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Changes to open enrollment this year

Posted at 8:58 AM, Nov 13, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-13 08:58:27-05

Those of you having to make decisions about health insurance know full well that the open enrollment period has arrived.

Signing up might be a lot trickier this year.

Minnesota school teacher Judy Bergland's back being a student cramming for which health insurance plan she'll need next year.

"You got to sit down and just figure what am I going to do? How am I going to figure this out? I don't know," Bergland said.

Bergland's doing what most every American is doing during open enrollment -- choosing from a bombardment of choices.

"You are you and whoever you are, you need insurance."

Experts say selecting the right plan for next year begins with what you paid this year.

"If you're generally healthy, younger, you're not covering the insurance for other people, it might make sense for you to choose a plan with a higher deductible and lower premium," said Donna Rosato, from Consumer Reports.

Rosato says, conversely, some people may need just the opposite.

And speaking of deductibles.

"Which is what you have to pay out of your own pocket before insurance starts to cover some of the bills, are really going up," she said.

The average deductible on employer-based health insurance will be around $1,500 and, for a private policy, $4,000.

"You're pretty much paying a lot of money for health insurance in the coming year," Rosato said.

She says even though health conditions haven't changed, your health insurance probably has.