YORK, Pa. - For the thousands of consumers receiving renewal notices for the health insurance policies purchased through the online marketplace established through the Affordable Care Act, some are seeing substantial premium increases and higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.
Scott Dubbs, a self-employed contractor of York County, is one of those consumers. He holds an individual policy with Capital Blue Cross and currently pays a $383 monthly premium, but his renewal notice gave him a big piece of bad news. His policy is changing to one with a 50 percent higher deductible and higher co-pays for a monthly premium of $655 a month, a more than 70 percent increase.
"I'm going to shop around outside the market, and if I can't find anything around what I'm paying now and get pretty decent coverage, I'll be out of the market," he said, adding that most years, he makes too much to qualify for a subsidy. "I'll pay the fine."
As it stands now, Dubbs says he is pretty healthy and rarely visits a doctor.
"I paid everything pretty much when I had to go to the doctors," he said. "I had some testing done. I pretty much had to pay everything out of my own pocket anyway, so it's cheaper for me just to pay it as I need it."
Capital Blue Cross issued the following statement to FOX43:
“[The Affordable Care Act] has brought extensive changes and instability to the health care industry. This has placed difficult financial burdens on consumers and created challenges for the long-term financial sustainability of many consumer products. Across the nation, insurance rates are trending up due to these significant changes. The Central Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley markets are no exception.”
Dubbs says he would rather use the funds to grow his own business.
"I could hire more employees, I could buy some more tools that I need, another van to try and get another employee on," he said. "This kind of stuff makes a small contractor like me look at it and say, 'Well, I'm not going to be able to find another employee, I'll be working for the rest of my life.'"