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What incentive is there to use the healthcare.gov website if you don't qualify for a subsidy?

Not sure what the incentive is to use a government healthcare website (State or Federal) if you don't qualify for a subsidy. From what I've read, anyone who can afford to buy their own health care insurance would find a much wider range of choices on the open market. Why would anyone who is not looking for a subsidy use that website?

(I'm actually asking a question, not making a point here.)

Update:

Hi ★Ŕ♡MΛŔƐ★, nice to hear from you again. But situations vary from state to state, so unless you are in the business, I doubt that you know that what I've read is wrong for every state. Where I live in California, you can go to eHealthinsurance.com and find plans that are not available on the government exchange. I've already checked.

Here is one such article that I have read. I would invite you to read it and tell me if and where the New York Times got it wrong: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/26/your-money/healt...

I agree that I have nothing to lose by going on the website to find out if I have better choices. This is especially true now that I've been informed that, despite the fact that I like my current health care plan, I am (contrary to what I was told three years ago) not allowed to keep it.

9 Answers

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  • 8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    I advise against going to that website. If you visit, you must enter a whole bunch of personal data before you start looking at quotes and plans. If you choose to not accept anything, the gov't will know where to send the "tax" that you will then be paying. I'd rather make them dig for my info than to hand it to them on a silver platter.

  • justa
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    You don't have to, as long as you have insurance, privately or through an employer, or Medicare or Medicaid, that satisfies the requirement that every one have insurance.

    Most people can't afford the fourteen thousand a year for a family of four, or two over fifty.

    You don't have to use the website to sign up either, there are also face to face places, and the telephone.

  • Judith
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    Actually from what I've read people get a better deal via healthcare.gov then to buy privately for the simple reason that the premiums are based upon group rates as opposed to individual rates - always less expensive. So when the website is up and running properly why don't you visit it - you just might find that you can get better coverage at a lower premium than what you currently have.

  • mark
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    I think the premise that there's a wider range of choices on the open market is inaccurate. I compared the rates available to me through the healthcare.gov website to my work plans and found them to be about 5% cheaper. BUT......the big difference is that work plans are IRS Section 125 deductible and plans purchased outside of work are not (they're only deductible to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your AGI on Schedule A).

    This varies by state, so my comments apply to NJ (and NY)

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  • Bobbin
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    The range of choices depends on where you live and varies widely from state to state and even by county, from two or three to dozens. The program isn't for everyone. I'm on Medicare with a supplement plan, for instance.

  • lare
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    the flu virus has no idea if you are on subsidy. the hammer that hits your hand doesn't know about subsidy either. you go to the site to compare insurance plans and make financial decisions about what works best for you. if you are going to shop "open market" would it not be better to know what other insurance companies charge for a bronze or silver plan first for comparison?

  • Anonymous
    8 years ago

    True. The website exchanges were set up to serve 20% of the population that could not get insurance either through their jobs and and poverty level. You can approach the insurance companies yourself or just choose one they have put on the exchanges.

  • Anonymous
    8 years ago

    What you've read is wrong. And you have nothing to lose by going on the website to find out if you have better choices.

  • 8 years ago

    You would lose a lot of time signing up because of the "GLITCHES."

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