Health Insurance for Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR)

[Crazy Cat 41,610]

ACA is certainly available....but could be very expensive. 

[Clergybones 0]

1 hour ago, Crazy Cat said:

ACA is certainly available....but could be very expensive. 

If ACA is very expensive, then why even go with ACA? Any other health insurance would work, no?

[Mike E 11,739]

18 minutes ago, Clergybones said:

If ACA is very expensive,

You can get a bronze plan for under $100 a month.

 

Unfortunately,

 

* it will have an annual out of pocket max of over $10,000.

 

* it will most likely be an HMO, locking you into a limited set of providers and hospitals. I am on ACA and the cheapest PPO I could find was a silver plan costs $800 per month per person with maximum out of pocket of over $10,000. However routine visits to an in-PPO provider require a co-pay and the plan takes care of the rest. So it simulates having employer insurance from a tech employer, at least until I get cancer.

 

Quote

 

then why even go with ACA? Any other health insurance would work, no?

What are the alternatives to ACA since the ACA law was passed?

 

Prior to ACA, Major Medical was available, albeit with high out of pocket costs and pre-existing conditions exclusions. But you could see whatever doctor or hospital you wanted. Cancer was not a fear, at least until after the first $1M.

Edited May 24, 2023 by Mike E

[Sarah&Facundo 594]

15 minutes ago, Mike E said:

You can get a bronze plan for under $100 a month.

 

Unfortunately,

 

* it will have an annual out of pocket max of over $10,000.

 

 

That is state-dependent and also depends on your salary. I was on Bronze for years up until 2023. Bronze plans available to me were never under $300 per month when I was single and they were over $500 per month when I was married with deductibles around $8,500 and $17,000 out of pocket max. These were the cheapest plans and we are both young and healthy.

 

Still grateful ACA is an option though! Healthcare was completely prohibitive before that and not an option for many (and probably wouldn't have been an option for me had I been old enough to purchase my own healthcare pre-ACA).