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An Early Look At Plans Offered Through Kynect

Phalinn Ooi/Creative Commons

Kentucky residents seeking health insurance under the state's health insurance marketplace, Kynect, can now log onto the website to explore their coverage options.

Kynect on Friday launched a preview period of the plans Kentuckians can choose from when open enrollment begins Nov. 1.

This year, the exchange will offer health insurance plans from seven insurers: Aetna, Anthem, Baptist Health, CareSource, Humana, United Healthcare and WellCare. Kynect offered five plans last year, but one popular provider — the Kentucky Health Cooperative — is no longer available.

As before, the plans vary widely in cost. To gauge what's available this year, we ran the numbers for a single woman who lives in Louisville and earns $3,000 a month. Here's a look at what will be offered through Kynect.

Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance plans are separated into four categories: bronze, silver, gold or platinum. The plan categories affect the total amount patients will likely spend for health coverage during the year. The percentages the plans will spend, on average, are 60 percent (bronze), 70 percent (silver), 80 percent (gold), and 90 percent (platinum).

The cost and availability of plans varies depending on where a person lives. But for a single woman in Louisville earning $3,000, these plans came up.

The bronze plans had cheaper premiums but the deductibles are costly.

Anthem offers a bronze plan with a monthly premium of $174.74 and a $5,000 deductible. The co-pay for a visit with a primary care physician would be $50. Emergency room visits would be $200 after the deductible.

CareSource's "Just4Me" bronze plan has a monthly premium of $138.26 and a deductible of $6,650. Visits to a primary care physician will cost $40 and a visit to a specialist is $80.

The silver plan is where Kynect officials say people will get the most out of cost-sharing reductions. An analysis by Kaiser Family Foundation shows that about 15 percent of Kentuckians are eligible for a subsidy to to help pay for the cost of health insurance.

Baptist Health offers various silver plans. One of them has a premium of $189.62 and a $4,500 deductible. A patient's co-pay for a primary care visit will be $20, while seeing a specialist is double that.

United Healthcare has silver plans ranging in premium price from $249.83 to $270.31 —and deductibles of $2,000 to $4,500.

Aetna offers one silver plan. It's $253.12 a month with a $3,900 deductible. Visits to a primary care doctor are $10 under the plan.

WellCare also only offers one plan under the gold tier level. It costs $294.83 with a $1,500 deductible. A doctor's visit is $20 and a visit to a specialists is $35.

Humana is the only insurer offering platinum plans statewide. There are two options costing $268 and $299. The deductible for both is $500.