September 2014

Aetna Medicare Plan Changes Connecticut 2015

By Ed Crowe | Latest news | 0 comment | 26 September, 2014 | 0

Aetna Medicare Plan Changes Connecticut 2015

If you would like to learn about the Aetna Medicare Plan Changes Connecticut 2015, you should read this post. Aetna Medicare will be making major changes to their Medicare Advantage plans in some Connecticut counties for 2015. A quick summary of changes is listed below. Call or email our office for specific information and CMS approved benefit summaries and other info.

The current Aetna Value HMO
$0 premium plan will be discontinued in Fairfield and New Haven counties as of January 1, 2015. This means you will not have a plan as of January 1, 2015. If you are in this plan currently you must enroll in a different Medicare plan if you want one for 2015. There is a special enrollment period for this situation. This allows consumers to enroll in a new plan anytime from December 15th, 2014 through the end of February 2015.
The Aetna Value HMO
will still be available at $0 monthly premium to those in Hartford, Litchfield and Tolland counties. Benefits have some minor changes. They are now going to a $25 primary as well as a $50 specialist copay. They are also moving the inpatient hospital benefit to $300 for days 1-4.
Aetna will have a new $0 premium plan called Aetna Elite HMO
available 1-1-15 for those in New Haven and Fairfield county. The plan boasts low copays ($10 primary/$35 specialist) and $550 per stay hospital inpatient copay. HOWEVER, it will have a $1,000 annual deductible for that will apply to major services. Office visits, preventative benefits, lab and some other benefits will not apply to the deductible and will still be a copay however.
Aetna will still offer the Standard HMO plan with only small benefits changes and a 2015 premium of $118.00 a month in Hartford, New Haven , Fairfield, Litchfield and Tolland counties.
Aetna will still offer the Standard PPO plan with only small benefits changes and a 2015 premium of $101.00 a month in Hartford, New Haven , Fairfield, Litchfield and Tolland counties

Please either call or email our office with any additional questions at 203-796-5403 or by email at Admin@croweandassociates.com.

Obama Care in Connecticut

By Ed Crowe | Individual Health Insurance | 0 comment | 26 September, 2014 | 0

Obama Care in Connecticut

The purpose of this post is to provide an understanding of Obama Care in Connecticut to help consumers make a better decision when they decide to enroll or not. Our office is registered to advise the general population on which plan may be best for them and to process an enrollment in person or over the phone. Please review the list of bullet points below and call or email if you have any questions.

Obama Care is run by Access Health in CT. Prospective members sign up for the plan through the Access Health website. Once you register, you can complete and submit an application. Access Health then sends the insurance company that you chose during your application process the information is then sent to the insurance company that was chosen during the application process. This will then prompt them to send out a monthly bill as well as ID cards.
Subsidies are available to those within the income guidelines. They are automatically applied to the premium and the bill received in the mail will be reduced by the amount of monthly subsidy being received. Subsidy levels depend on the total annual income of the family and the number of family members. They do NOT look at prior year income but look at current years income. A person applying in 2014 is going to be provided or not provided a subsidy based on their 2014 income not prior years income.
Subsidies levels are as follows:
Single person under $45,960 adjusted gross is eligible for a subsidy. A family of 4 under $94,200 is eligible for a subsidy. For an example of the amount of subsidy provided we can use a 61 year old male. At $47,00 annual income he is not eligible for subsidy and would pay $691 a month for a silver plan. At $32,000 of income that same person would only pay $150.09 a month for the same silver plan. A family of 4 making $96,000 a year would pay $1217.22 a month for a silver plan while a family of 4 making 52,000 a year would pay $217.00 a month for the same plan.
Subsidies are only available by applying through Access Health
Current companies offering plans are Anthem BCBS, Connecticare and Healthy Partners. United and Harvard Pilgrim will also be available in 2015
Anyone can enroll in Obama Care but only those under the income level will get a subsidy
The company sends a paper bill every month.
The doctor networks are smaller than the normal networks. We have found that the companies Obama networks have about 70% of the doctors that are in the companies normal networks.
For those under the income guidelines, this is the lowest cost insurance they will be able to buy on an individual basis by a substantial amount.
The benefits of the Obama Care plans are more comprehensive than the comparable plans out on the open market
Obama Care will base your income on the total family income, even if the whole family does not enroll in the plan.

You can either call or email us with any questions or help enrolling. We do not charge a fee for help with enrollments. The insurance companies pay us directly. The rates are the same with or without our assistance enrolling. Office number is 203-796-5403 or email Edward@croweandassociates.com