Michael

Is anybody else having a problem getting to the California calculator?

Michael

I tried to use the Feedback (email address) to contact them about the problems with their "shop and compare" but the email address is no longer valid.

They must have some extremely poor programmers to put out a product with so many problems. Even the most junior programmer should have seen the problems if they even tried it.

I suspect people using the site tomorrow will think they will be getting a very good price for health insurance (especially the older people who will think they are getting insurance for nearly free) only to discover later that "no one checked out the program" before they put it online and the real price will be significantly higher.

I'm embarrassed since California has the Silicon Valley and this program seems to be written by a poor programmer in the 9th grade. Even the most incompetent programmer in the Silicon Valley couldn't do worse. Crashing the application would be better than what they are putting out. At least if it crashed, it wouldn't be putting out incorrect information.

Yorkieabroad

Yikes......wonder if they'd put the old page back if we asked nicely........when we were talking about this earlier, the silver plan for 5 of us was coming in at just over $600....at that stage, California was looking like my cheap bolt hole.....err, no longer!! I can't wait till later when I have time to sit down and run through the federal calculator for Texas.....

Michael

I didn't realize there were five of you and thought there was 4.

You said you were currently paying about $650 for a $12,000 deductible but now you will be paying a little more for better benefits ($12,700 maximum out of pocket and lower deductible). The California calculator has always indicated about $750 for the Bronze plan for two 40 year old adults and two children. I don't know your age so it could be less or more depending on your ages. The extra child is also going to cost more. I assumed since you currently have such a high deductible, you wanted to go with the cheapest plan.

You might as well have a couple more kids since the plan doesn't charge extra for more than 3 children.

Yorkieabroad

No, we're currently at 628, and that post I did on 9/15 was based on plugging our actual details into the California calculator...I can't remember the exact figure it came up with....but it was only slightly higher, in the 650 ballpark for silver, with no subsidy. Academic now, and Texas is going to be way higher still...

Yorkieabroad

You need to go and wash you mouth out with soap and water young man! I won't have that sort of talk round here!!!

Actually, when we first met, my wife wanted 6 kids....I wanted 3, and she gradually came round to my way of thinking Well, we've been married almost 20 years, she had to let me win one sometime

Michael

Also remember these prices are based on region. San Jose is region 7 in California and I don't now if it is a high cost or low cost region. I would think Texas would be cheaper than California overall. Also they may not yet have all the providers signed up so I'd wait until later before you sign up. Also look at the HSAs since that is pre-tax dollars. That way you can write off deductible costs and co-pays from your income. I'm not 100% sure of the rules for a HSA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_savings_account

After looking at the HSA, it appears the government chose that $12,700 maximum out of pocket expense so that the exchanges would be eligible for HSAs since the limit was $12,500 in 2013 and will probably be above $12,700 in 2014. The maximum contribution to a HSA in 2014 will be $6,550 which should cover the deductible and then some for the Bronze plan but if it isn't used in 2014, it can be carried into future years. One of the advantages of using a HSA over just deducting it in Schedule A is that liable to the new 10% limitation for deducting medical expenses and also reduces income so hitting AMT is less likely.

I remember the California Silver plan being about $870 for 4 people. The current calculator for San Jose is about $120 more than that.

I also remember you saying that the federal calculator was indicating about $1,400 for the Silver plan but I didn't know you were referring to 5 people.

Yorkieabroad

I guess the test calculator wasn't as specific as the actual one....I don't recall having to enter a location, although if I had, it would have been 90210 Post code lottery anyone?

Agree on not signing up straightaway...our policy renews in May, which is a bit of a pain as it splits the deductible year if we change, but at least the premium is locked in till then so we can see how things shake out before we need to make a decision on switching. I need some work done on my knee again, that is going to cost around 6000.... It's a pain (no pun) that the decision tree on when to do it has a branch based on whether to put it towards this years deductible or next....

Michael

Open enrollment is October 1, 2013–March 31, 2014 and October 15th through December 15th after that. Normally you can only enroll during those periods of time unless there is a life event (newborn, marriage, health insurance is cancelled, etc.).

Under ACA, $6,350 is your maximum out of pocket expense for you ($12,700 for the family) so with a $6,000 knee job, you shouldn't have any more medical bills for you for the rest of the year and HSA can cover that as pre-tax.

scrubbedexpat099

7.26 in Colorado, nothing up yet.

scrubbedexpat099

So the Lady I spoke to had it spot on. I think she said her relation was working in Sacramento not Silicone Valley.

Yorkieabroad

There's a bit of "bird in the hand" to factor in....if I do it this year, it'll take me about 1000-1500 over the family deductible for this year. If I do it next year, then have no more medical issues.....hmmm....do I feel lucky (healthy!)

cynthia786

The WA exchange is set to go live at 7.15am this morning according to NPR.

scrubbedexpat099

You have to laugh, sort of working except for this:

oracle.fabric.common.FabricException: oracle.fabric.common.FabricInvocationException: Exception [TOPLINK-4002] (Oracle TopLink - 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0) (Build 111018)): oracle.toplink.exceptions.DatabaseException Internal Exception: java.sql.BatchUpdateException: ORA-01654: unable to extend index PRDSOA_SOAINFRA.COMPOSITE_INSTANCE_CREATED by 128 in tablespace PRDSOA_SOAINFRA Error Code: 1654: Exception [TOPLINK-4002] (Oracle TopLink - 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0) (Build 111018)): oracle.toplink.exceptions.DatabaseException Internal Exception: java.sql.BatchUpdateException: ORA-01654: unable to extend index PRDSOA_SOAINFRA.COMPOSITE_INSTANCE_CREATED by 128 in tablespace PRDSOA_SOAINFRA Error Code: 1654

Giantaxe

I can smell your gloating from here...

The California site is working fine for me. I have no idea whether the numbers it's spitting out are correct though!