True that. In the above scenario (which is still dumb, of course), McD's coffee would be the "bronze plan" and Starbucks the "Gold plan" or whatever. But selling cups of boiling water with a black crayon stirred into it and marketed as "coffee" would no longer be acceptable. As it shouldn't be.
But coffee preference is subjective and someone could argue that McD's or Starbucks are 'all the same' whereas you can quantify exactly how Insurance Plan A differs from Insurance Plan B. So someone saying "But I like McD's coffee" isn't really relevant in making the comparison.
Anywho, ACA signups broke six million a couple days ago, hitting the CBO's projection of where they should be by the March 31 deadline. There's also an unspecified number of people -- including a lot of younger people -- who have signed up for insurance outside the exchanges and thus aren't counted. The
National Journal says that "it could represent millions of people" but since the insurance companies aren't required to or enthusiastic about divulging this information, no one knows for sure.
National Journal wrote:
People who enroll outside of the exchanges are simply using a different means to buy what are often the same ACA-compliant plans available inside the exchanges. They are part of the same risk pools and have the same impact on premiums.
[...]
The number of people who have actually taken that approach remains a mystery, but anecdotal reports suggest it could be significant.
In Washington state—one of the only states to release this information—more people have signed up outside the exchange than inside of it. The state insurance commissioner's office says 183,618 people had enrolled in private plans outside of the exchange as of the end of February, compared with 125,000 paid enrollments the state exchange is reporting as of March 23.
[...]
Highmark said that as of mid-February, about one-third of the over 110,000 people who bought ACA-compliant plans enrolled directly with the company. The insurer offers plans in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
[...]
Information released by eHealth—an online broker that predates the health care law—indicates that the coveted young-adult demographic is signing up outside of the exchanges. About 45 percent of people applying for ACA-compliant plans through eHealth are between 18 and 34, the company said—compared with roughly 25 percent in the exchanges.
Edited, Mar 28th 2014 9:49am by Jophiel