Michelle La Voie wants health insurance, but as a single mom making $38,000 a year and supporting two teenagers, she’s not sure she can afford it — even with a subsidy through the federal health law known as Obamacare.
When enrollment in new online insurance markets begins next month, La Voie will likely qualify for a subsidy to buy private insurance, but would still have to pay $191 a month, or about 6 percent of her income toward the premium. She could also face as much as $2,000 in potential out-of-pocket costs for hospital care and prescription drugs, if she needs those things.
“What’s the point of having [a policy] if I can’t afford to use it?” asks the 47-year-old librarian in upstate Franklinville, New York, referring to the co-pays and deductibles that she might incur if she sought treatment.
How consumers judge the affordability of the new health plans remains one of the biggest unknowns on the eve of the rollout of the health law’s insurance marketplaces. Those marketplaces, aimed at people without group coverage, are predicted to sign up 7 million enrollees by the end of next March. Will shoppers regard the plans as a good value? Will they be able to afford the monthly premiums and other out-of-pocket costs built into most plans?