On January 8, Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton attracted nationwide consideration and an outpouring of assist when she appeared on the Right this moment Present, explaining the well being scare she confronted within the fall of 2023. Retton recounted how she fell gravely sick with a uncommon type of pneumonia and – as a result of she couldn’t afford medical health insurance – confronted 1000’s of {dollars} in hospital payments.
The story thankfully has a cheerful ending: Retton was discharged from the hospital after a couple of month, and is recovering at dwelling. And her daughters had organized a fundraiser that raised greater than $459,000 in contributions. The household has confirmed that any funds past what’s wanted for medical payments will probably be donated to charity. And Retton studies that she now has medical health insurance.
However to me, Retton’s story additionally included some necessary classes for shoppers, lots of whom might assume that the celeb’s well being scare is an indication of limitations to reasonably priced well being protection. Right here’s what shoppers can be taught from Retton’s expertise:
1. Having well being protection is vital.
Retton reported that her surprising sickness resulted in a month of hospital therapy, a lot of which was within the intensive care unit. With the per-day value of a hospital keep in Texas averaging $2,913 in 2021, it’s simple to see how bills can rack up shortly — and ICU prices are increased than common inpatient care. Retton lives in Texas and was hospitalized there, however the nationwide common value is much like the Texas common, at $2,883 per day for normal inpatient care.
2. Pre-existing circumstances are not a barrier to protection.
On the Right this moment Present, Retton pointed to earlier well being points as a purpose why she didn’t have protection.
“When COVID hit and after my divorce and all my pre-existing (circumstances), I imply, I’ve had over 30 operations of orthopedic stuff, I couldn’t afford it… However who would even know that this was going to occur to me?”
Sadly, that will go away some viewers with the impression that protection could be unaffordable attributable to pre-existing medical circumstances. In truth, medical underwriting hasn’t been used for particular person/household medical health insurance insurance policies since 2013.
For particular person/household main medical insurance policies with efficient dates of 2014 or later, the insurer can not take the applicant’s medical historical past into consideration. So pre-existing circumstances won’t have an effect on the premium or the particular person’s eligibility for protection. That was not true earlier than 2014 in most states, however it has been true nationwide since 2014.
3. Enrollment home windows are restricted.
One attainable purpose that Retton didn’t have protection is that she might have tried to enroll in complete well being protection outdoors of open enrollment, and if she wasn’t eligible for a particular enrollment interval, she would have needed to wait till open enrollment (with protection efficient in January).
Though protection is guaranteed-issue no matter medical historical past, enrollment in particular person/household main medical plans is just obtainable throughout open enrollment or a particular enrollment interval. This is similar because the employer-sponsored well being protection guidelines which were used for many years.
4. Shoppers in some states nonetheless face a protection hole.
Retton, like many individuals in Texas, could possibly be within the protection hole, which exists as a result of Texas has not but elected to increase Medicaid beneath the Inexpensive Care Act (ACA). Texas is considered one of 9 states the place there’s a protection hole, and an estimated 772,000 low-income Texas residents are within the protection hole.
If a Texas resident’s family revenue is lower than the federal poverty degree, they’d be within the protection hole, that means they’d not be eligible for Texas Medicaid or Market premium subsidies.
It’s necessary to notice that Market premium subsidy eligibility is predicated on revenue, and property are usually not considered. (Right here’s how revenue is calculated beneath the ACA). So an individual with appreciable property might nonetheless fall into the protection hole in Texas, if their revenue is beneath the poverty degree.
An individual within the protection hole can nonetheless enroll in Market protection, however won’t qualify for any subsidies. Their resolution to enroll in protection will rely upon whether or not they can afford to pay full worth premiums.
5. Earnings impacts subsidy eligibility.
On the opposite finish of the spectrum, Retton’s revenue may need been too excessive to qualify for any Market subsidies. Utilizing HealthCare.gov’s 2023 plan comparability device for a 55-year-old in her space, we are able to see that subsidies would have phased out at an revenue of roughly $98,000. (Subsidies section out on the level the place the worth of the second-lowest-cost Silver plan turns into not more than 8.5% of the particular person’s family revenue, which is what the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Discount Act think about reasonably priced at that revenue degree.)
If her revenue had been above that, she would have been paying full worth for a plan, with 2023 premiums someplace within the vary of $501 to $1,075/month, relying on the plan. (These premiums are particular to Retton’s age and site; they are going to differ for different candidates).
6. However the revenue vary for subsidy eligibility is broad.
But when a person Retton’s age and residing in her space had a 2023 family revenue between $13,590 (the 2022 poverty degree) and about $98,000 (the extent at which subsidies in that case would have phased out altogether), they’d have been eligible for Market premium subsidies that lined some or the entire value of the protection, relying on the place in that revenue vary they have been, and the plan they chose.
Though the ACA prohibits insurers from contemplating an applicant’s medical historical past, an individual may not find out about that in the event that they haven’t had expertise with buying protection within the particular person market in recent times.
And if an individual hasn’t utilized for protection or used a subsidy calculator, they might not be conscious of how substantial the premium subsidies may be within the Market.
Finally, even an unsubsidized premium of a number of hundred {dollars} a month is a discount in contrast with having to pay for a month-long keep within the ICU. However thankfully, most Market enrollees don’t pay something near the complete quantity of their premiums.
In 2023, the typical full-price Market premium in Texas was $578/month. However because of premium subsidies, the typical enrollee paid simply $65/month. And out of the two.4 million Texas residents who enrolled in Market protection in 2023, greater than 1.4 million have been paying lower than $10/month for his or her protection.
I’m glad that Retton recovered and has secured medical health insurance going ahead. These circumstances remind us that ACA-compliant medical health insurance may be obtained – no matter our medical historical past, and with substantial subsidies obtainable to most candidates.
Louise Norris is a person medical health insurance dealer who has been writing about medical health insurance and well being reform since 2006. She has written dozens of opinions and academic items concerning the Inexpensive Care Act for healthinsurance.org.
