want to know your healthcare cost & Subsidy you get? enter zipcode here & know instantly.

[Sunlei]

Meet the Health Sherpa, the website HealthCare.gov probably should have been. George Kalogeropoulos, Ning Liang and Michael Wasser saw the troubled launch and decided they could do a better health care enrolment website better than the government and they succeeded.

http://www.thehealthsherpa.com/

[valerief]

1. So healthcare.gov *didn't* have something as simple as this? Those Repub developers

must have designed it to fail, because this type of lookup is simple stupid.

[SoCalDem]

4. The problem with the gov website is that they do not just accept YOUR figures

The parts of the website that do the verification are the problem areas.
What should have happened was for people go be able to pre-register, supply the documentation, and then wait to be notified by email or mail. That process could have been done over several months prior to the effective date.

[valerief]

5. No. A simple lookup like this would work. WHEN the person registers, THEN the

verification could begin, although some parts of the verification could, if necessary, take place after registration.

When I buy a car, I want to see features and price up front. I don't want to fill out a credit form first.

I still think the developers designed it to fail. The lookup for features and price before credit approval is soooooo obvious.

on edit:
Unless the administration wanted it fail in order to promote it (all that RW media press!).

[Walk away]

25. This lookup does not include factors like age and it doesn't link to the information you....

need about deductibles and out of pocket subsidies. The government web site does have a link to a guesstometer like this provided by The Kaiser Family Foundation. These calculators can only give a broad range of costs. They may make people feel good but they don't give you info that you can bank on.

I am registered and have been verified from the first week and I still have at least 20 questions that should have been answered in the government site. That said, the insurance policy that I have been paying for for ten years is the result of guessing and hoping for the best anyway.

[valerief]

38. so you mean aside from this in healthsherpa

Covering
Only you and you're 49 or under
Only you and you're 50 or older
You and your spouse
You, your spouse, and your children
You and your children
Only your children

Plan Type
All
Catastrophic: Covers all expenses beyond a high deductible.
Bronze: Covers 60% of expenses.
Silver: Covers 70% of expenses.
Gold: Covers 80% of expenses.
Platinum: Covers 90% of expenses.
Subsidy

Enter your household size and income to estimate your tax subsidy.
Family Size
Annual Household Income

True, but it will let you know if the premium is going to start at $1500 or $200. This is health insurance. It's been like pin the tail on the donkey. Year to year, you don't know where the insurance companies' premiums will land.

Wish you luck with getting good coverage at a fair price!

[Walk away]

52. If your deductible is over $1,000 and you have to meet....

ALL OF IT as is the case in most exchange programs, you might as well factor that in to your premiums. There is also a limit on OP. That limit on the exchange is around $6,000 but if you are eligible for a subsidy then your deductible and OP are subsidized too. This can make a huge difference in your monthly costs and different plans vary greatly on the exchange.

The plan I chose with the subsidies I was eligible for is as follows.

Mo Premiums $222 without subsidy $802
deductible 750 without subsidy $2500
out of pocket 2000 without subsidy $6,000

Until I meet my deductible the policy pays nothing. That is typical of the policies on the exchange. However, once I meet my deductible and max out my out of pocket the policy will have to pay 100% of my medical costs including co-insurance but excluding co-pays.

Without this information the cost of a premium is only half the story. Each plan is different. If you know that you are ill and will be meeting your limits every year it may pay to take a plan that has higher co-insurance on your part because the premiums, deductibles and OPs are very low and you will meet them quickly. Then the policy will have to pay 100%. You really need to have all three variables in order to determine what your health insurance costs will be for the year.

[hlthe2b]

2. well...

We're Working On It

Colorado has their own healthcare exchange, and hasn't shared that data with us yet. In the meantime, you can find and compare plans on Colorado's exchange.

LOL

[enlightenment]

26. Like the Kaiser guesstimator,

the Sherpa site only accesses data from the federal exchange. Discovered that last week when someone shared the Sherpa site with me.

It's silly to guess, anyway. Age makes a substantial difference all by itself - a friend two years older than I am would pay (she has employer ins) $54 more per month for the same plan, assuming all other factors were equal.

[bananas]

3. k&r because I'm drunk and want somebody else to check it out.

"Let Mikey try it!"

[JoeyT]

6. K&R

That's freaking awesome.

So is the income bit just to calculate subsidies? Because I was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to enter that, since I work as a contractor and my income can vary wildly from one year to the next. I didn't want to put an amount in that was lower than what I ended up making because the IRS are famous for not having a sense of humor about that sort of thing. If it's just for subsidy calculation and not rate calculation, that's a huge load off my mind. (ETA: I wouldn't put a lower amount in an effort to be defraud the government, I might put a lower amount because I don't know how much I'm going to make until I'm making it.)

$203 a month (silver) is most definitely well into the affordable range.

Edited to change year to month in the last sentence. The keys are right next to each other, I swear.

[Sunlei]

8. my income also varies a lot year to year, month to month. I said highest income for ACA insurance.

So when I do my taxes if income is lower then you pay less taxes to cover the extra premium paid. I am also self employed and understand exactly what you mean about the IRS

You have to check with ACA or ask the actual insurance company, I am pretty sure you only can get your Gov. tax discount on bronze and silver plans. I am not sure about that.

[Fuddnik]

18. I think that price is per MONTH.

[JoeyT]

55. Thanks,

I dunno how I managed to type year instead of month.

[B2G]

23. $203 per month, not year nt

[StrayKat]

7. Doesn't anyone care what they're buying?

None of these sites have any links to the summary of benefits or a feature that allows you to pick 2 or 3 plans and get a comparison chart of benefits. All anyone talks about is the price, the price, the price. The price of WHAT exactly?

How do you know that the $199/month plan suits your needs more than the $217/month plan if you don't know what the plan buys?

This is flippin' nuts.

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. My guess -- and this is only a guess -- is that you get to see the nitty-gritty

only AFTER you've been verified and are hip-deep in the process.

But you're right -- if an extra $25 or so would get me eyesight and dental included, I'd personally opt for that plan. If the $25 difference is just there because the plan is named "Ultra Supremo" instead of "Supremo", with the same benefits, why would I bother?

[StrayKat]

16. Exactly!

I'm not just trying to pay the least that I can, I'm trying to find the plan that suits my needs best.

[penultimate]

37. You have to go the providers website to see the details

A quick google search with the plan name and your state will usually get the results to come up, or at least get you in a place where you can find it.

[Sunlei]

10. you can go to the insurance company website and match the plan name w/ details.

or register with healthcare.gov and everything is there for you. You can even call healthcare dot gov or go to a person in your community and they will do everything for you.

[StrayKat]

14. Have you actually tried finding a summary of benefits for these plans?

I have 50 plans to choose from at several different insurance companies -- Blue Cross, Aetna, Kaiser, Care First, Innovation Health, etc. I've tried tracking a few plans down online and it's not easy to find the summary of benefits. You're required you to register with their site, call the insurance agent, or fill out more applications. After going through that trouble, the few that I can find don't have prices or names that match what I find on the Exchange.

[Walk away]

29. Go to the government web site, register and all of the info....

you are talking about is there. That includes a breakdown of each policy and local provider lists. If you have more questions try the 1 800 Gov# for questions regarding subsidies and each insurance company has a# on the web site for info on exchange policies.

[StrayKat]

36. Thanks.

I hope this is the case. I'm waiting on registering until more kinks are worked out, especially at the back end.

They should have made this info available without registering.

[dixiegrrrrl]

47. Help me to understand. pls

You have 50 plans from several different companies....
Are you talking about what the new Health Act offers you?

I ask beause people can only use the companies listed for their county..not for the whole state..under the Act.
And in my state, most of the counties offer ONE company, BC/BS.

[StrayKat]

50. Yes

When I put in my zip code information, I get a list of 50 plans. These are all the plans at different levels -- catastrophic through platinum. Some I can eliminate because they offer way more coverage than I need, but it still leaves more than a dozen to choose from.

[dixiegrrrrl]

72. oh duh..ya know what I did?

My brain translated "plans" into " companies.

What I meant to point out is, using zip codes for half of my state, there is exactly ONE insurance company to choose from, with 7 plans.

No subsidies, thanks to our Repub. law makers.

[StrayKat]

73. No worries.

It happens to everyone.

We have our own set of nutty lawmakers here, too.

[SoCalDem]

64. If you are in a rural area or a small town, you would automatically be

limited to what is available in your area.

The ACA is all about coverage for

1...nearly-poor who could not afford anything but junk policies that were worthless when they got sick .. they would now get FREE care via medicaid

2...people with pre-existing conditions that made it impossible to get at ANY price

3...people whose jobs did not offer ANY...or if it did, unaffordable plans for all but the upper echelon of workers

for ALL others, the ACA simply imposes STANDARDS that EVERY insurer now has to meet...and for some people it means that whatever they have now, it may cost them more. EVEN those people (many of them) will now have income-qualifications and many will get subsidies

[SoCalDem]

59. You have to remember... this insurance is for people who could not get insurance

at ANY price (pre-existing conditions/age) or who had worthless junk-policies that only looked okay UNTIL they actually needed to use the policy..

and with income based subsidies, it IS valuable..especially for people who are stuck in dead end jobs they loathe, and who would love to start a business of their own (have to buy their own policies)...or for people whose boss never offered them insurance

[StrayKat]

60. I have to buy through the Exchange. I still want to know what I am buying. n/t

[SoCalDem]

62. google the plan name & you'll probably find all the details

or look them up on the CA site someone linked to..92553 is a zip you can use

[StrayKat]

63. Thanks, but it's a correctable flaw in the system that I hope they'll change.

Google comes up with unreliable third party sites, and the CA site gives me info on CA plans. We don't even have the same insurance companies to choose from. This is not reliable information.

I've been told that this info is available after registration. I'll wait until I register to see. Hopefully, there will be considerable progress made in the site front and back end function as well as improved understanding by the insurance companies of how this works by then.

[greymattermom]

11. for me, no plans available

Does this work for states that refused the medicaid supplementation?

[Paulie]

17. No. Site looks broken if on a mobile device

Plan Results
Found 0 exchange plan

I put in "all" plans and get zero. I'm in Illinois.

In general, Can the country stop with the bullshit that this is easy already???

[Ms. Toad]

51. Illinois has a marketplace website.

This form only covers the 34 which rely on healthcare.gov

[Paulie]

53. It's a partnership. So healthcare.gov is the main site.

https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/individual/?GCI=scr#state=illinois

But regardless, why didn't the site say so in the results? Why didn't it link me? Why are the colors not my favorite? Fail whale.

[Ms. Toad]

54. Are you sure?

Here is what I find for Illinois:

http://getcoveredillinois.gov/

[Paulie]

57. Yes. I went through the whole sign up to get the link I posted previously

Also helps I knew it was a partnership already.

[StrayKat]

13. Did you enter your income at the bottom of the page?

[B2G]

15. I did, and I'm seeing them after hitting refresh

Thanks! Will edit my post.

[LTR]

19. Excellent link!

Michael Moore mentioned this site a few weeks back, but I must have filed it away. Nice, clean and simple The government should contract with these guys!

And the next time some tighty-rightie starts pissing and moaning about the ACA site, give them this link and watch them eat crow.

[panader0]

20. I can't believe I don't qualify for a subsidy.

At $780.00 a month on SS.

[mucifer]

21. you probably have a republican state government. Sorry to hear that.

[StrayKat]

22. Did you try refreshing the page or going back to the front page and

reentering your zip code? It doesn't seem to always update properly when you click update.

[SoCalDem]

61. ACA is not available if you are on medicare

[johnnyreb]

67. Enable cookies on your browser....

It said I did not qualify until I enabled cookies. Better stick with the official site.

[dixiegrrrrl]

71. I make LESS than that

and when I put in my zip and income ( the site has no way of knowing what my income source and current insurance is)
it said I was not eligible for a subsidy either.

[Rstrstx]

80. Are you 65 or older?

If not you're falling in that "doughnut hole" of people who make too much for Medicaid but not enough to qualify for the subsidy ($957.50 per month is the FPL). That's assuming you live in a state that opted out of the Medicaid expansion. If you are 65 or older the poster below is correct, you likely qualify for Medicare.

[PasadenaTrudy]

24. I've been using

the CoveredCA site for my shopping, it's really clear with explanations of all the plans...

[Sunlei]

32. that's a good idea!checked it and covered care Ca. is full of details, here's link

https://www.coveredca.com/

really a shame how so many states treat their own citizens like crap.

[Bennyboy]

66. Well I have been trying to navigate the Covered CA site since the get go

and I have not gotten anywhere. I get stopped at create an account...... No continue button comes up after registering.

really pissing me off at this point cuz I hit it every day and I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE talking on the phone.....

[OKNancy]

27. This is a handy link for those shopping the exchange

http://affordable-care-plans.findthebest.com/

[PasadenaTrudy]

41. No CA on the list

Wonder why...

[Sunlei]

44. because Ca. has about the best website. here's a link and here try my kern county,Ca. zipcode.

https://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/

my kern county land zipcode is 93280

[PasadenaTrudy]

45. Yes

I've been using it too, thanks. I'm in Pasadena

[Sunlei]

46. hi Pasadena! I don't live on my Ca. land yet but I love it there and can't wait to get out of Texas.

[PasadenaTrudy]

49. I don't blame you!

Hope you get here soon!

[Shemp Howard]

28. McAfee rates the site as Dangerous

McAfee: "When we visited this site, we found it exhibited one or more risky behaviors."

Could be a false positive. Who knows? But I thought I'd pass the warning along for what it's worth.

EDIT:

I ran www.thehealthsherpa.com past McAfee a couple of more times. About half the time the site was classified as Dangerous, about half the time it was classified as Suspicious.

I'm no security expert, just reporting what I found.

[SHRED]

30. WARNING - Inaccurate

2 people
57 and 55
92024
$52K


Says we don't qualify for a subsidy. Not correct.

"You do not appear to qualify for subsidies. If you believe you do qualify, please double check with the exchange."

And then it provides no link to Covered California.

Sites like this should not be put out there if they can't get it right.

[StrayKat]

31. The subsidy thing is touchy.

Sometimes you have to refresh the page or start over to get it to work correctly. I entered the data you provided and it showed me subsidized plans down to $0/month (Stand Coin).

But, there are inaccuracies. I was looking at individual plans and one of the options was for a plan with child dental.

[SHRED]

33. got it

So this probably isn't the site that healthcare.gov "should have been".

[StrayKat]

34. It may help some, but it's a bit oversold on its usefulness. n/t

[TeeYiYi]

56. That happens to me on the platinum plan...

...but shows subsidies for everything else. Gold, silver, etc. Did you have platinum selected?

TYY

[TeeYiYi]

58. I tried your zip code and it says it doesn't recognize it...

Maybe an issue with California?

TYY

[StrayKat]

68. Did you try typing it in or cut and paste?

I get the same unrecognized message when I cut and paste, but estimates when I type the zip in by hand.

[Walk away]

35. Without factoring in the deductible and the out pf pocket limits this info is...

almost useless.

[Holly_Hobby]

39. Thanks for this

I have yet to be able to log into our account on healthcare.gov, so this is helpful for me.

The problem for us doesn't stop there. None of the new insurance companies offering coverage in Ohio are accepted by ANY doctor in my area. They will take patients with established insurance providers ONLY. So if you buy coverage from a new company, good luck finding a doctor who will accept it if you live in Toledo, OH.

[SamKnause]

40. Something smells

There is something fishy about that site.

I find it hard to believe that a single person earning $12,000.00 yearly does not qualify for a subsidy.

I tried the site twice and received the same message.

[Sunlei]

42. that's below the poverty level?. you probably can get free healthcare.

[StrayKat]

43. That might be in the Medicaid Gap.

www.politico.com/story/2013/10/medicaid-gap-obamacare-98564.html


Poverty limit for an individual is $11,490

HHS.gov: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm

[Sunlei]

48. yes that poverty level gap hurts people.what I read is claim more income untill you qualify for ACA

what I read is claim more income untill you qualify for your free ACA insurance. don't believe that is a crime at all. Of course you don't want to under claim income because that would be checked with IRS and you would be caught.

It really sucks some states didn't want their own people in poverty to get their free healthcare.

[HereSince1628]

70. depends on if your state expanded medicare

I don;t think the answer I got back gave a subsidy it shouldn't have. But I've not been close to state news since Tuesday

[newblewtoo]

65. I have always wondered

how this site can work so well while the ACA worked so poorly. FEHBP and OPM does everything you could ask for including side by side plan comparisons. I have no idea why they just didn't use this for initial shopping then build a secure IRS lookup to determine income and subsidy amounts. It's not like they don't already have the information already (as does Social Security for that matter).

http://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information/


If you go to the link above and tell it your zip code and say you are a Federal employee you can see how the site works. Why they didn't just roll out the FEHBP in the first place is beyond my pay grade I guess.

[StrayKat]

69. Yes.

One of the viable options that I was hoping for initially is that we'd be able to buy into the federal plans. The system is established, and there would be more protections and better rates.

Do you know if that site was built internally or contracted out?

[Blue_In_AK]

74. I'm glad we're on Medicare.

This would not be a bargain for my husband and me. Affordable, but basically the same as what we were paying before with a larger co-pay.


Medicare for all.

[Auntie Bush]

75. I got a warning from McAfee. Is it a safe site?

[SlimJimmy]

76. Just checked it. To replace my current employer based plan, my premiums would

almost triple to keep the same coverage. And that's just an *estimate* since I'm way over 50.

[Lobo27]

77. Pretty Accurate...

We a family of 4 pay 632 a month, and the website came to 662. Plus w/ subsidy we would pay nothing a month.

[gopiscrap]

78. cool

[doc03]

79. For income do they want your gross income or your

AGI from your tax form?

[femmocrat]

81. "Warning: Suspicious Site"

I think I'll pass.

[Drew Richards]

82. Www.valuepengin.com is still the best