ObamaCare, or as it’s formally known as The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, has been signed into law to help improve the American health care system and provide Americans with affordable health insurance. As tempting as this may sound, there is a catch many insurance coverage shoppers are discovering: plans with lower premiums are offered with high deductibles, large costs for prescription drugs, and other cost-sharing.

Crunching the Numbers

After a “window shopping” feature was added to the website, deductible on policies were revealed to go as high as $5,000 for every individual and up to $10,000 for a couple. This means that an insured individual needs to pay these amounts from their own pocket before they can benefit from their insurance coverage.

Studying the health insurance plans further, the average individual deductible for the bronze plans is $5,081 per year in 34 of the 36 states that require federally-run health exchanges. This is approximately 42% higher than the average deductible for an individually purchased plan, which was estimated to be $3,589 in 2013.

So, in an effort to cover the out-of-pocket costs which millions of Americans will have to pay, the government has been focusing on the affordability of the ObamaCare insurance plans. Moreover, the Affordable Care Act ensured the availability of tax credits to cover the insurance premiums of individuals whose income annually is four times the poverty level, i.e. $45,960 per person. Even the subsidies that cover some of the deductibles available for individuals earning 2.5 more than the poverty level ($28,725 per person) are only offered for the holders of the pricey silver plan.

The Alternative Solution

As private insurers have priced the deductibles around $6,350 per person per annum and $12,700 per family per annum, it’s apparent that they are only complying with the ACA part which states that coverage should ensure essential services like routine preventative care. However, so far, ObamaCare hasn’t been able to control how much insurance companies could charge. Because of this little fact alone, many individuals and families have decided against going for ObamaCare.

Instead, people whose medical costs are frequent and usually high are resorting to comparing the price for procedures in an effort to save money. Some would rather pay the $75 fine linked to paying cash to their physicians rather than taking out a health care policy and paying monthly premiums only to be further burdened by their ailments and more expenses.

As you can see, ObamaCare may not really help in ensuring access to quality and affordable health care to the masses. Therefore, make the right decision and avoid high out-of-pocket expenses by comparing the costs of medical procedures and select the best one for you and your family. You probably do the same while shopping, so why not your own health?

Find prices for medical services and procedures in your area: yempl.com

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