Copper health plans have cheaper premiums, but offer “false promise of affordability”

If you offer it, will they come? Insurers and some U.S. senators have proposed offering cheaper, skimpier “copper” plans on the health insurance marketplaces to encourage uninsured stragglers to buy. But consumer advocates and some policy experts say focusing on reducing costs on the front end exposes consumers to unacceptably high out-of-pocket costs if they get sick. The trade-off, they say, may not be worth it.

“It’s a false promise of affordability,” said Sabrina Corlette, project director at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. “If you ever have to use the plan, you won’t be able to afford it.”

Coverage on the health insurance marketplaces nowis divided into five types of plans that require different levels of cost-sharing by consumers. All the plans cover 10 so-called essential health benefits, including hospitalization, drugs and doctor visits. Preventive care is coveredwithout any cost-sharing.

Platinum plans pay 90 percent of medical expenses, on average; gold plans, 80 percent; silver plans, 70 percent; and bronze plans, 60 percent. Premium tax credits are available for people with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($46,680 for an individual in the 2015 plans).

In addition, a catastrophic plan is available, mainly to people younger than 30; it covers only limited services before the deductible is met and isn’t eligible for subsidies.

The proposals put forward by America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade organization, and a group of senators led by Mark Begich, D-Alaska, would add a new level of coverage on the marketplaces. The copper plan proposed by Begich and AHIP’s “lower premium catastrophic plan” would pay 50 percent of covered expenses, on average, and be eligible for premium tax credits.

The proposals aim to attract people who haven’t yet bought coverage on the state marketplaces, and young or