ObamaCare – a personal report...

ObamaCare – a personal report...  Well, I was finally able to make it all the way through the process on the Covered California site, right up to the point where I'd actually buy a policy (which I did not do).  Here's a summary of the results, in terms of costs, for a policy covering Debbie and I:

	Current policy	ObamaCare policy
Monthly premium:	$1,272	$2,012
Out-of-pocket cap:	$3,500	$7,800
Max annual cost:	$18,764	$31,944

The ObamaCare policy's out-of-pocket caps are quite complicated, as they vary for the type of care offered.  It wouldn't surprise me a bit to discover that they're actually higher than what I listed above.

In terms of coverage, the ObamaCare policy overlaps our current policy, but there are notable differences.  The biggest difference I see is that our current policy has much better coverage out-of-network, and gives us complete freedom to choose the specialists we want.  The ObamaCare policy is severely restricted in those terms.  On the other hand, the ObamaCare policy covers some things our current policy doesn't: birth control, maternity care, podiatrists, and much more mental health coverage.  We don't care about any of those things.

So, on balance: the ObamaCare policy is much more expensive (especially when you consider those out-of-pocket caps) and is lower quality (for the things that we care about) than our current policy.

Thanks a bunch, ObamaCare...