No, the Affordable Care Act restricts premiums for the most costly insureds (age 64) to 3x the least costly insureds (age ~21).
So the health insurance premiums you see for ACA compliant health plans are very subsidized by younger plan members, but this subsidy ends starting age 65.
In other words, expected healthcare costs for old people are massive.
Edit: also, annual premiums for age 64 are around $20k to $25k, and that is with the subsidy from younger plan members.
As I understand it, the subsidy ends at 65 because at that point the "affordable care" option is Medicare. Thus, there's less motivation to subsidize private insurance.
It is not a health care system, it's a sick and dying payment plan system. They definitely don't want you to die because then you stop paying into the system. But they don't care about quality of life, they want to pay out as little as possible.
> No, the Affordable Care Act restricts premiums for the most costly insureds (age 64) to 3x the least costly insureds (age ~21).
> Edit: also, annual premiums for age 64 are around $20k to $25k, and that is with the subsidy from younger plan members.
This implies premiums for the least costly group are $6500-8000/year, which is substantially more than the price I pay. I dont have employer-provided healthcare, nor a marketplace plan, I pay the cash price for individuals without any subsidy. And I haven't been 21 in decades.
See Omnia BCBS Gold at $731 per month for age 21 to 24. Omnia BCBS Silver HSA would be $423 per month.
Silver plans cover 70% of expected costs, but at age 64, I assume most would want the lower deductible and oop max of a gold plan. Even the insurance company is calculating it needs to charge $300 more per month for that extra 10% of expected healthcare costs they would have to pick up with a gold plan versus a silver.
As another datapoint, my family of four gold HSA BCBS plan is running around $33k per year in premiums for 2 adults in their 30s and 2 toddlers.
