What an ACA plan costs
It depends on your age, your county, your household size and the financial help you qualify for. But before the price, it's worth understanding the four pieces behind it — because the lowest premium isn't always the cheapest plan.
The four pieces of the cost
- Premium
- What you pay each month to have the insurance, whether or not you use any care. It's the number people compare most and the one that says least on its own.
- Deductible
- What you pay out of pocket before the plan starts covering most services. Federal preventive services aren't subject to the deductible.
- Copay and coinsurance
- Your share once the deductible is met: a fixed amount per visit (copay) or a percentage of the cost (coinsurance).
- Out-of-pocket maximum
- The most you can pay in a year for essential in-network services. Once you reach it, the plan covers 100% for the rest of the year. It's your real ceiling on risk.
Why the lowest premium doesn't always win
A bronze plan has the lowest monthly premium and the highest deductible. If you see a doctor twice a year, it probably suits you. If you take a monthly medication or have a condition that needs follow-up, that high deductible gets paid anyway — and by year's end you'll have spent more than with a higher-premium plan.
The useful comparison isn't premium against premium, but what you'd pay across the full year given how you use care. That's what our quoter calculates: it asks how much care you expect to use and ranks plans by estimated annual cost, not by premium.
What doesn't change the price
Under the ACA, an insurer can't charge you more for your medical history, for a pre-existing condition, or for being a woman. The factors that can affect it are age, where you live, household size, and tobacco use.
What Harbor Lane charges
Nothing. Our commission is paid by the insurer and is already in the plan's premium — the price you see is the same one you'd see going straight to the Marketplace.
To see real prices for your county with the tax credit already applied, get a quote. You don't need an account.