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AARP and health insurance for members under age 65????

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AARP and health insurance for members under age 65????

Am I missing something or does AARP truly have few health insurance options for members who are too young for Medicare?

 

All I can find is Delta Dental and Rx discounts through UnitedHealthcare's Optum . . .

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Valid points, but this does not address the fact that even normal, healthy individuals aged 50-64 have to pay extreme premiums and deductibles because we don't have the benefit of a group. AARP could provide such a group for us to join. Even if it helped lower our premiums and deductibles by a fraction, that would help.

 

Please do something about this. AARP is supposed to be our organization too. It's not just for people over 65. We're hurting out here!

 

Thank you,

 

Ellen

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I think Ellen (@ellenb640249) is correct. Why wouldn't AARP members have offers of insurance, similar to those receiving medicare benefits?

 

Ellen knows, as I assume it would be GAIL replying in a somewhat "wise-guy" tone, that AARP is not an insurance company. HELLO..... what do you think we're stupid?

 

I have been self-employed since 1989, paying my own health insurance for our family of six.  Do the math, the total premiums I paid in health insruance alone would provide for a pretty nice pension, huh?

 

I think the real disconnect here is that AARP member that are 60 years, with kids at home or in college, that are being quoted $2,500 to $3,000 for monthly health insurance premiums, a middle of the road Obamacare Plan is $2,600.

 

Most membership organizations are the same.  They do anything for a buck, to keep money coming in.  Why not receive allow AARP to get their $20 or $30 per month commission on a well put together health insurance plan for the members that are under 65 years old.  And please keep in mind that most of us don't need all the coverages afforded in the ACA.  The members are in need of a "lower cost alternative."  That was the whole point of Ellen's question.

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@DonF503732 wrote:

I think Ellen (@ellenb640249) is correct. Why wouldn't AARP members have offers of insurance, similar to those receiving medicare benefits?

 

Ellen knows, as I assume it would be GAIL replying in a somewhat "wise-guy" tone, that AARP is not an insurance company. HELLO..... what do you think we're stupid?

 

I have been self-employed since 1989, paying my own health insurance for our family of six.  Do the math, the total premiums I paid in health insruance alone would provide for a pretty nice pension, huh?

 

I think the real disconnect here is that AARP member that are 60 years, with kids at home or in college, that are being quoted $2,500 to $3,000 for monthly health insurance premiums, a middle of the road Obamacare Plan is $2,600.

 

Most membership organizations are the same.  They do anything for a buck, to keep money coming in.  Why not receive allow AARP to get their $20 or $30 per month commission on a well put together health insurance plan for the members that are under 65 years old.  And please keep in mind that most of us don't need all the coverages afforded in the ACA.  The members are in need of a "lower cost alternative."  That was the whole point of Ellen's question.


I (and my husband), like you, Don, was self-employed for the vast majority of my working careeer - since 1979.  We stayed insured via small group, association plans or individual coverage and we were NEVER Un-insured or Under-insured.  Husband died in 2006 and when I retired, I was paying a hefty premium for coverage.  Thank goodness, that all ended before Obamacare went into effect after being grandfathered for 12 months..

 

I know you aren't stupid, Don, but I fail to see how this would save too many people in premium cost.  Maybe you can explain it to me but do consider these facts -

1.  People who are the younger members here can get a big premium subsidy for their heathcare coverage if theybuy a policy on the exchange and their income is less than 400% of the Federal Poverty level - State or Federal.  So they probably won't be interested in association coverage.

2.  People in this age group tend to be less healthy than younger people so there will be few younger folks interested in this coverage to help balance out the health risk of the older crowd..  The younger folks could be the disabled - who need coverage for that 24 month SSDI period before they can go on Medicare.  So it sounds like to me, the association group might be on the UN-healthier side - driving up private insurance premiums.

3.  The main culprit in premium increases since Obamacare took affect is that insurers have to accept everybody regardless of health condition - before, remember, insurers could deny peoply coverage based on some pre-existing condition or at the very least deny coverage for the condition for a specific amount of time.

 

It sounds like our President is considering sanctioning these type of association plans - now whether or not there will be some way which he can change the (by law) essential health benefits coverage - and offer many of them to only those who need them, like by riders, or allow insurers to deny coverage for some pre-existing condition, I don't know.

Perhaps AARP/UHC will consider offering them but I don't think it will be a panacea for high premium because here we are dealing with those higher in age with a lot of chronic health conditions and perhaps some very, very costly conditions to treat.

 

If we want to get premium cost down (for everybody) it will have to be at the source - we use a lot of healthcare, we use a lot of unnecessary health care, we use a lot of health care that has to be reapeated again because it failed the 1st time because of conditions going into the procedures, we have many type diagnositic test and other medical infrastructure at our beckoning in some areas and then deserts areas in others.  We use a lot of medications for a lot of chronic conditions - we do not approve medications based on efficacy - INCLUDING COST.

 

Until we start controlling these cost - health care coverage cost, including Medicare, will continue to rise faster than our pocketbooks. 

 

We can continue to play these games with health care coverage when the main culprit for high and higher premiums is the system itself and how we use it for what and when.

 

You do know how Medicare and its various parts work - don't you.  Meaning it is vastly subsidized by the government out of the General Fund.  The only part of it that is premium and subsidy free is Part A (HI insurance) - that's where those working year's tax withholding go and it is going broke very fast.

2018 Social Security and Medicare Trustee Report Summary

 

Both Social Security and Medicare face long-term financing shortfalls under currently scheduled benefits and financing.. . . . .

. . . . Social Security and Medicare together accounted for 42 percent of Federal program expenditures in fiscal year 2017. . . . Social Security and Medicare together accounted for 42 percent of Federal program expenditures in fiscal year 2017. . . .

. . . .

The Medicare program has two separate trust funds, the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund and the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund. HI, otherwise known as Medicare Part A, helps pay for hospital, home health services following hospital stays, skilled nursing facility, and hospice care for the aged and disabled. SMI consists of separate accounts for Medicare Part B and Part D. Part B helps pay for physician, outpatient hospital, home health, and other services for the aged and disabled who have voluntarily enrolled. Part D provides subsidized access to drug insurance coverage on a voluntary basis for all beneficiaries, as well as premium and cost-sharing subsidies for low-income enrollees.

 

The Trustees project that the HI Trust Fund will be depleted in 2026, three years earlier than projected in last yearโ€™s report. At that time dedicated revenues will be sufficient to pay 91 percent of HI costs.  The Trustees project that the share of HI cost that can be financed with HI dedicated revenues will decline slowly to 78 percent in 2039, and will then rise gradually to 85 percent in 2092. The HI fund again fails the test of short-range financial adequacy, as its trust fund ratio is already below 100 percent of annual costs, and is expected to decline continuously until reserve depletion in 2026. 

 

read MORE at the link provided

 

 

 

 

 

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@GailL1 wrote:

@DonF503732 wrote:

I think Ellen (@ellenb640249) is correct. Why wouldn't AARP members have offers of insurance, similar to those receiving medicare benefits?

 

Ellen knows, as I assume it would be GAIL replying in a somewhat "wise-guy" tone, that AARP is not an insurance company. HELLO..... what do you think we're stupid?

 

I have been self-employed since 1989, paying my own health insurance for our family of six.  Do the math, the total premiums I paid in health insruance alone would provide for a pretty nice pension, huh?

 

I think the real disconnect here is that AARP member that are 60 years, with kids at home or in college, that are being quoted $2,500 to $3,000 for monthly health insurance premiums, a middle of the road Obamacare Plan is $2,600.

 

Most membership organizations are the same.  They do anything for a buck, to keep money coming in.  Why not receive allow AARP to get their $20 or $30 per month commission on a well put together health insurance plan for the members that are under 65 years old.  And please keep in mind that most of us don't need all the coverages afforded in the ACA.  The members are in need of a "lower cost alternative."  That was the whole point of Ellen's question.


I (and my husband), like you, Don, was self-employed for the vast majority of my working careeer - since 1979.  We stayed insured via small group, association plans or individual coverage and we were NEVER Un-insured or Under-insured.  Husband died in 2006 and when I retired, I was paying a hefty premium for coverage.  Thank goodness, that all ended before Obamacare went into effect after being grandfathered for 12 months..

 

I know you aren't stupid, Don, but I fail to see how this would save too many people in premium cost.  Maybe you can explain it to me but do consider these facts -

1.  People who are the younger members here can get a big premium subsidy for their heathcare coverage if theybuy a policy on the exchange and their income is less than 400% of the Federal Poverty level - State or Federal.  So they probably won't be interested in association coverage.

2.  People in this age group tend to be less healthy than younger people so there will be few younger folks interested in this coverage to help balance out the health risk of the older crowd..  The younger folks could be the disabled - who need coverage for that 24 month SSDI period before they can go on Medicare.  So it sounds like to me, the association group might be on the UN-healthier side - driving up private insurance premiums.

3.  The main culprit in premium increases since Obamacare took affect is that insurers have to accept everybody regardless of health condition - before, remember, insurers could deny peoply coverage based on some pre-existing condition or at the very least deny coverage for the condition for a specific amount of time.

 

It sounds like our President is considering sanctioning these type of association plans - now whether or not there will be some way which he can change the (by law) essential health benefits coverage - and offer many of them to only those who need them, like by riders, or allow insurers to deny coverage for some pre-existing condition, I don't know.

Perhaps AARP/UHC will consider offering them but I don't think it will be a panacea for high premium because here we are dealing with those higher in age with a lot of chronic health conditions and perhaps some very, very costly conditions to treat.

 

If we want to get premium cost down (for everybody) it will have to be at the source - we use a lot of healthcare, we use a lot of unnecessary health care, we use a lot of health care that has to be reapeated again because it failed the 1st time because of conditions going into the procedures, we have many type diagnositic test and other medical infrastructure at our beckoning in some areas and then deserts areas in others.  We use a lot of medications for a lot of chronic conditions - we do not approve medications based on efficacy - INCLUDING COST.

 

Until we start controlling these cost - health care coverage cost, including Medicare, will continue to rise faster than our pocketbooks. 

 

We can continue to play these games with health care coverage when the main culprit for high and higher premiums is the system itself and how we use it for what and when.

 

You do know how Medicare and its various parts work - don't you.  Meaning it is vastly subsidized by the government out of the General Fund.  The only part of it that is premium and subsidy free is Part A (HI insurance) - that's where those working year's tax withholding go and it is going broke very fast.

2018 Social Security and Medicare Trustee Report Summary

 

Both Social Security and Medicare face long-term financing shortfalls under currently scheduled benefits and financing.. . . . .

. . . . Social Security and Medicare together accounted for 42 percent of Federal program expenditures in fiscal year 2017. . . . Social Security and Medicare together accounted for 42 percent of Federal program expenditures in fiscal year 2017. . . .

. . . .

The Medicare program has two separate trust funds, the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund and the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund. HI, otherwise known as Medicare Part A, helps pay for hospital, home health services following hospital stays, skilled nursing facility, and hospice care for the aged and disabled. SMI consists of separate accounts for Medicare Part B and Part D. Part B helps pay for physician, outpatient hospital, home health, and other services for the aged and disabled who have voluntarily enrolled. Part D provides subsidized access to drug insurance coverage on a voluntary basis for all beneficiaries, as well as premium and cost-sharing subsidies for low-income enrollees.

 

The Trustees project that the HI Trust Fund will be depleted in 2026, three years earlier than projected in last yearโ€™s report. At that time dedicated revenues will be sufficient to pay 91 percent of HI costs.  The Trustees project that the share of HI cost that can be financed with HI dedicated revenues will decline slowly to 78 percent in 2039, and will then rise gradually to 85 percent in 2092. The HI fund again fails the test of short-range financial adequacy, as its trust fund ratio is already below 100 percent of annual costs, and is expected to decline continuously until reserve depletion in 2026. 

 

read MORE at the link provided

 

 

 

 

 


 

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@ellenb640249 wrote:

Valid points, but this does not address the fact that even normal, healthy individuals aged 50-64 have to pay extreme premiums and deductibles because we don't have the benefit of a group. AARP could provide such a group for us to join. Even if it helped lower our premiums and deductibles by a fraction, that would help.

 

Please do something about this. AARP is supposed to be our organization too. It's not just for people over 65. We're hurting out here!

 

Thank you,

 

Ellen


Now let's think about how this might work -

1.  AARP is NOT an Insurer - even for Medicare Advantage pland and Medigap (Medicare Supplemental) plans which are currently offered under their name umbrella, they are NOT the actual insurer - they are affilliated with United Healthcare for this coverage.  They do make money from this arrangement as they do with other affilliations.

A national insurer like UHC would still be setting up the networks and formularies, deductibles, opays, etc.

 

2.  Group coverage is not a panacea for lower rates because it still depends on the age makeup of the group - Under the ACA rules, there is still a 3X age up-rating allowed.

The only reason why Group coverage like the Employer type is beneficial is because the employers shares in the cost of the policies and may I add BOTH the employer and the employee save on taxes too. 

Plus they also have a wider age group of employees to help balance out the risk especially from chronic conditions which seems to be concentrated in greater numbers in the age group of 55 - 64.

 

I posted this yesterday on this very forum - notice the red highlighted area..

The Price Tag To Help Make Health Insurance Affordable For Americans? Nearly $700 Billion A Year
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Message 1 of 1

 

Bloomberg 05.23.2018 - It Costs $685 Billion a Year to Subsidize U.S. Health Insurance

 

It will cost the U.S. government almost $700 billion in subsidies this year help provide Americans under age 65 with health insurance through their jobs or in government-sponsored health programs, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

 

The subsidies come from four main categories.

  • About $296 billion is federal spending on programs like Medicaid and the Childrenโ€™s Health Insurance Program, which help insure low-income people.
  • Almost as big are the tax write-offs that employers take for providing coverage to their workers - $ 279 billion
  • Medicare-eligible people, such as the disabled, account for $82 billion.
  • Subsidies for Obamacare and for other individual coverage are at $55 billion.
 

In total, the subsidies are equivalent to about 3.4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.

 

We already have income based subsidized coverage in the individual marketplece - Obamacare - to compare with this employer group coverage - that is what the subsidies in Obamacare were based upon.

 

Employer Group coverage is also climbing in cost - both premiums and deductibles/copays.

 

I could go on and on.  But tell me, anybody, exactly how/why do you think an AARP sponsored health Group for those age 55 - 64 would save money for those who would enroll??????

 

We have a problem with the cost of healthcare -

We have a problem with the amount and cost of healthcare which we use - (as compared to other countries)

We have a problem with the cost of medicine - especially of the newer type.

Fixing these things and more in order to reduce our health care cost would help everybody but there maybe winners and losers compared to what we have now - based on how other countries do it.

 

 

 

 

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@BrighterShade wrote:

AARP membership is available to anyone older than 50, but health benefits are only available for those over age 65 -- seems like a BIG, BIG gap that AARP should do more to address.

 

I'm NOT looking for Medicare because I'm younger than 65 -- and AARP has little to nothing helpful for reducing healthcare costs. For example, no guidance on features to look for in a Healthcare Exchange plan -- unless I missed it.

 

AARP's membership numbers exceed those of many business group plans, yet there's nothing AARP can do to effectively help younger membeers lower their healthcare costs?


They have this tutorial for the ACA exchange but it is not anything that you couldn't find on the Healthcare.gov Exchange site and Healthcare.gov would be more up to date.

http://healthlawanswers.aarp.org/

 

AARP partners with United Healthcare on Medicare coverage - either Medicare Advantage or Medigap but the AARP actually doesn't sell the coverage.  

 

Since the ACA, individual group plans which have compliant services under the ACA are probably hard to find, if any are available.  They don't really get a discount being linked in such a way - not like an employer plans of whatever type.  Once during my self-employed career, I had coverage thru a Chamber of Commerce but this was more like a self-insured plan and premiums increased when a few people in the small group got really sick.  Then another time I had a policy through an association of like occupation members - it went bankrupt.  After those,  I just purchased an individual health plan - mainly through BCBS and just dealt with the premiums or went up on the deductible to control premium cost. 

 

If you can qualify for a tax credit subsidy and don't mind the narrow networks. the ACA is the place to go.

 

If you don't qualify for a tax credit subsidy and/or want a wider network, then you have to buy a policy either on or off the exchange to get compliant coverage. 

 

You can buy an ACA Catastrophic plan if you apply for an exemption via Healthcare.gov and receive it.

 

If you want to try some other way, this link might help but some of these are NON-compliant to the ACA, so run the numbers cause the penalty will be assessed.

Health Insurance.org - 10/14/2016 - Escaping the crush of premium increases

 

Sorry, that's all I got !     Good Luck !

 

 

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna
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I am under 65 and AARP did have health insurance which they aborted when Obamcare was announced.  I protested then to say they need to keep it as other medical plans did stay in effect, at least until the dust setted.  Pres Obama allowed them to after protests of the public and failed online access.

Instead, AARP  just elimimated our group entirely causing those self insured over 50 members to go from $350 to over $600 at that time.  Now I am going from $750 to over $1200 with a $7000 deductible and very limited choices of doctors, no out of state at all meaning I cannot seek a specialist out of state if say I choose to go to Mayo Clinic and I live in Chicago.  It is so bad now that AARP with its strength in Wash needs to speak out.  Do a survey and see how many members are struggling.  This is huge.  AARP is the voice of over 50 and I would like to know what they are doing about this.  And they may suggest $5 copays for those on medicare to alleviate the cost.  This may make some think twice before overusing their benefits.  What is AARP doing to help us over 50 that are self employed? 

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@jms505 wrote:

I am under 65 and AARP did have health insurance which they aborted when Obamcare was announced.  I protested then to say they need to keep it as other medical plans did stay in effect, at least until the dust setted.  Pres Obama allowed them to after protests of the public and failed online access.

Instead, AARP  just elimimated our group entirely causing those self insured over 50 members to go from $350 to over $600 at that time.  Now I am going from $750 to over $1200 with a $7000 deductible and very limited choices of doctors, no out of state at all meaning I cannot seek a specialist out of state if say I choose to go to Mayo Clinic and I live in Chicago.  It is so bad now that AARP with its strength in Wash needs to speak out.  Do a survey and see how many members are struggling.  This is huge.  AARP is the voice of over 50 and I would like to know what they are doing about this.  And they may suggest $5 copays for those on medicare to alleviate the cost.  This may make some think twice before overusing their benefits.  What is AARP doing to help us over 50 that are self employed? 


WOW, I never knew AARP had a health insurance plan for those less than 65.

In fact, I never knew AARP was an insurer at all since they only allow United Health Care to use their name and marketing ability to secure income from this arrangement.  United Health Care sells Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Medigap policies bearing the AARP name for those who are on Medicare.  Those are the only ones which I am aware of ever being in existence.

 

What state was this less than 65 year olds eligible plan offered in and what was the name of it?  

 

If if there was such a plan, it did not have to stop - it only had to comply with the Obamacare requirements and write and sell these new policies.  Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall and decided not to take the plunge into Obamacare and just stick with senior policies like MA and Medigap  - NO (usual) loss there.

 

If you are not yet 65 and are healthy and are not getting a tax credit subsidy with an ACA plan, in several states there are non-compliant Obamacare plans still available.  Here's one in Tennessee:

 

STAT News 11/13/2017 - This Insurer Doesn't Play by the ACA Rules because of a Tennessee law.

 

I know those who are NOT getting a tax credit subsidy are feeling the total financial brunt of this mess - premiums have risen for everybody in the individual marketplace but those who get a tax credit subsidy are sheltered by the subsidy - the government is just paying more.

 

If I were in your situation, were healthy and not receiving a tax credit subsidy to lower the payments, I would personally look for other alternatives even if the penalty was assessed but there are lots of exceptions to the penalty.

 

 

 

 

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