OH and OK added as ICHRA states. Does this mean we no longer have the option to choose from the 4 options we had before?
I've heard from IN folks ICHRA is AWFUL, not accepted country wide and lacking providers who actually take the plan...
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@g5 Yes, we had no choice but to do ICHRA. The regular employee plan was not an option for us. No, we didn't have to choose Ambetter, but it was obvious that they made the Ambetter terms probably 35-40% better than any of the other options (IMO).
@ed that’s not completely accurate. Centene partners with a third party to administer the ICHRA and most find it easier to use the platform available to us but they cannot force us to use Via. You can purchase an ACA compliant individual plan anywhere and submit for reimbursement.
Just trying to understand. So were ICHRA plans forced on employees of these states with no other options? If they have to do an Ambetter plan, shouldn't that be illegal? Their coworkers could see their claims and medical information.
ICHRA could also be seen as another strategy to encourage people to leave. Many companies see their benefits as an attractor of talent and retention of talent. Ask yourself, why is Centene reducing the health insurance benefit even while they try to sell employees on the idea that this is a great shift for you, more choice, right? Behind the fancy reframing is a calculated strategy to lower expenses and plausibly encourage high users of the health plans to basically, find another place to subsidize their health insurance. Aside from Centene’s selfish driver of lower employee benefit expense, also keep in mind that the pundits were close to right in 2012 when they said that the ACA plans would tank under their own weight by the very nature of their intended design of the ACA / marketplace. Centene leaders are tight with the circles that pushed the ACA. ICHRA is another lever to try to reverse the declines in ACA membership and enrollment and ICHRA is a slow walk way a nudging people towards single payer healthcare. Centene is simply trying to preposition themselves as the default middleman between the payer (the government), and the customer. Time will tell.
ICHRA was touted as giving an employee choices where Centene would give you a subsidy in lieu of the current health plan options. Then comes the fine print, you have to use the dollars through a Centene selected platform and buy your plan, you don’t have the ability to go outside and use the subsidy dollars to purchase health insurance via another way. This slow boil rollout of Ichra looks to be no more then using Centene employees as both guinea pigs and bait to bring the product to life and try to convince the market that marketplace products have a viable life outside the market of insurance of last resort. Oh and also, elimination of the employer sponsored health plan where Centene pockets the savings of what they use to spend on that benefit for employees.
Just remember, if you choose an Ambetter plan, all of your coworkers now have all of your health information. That warning when launching Cenpas covers the company if someone gets nosey, but it won't stop a determined person from snooping.
Also the affordable care act was gutted so theres that
@ab It depends on the plan you choose. You are provided with a monthly amount Centene covers. If you stay within that amount, no not expensive. However, the most cost-effective plans are generally an Ambetter plan (go figure). If you select another payer plan like Blue Cross Blue Shield, CIGNA, etc., it is generally more and then you will have to pay some out-of-pocket.
The important points I would like to make is that it’s not necessarily a more expensive deduction from your paycheck. However, the out-of-pocket on some items is more and few HSA options . The availability of providers and coverage is substantially decreased from a commercial plan. And state to state coverage is not great. If you want to better understand the variances, I would Google the differences between a tradition an employer sponsored plan and market place. Marketplace plans were never intended to give the same coverage as an employer, sponsored plan. The theory was to create coverage for those that don’t currently have any options for affordable insurance.
So people with ICHRA who have employee and 3 kids (or however many) how does that work? Is it insanely expensive to get a marketplace plan with an adult and 3 dependents?
@a4 Not bad, it was not good. Availability is based on the county you live in. The county I live in only had two options for plans. And then even more limited options of which providers accepted those plans given they were part of the exchange. This was one of many reasons I chose to leave and move on to another organization.
Correct - you move to exchange plans. IN was not bad - just impossible to understand options easily. Had 100+ choices - and figuring out which had your kids PCP was impossible.
ALL CN employee's will move to ICHRA over time. So be warned.