News
Doug Whitney of A.D. Ross & Associates gave the Classification talk this week. Doug is a Senior Financial Representative who has been in the business since 1984. Doug has broker agreements with 60 insurance firms and selling agreements with 200 more companies.
Doug gave us an update on Obama Care and Covered California for Orange County. There will be an increase in rates for individuals that are not in a group plan. (large group 100 +, small group 1 to 100). One out of four counties in the US has only one insurance company to choose from. The weighted average is +14.4%. In California two million are still not insured.
- 142,020 individuals renewed their coverage or signed up for coverage during the third open-enrollment period.
- 88% are receiving financial assistance to pay their premiums.
- Generally, the amount of financial assistance available to consumers in the region will remain the same in 2017.
- All consumers in this region (Orange County) will have a choice of 6 insurance companies to choose from.
- Consumers in this region may benefit from shopping around for lower-cost insurance company options that offer a lower premium in the same tier.
With the increases people will begin to down grade their coverage or just pay the tax on not having any coverage. Open enrollment is November 1, 2016 to December 15, 2016.