Renewals are HIGH!!!

Trending this week with Health Reform, I thought the below situation may benefit some of you by bringing it to your attention. The following will hit home for most individual policy holders and small business employer sponsored group plans next year whether it’s Anthem, Med Mutual, Assurant, Aetna, Humana, Celtic, or United Health. This week I had to call a client age 57 and healthy, about a notice from Anthem stating her health insurance premium is set to increase from $387/month (current) to $703/month (renewal) with the new Exchange. An 81.7% increase in premium. Another client age 32 with his healthy wife and 2 boys, approached me about their renewal set to increase from $598.63/month (current) to $999.71/month (renewal) with the new Exchange. A 67% increase in premium. Prepare for rate shock, as stated in my previous emails. This is what many can expect with the upcoming “Affordable Care Act.” Planning ahead, your participation with an exchange policy can be delayed another year. Early renewal or carrier shopping for a new effective date is important to control health insurance costs over the next 12-14 months. We will “early renew” the policies from the examples above on 12/1/13 to further delay participation in an Exchange Policy until 12/1/14. Both premiums will remain close to their current by taking the early renewal strategy or switching carriers. This process is very similar for small business owners offering group health plans. Each individual, family, and business will have a unique situation. Those of you currently with high premiums and pre-existing conditions, the Exchange could mean good news. Some Individuals will need to take into account their Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) for possible subsidy/premium credit on the public exchange. For those of you currently with Anthem: Anthem sent out a letter to all individual and family policy holders regarding significant premium rate increases forthcoming on January 1, 2014. This was sent early by mistake with misprinted renewal dates. If you are an Individual Anthem policy holder, your current policy and premium will hold for the contract 12 months and “early renewal” will still be offered. A 6/1/13 effective date will not renew until 6/1/14. The renewal date is incorrect, however the premium rate increase is what one can expect when the 12 month contract expires. At the 2014 renewal date, the policy will automatically shift to a similar Exchange “Metal Plan” along with the new rate. Anthem will be sending out corrected letters next week.