to do this is by using a health insurance brokers free services.
What do I need to renew?
What you need at the health insurance renewal meeting depends on what type of plan you’re on. Most people know 90% of the information already (full names, dates of birth, etc.) The most forgotten items are usually related to income of all household members and social security numbers of everyone enrolling. If you’re not enrolled in a income-based plans, aka “subsidized or exchange plan”, then no income information is necessary.
Do I need all of this just to keep the same plan?
Short answer – No, you don’t. To renew on exactly the same plan you don’t need any of this information. In fact, we don’t even need to meet. We call this a default renewal, meaning you’ll be defaulted on to whichever plan the insurance company has determined is the closest to what you have today. For on-exchange plans we highly encourage you to review your plan every year. Frequently we you changed your income, household size, address, or other demographic information and your health insurance renewal is a great time to update this. On-exchange plans have a lot of moving parts. Every year the subsidy will change, the rates change because your 1 year older, the rates also change because of medical inflation, and the plan you’re on will change. So basically everything will change every year.
How to keep up with all of the changes?
The best way to keep up with all of the changes is… don’t keep up with the changes. Keeping up with all of the changes in the ACA on a yearly basis is nearly impossible. There are only a few changes that will affect you this year. It’s the responsibility of your health insurance broker to keep you up to date about changes in the market in general. These might include things like, Prominence No Longer Covers Carson Medical Group, or Finding Your 1095-B Before You File Taxes. If you’re currently enrolled in health insurance coverage the insurance company will let you know about the new rate and plan design if you were to do nothing.
Confused?
Contact us today… the best part is, we’re free of charge!
