\u201cI had one client that went from $1.58 to $2,100,\u201d said April Vasquez, a benefits consultant with McCrann Insurance.<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Thursday marked the final day to enroll in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans for the new year.<\/p>\n
But for many, enrollment came with a case of sticker shock as premiums climbed sharply.<\/p>\n
Representatives from a local insurance company told 3News that while some people are renewing their plans, they are also seeing a high number of cancellations \u2014 meaning many are choosing to go without coverage this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had one client that went from $1.58 to $2,100,\u201d said April Vasquez, a benefits consultant with McCrann Insurance, describing the tough decisions clients are facing as ACA premiums rise.<\/p>\n
She says government policies and plan structures are playing a role.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment and legislation — has caused and made all these changes. Also when it comes to these plans, some of them are affordable but unfortunately are high-deductible plans,\u201d Vasquez said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a reality many are having to navigate, including McKayla Pena, a cosmetologist. She says last year her premium with subsidies was $244 a month. Now, the lowest plan she could find was $300 \u2014 and that does not include her child.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could maybe justify it if my child was added onto it, but because it was just for myself, I feel as though it\u2019s not really worth it,\u201d Pena said.<\/p>\n
Pena says that while her child\u2019s health is important, so is the practicality of paying for care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost feel like it\u2019s easier to pay out of pocket for certain things. This past year, me and my boyfriend didn\u2019t even put our baby onto an insurance because we found that out-of-pocket costs were easier if we\u2019re only going in for wellness checkups,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But Vasquez warns the growing number of uninsured residents in the Coastal Bend could have a ripple effect on the local health care system.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur prediction is that there will be an overflow of population in the hospitals this coming year due to they can\u2019t afford health insurance, but they need to be seen whether it\u2019s minor or major,\u201d Vasquez said.<\/p>\n
Pena recommends families speak with an insurance agent to determine what works best for them, but says the decision is far from simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard because we\u2019re figuring out where we\u2019re going to find the money for this, or do we just go without or get hit with a larger medical bill later on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI had one client that went from $1.58 to $2,100,\u201d said April Vasquez, a benefits consultant with McCrann…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-125357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}