By Brenda Long, Michigan State University Extension
How much will health insurance cost in the Marketplace? This seems to be a big question for many consumers. The Affordable Care Act mandates that most people are insured either through their employer or by purchasing their own policy.
Two online calculators may assist consumers estimate the cost of their health insurance premium as they comparison shop different health insurance plans. You can get into the Marketplace web site www.healthcare.gov to use a price estimator for your state and county. You can also see the available plans and premiums before any subsidy without setting up an account.
You can also use the Kaiser Family Foundation Subsidy Calculator. With this calculator, you can enter your zip code, different income levels, ages, family sizes and tobacco use to get an estimate of your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on health insurance in the Marketplace. Income, age, family size, geographic location and tobacco use are the criteria the Marketplace uses to determine premiums for your eligible health insurance plans.
As premiums and eligibility requirements may vary, contact these resources with enrollment questions:
- the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for questions about Medicaid
- Michigan Healthcare Information www.michigan.gov/healthcarehelp
- Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services www.michigan.gov/difs or Helpline at 1-877-999-6442
- Learn local sites of Navigator and Certified Application Counselors for individual Marketplace enrollment assistance at https://localhelp.healthcare.gov/.
I have heard from a local Navigator that some folks that have successfully enrolled through the Marketplace have been pleasantly surprised with the affordability of the health insurance plan they chose.
For more answers to your questions about health insurance, go to Health Insurance FAQs – eXtension. Also see previous news articles about health insurance choices on the Michigan State University Extension website.
This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).
