Studies explore ongoing challenges to affordability of health coverage

Two national studies released this week highlight the challenges some consumers still face in affording health coverage, even after the implementation of the ACA (Source: “Two separate analyses highlight affordability of Obamacare insurance plans now and in 2015,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 9, 2014).

A University of Tennessee study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that cheapest marketplace plan available may cost many people more than the penalty handed down for not having health coverage.

Although the ACA includes subsidies to help people with low incomes pay for insurance, and waives the no-insurance penalty if the cost of the least-expensive plan available is greater than 8 percent of an individual's income, some people who don't qualify for subsidies because they make too much money face a "subsidy cliff," according to the study. The ability to pay for the lowest-cost "bronze" plan decreases substantially for those people whose annual incomes are just above 400 percent of the federal poverty level (just under $47,000 for a single individual).

The outlook for affordable coverage may improve, however, in 2015, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study also released last week. That study found that average premiums for the benchmark silver plan - the second-cheapest insurance available on the exchange - will decrease slightly in 2015. The study analyzes premiums in Cleveland and 15 other cities and the District of Columbia.

The average change in the cost of a silver plan for 2015 is a 0.8 percent decrease, not taking into account any income-related tax credits. Prices of silver plans being offered in Cleveland are dropping by 0.7 percent, according to the study.