Rate Hikes for 2015 Health Insurance Coverage
Have you signed up for your 2015 health insurance yet? Open Enrollment started on November 15th and closes on February 15, 2015. If you do not sign up for health insurance throughout the Open Enrollment period you will not be able to sign up for health insurance, and can face heavy fines throughout the year.
If you have signed up for health insurance, you may be surprised at the cost. Health insurance costs through Covered California will increase by an average of 4.2 percent in 2015. Even with this increase, 16 percent of consumers will not see the rise in rates and some may even experience a decrease.
The increases in premium rates are much lower than first expected. The initial scare of extreme rate hikes came after insurers were not allowed to deny coverage to anyone that had a preexisting health issues. Experts believed that the influx of people looking for coverage would cause the insurance providers to hike up their cost.
California has been one of the many success stories since the passing of the American Care Act, or ACA. 3.4 million Californians who were previously uninsured gained coverage under Covered California. The biggest complaint under the new law is finding a doctor and hospital, since many insurance providers have narrow networks.
This is not the first time that health insurance rates have increased. Between 2013 and 2014, average insurance costs went up 22 to 88 percent. Many people did not notice the increase since the majority was purchasing health insurance through Covered California with the help of government subsidies.
For all of your health insurance needs for the coming year, contact Massive Insurance in Pasadena, California. We will work with you to ensure you have the right amount of coverage for your specific situation.