ObamaCare hasn't cured people's anxieties about health care costs

A big problem: Plans that tend to have the lowest monthly premiums also have the highest deductibles. Almost 90 percent of 2015 Obamacare enrollees signed up for either a bronze-level or silver-level plan, the cheapest coverage but which can have deductibles of thousands of dollars. That means people can still be on the hook for a good chunk of change if they actually rack up medical bills.

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About 40 percent of those in the overall individual market were enrolled in high-deductible plans—which Kaiser defined as above $1,500 for an individual or $3,000 for a family—versus 43 percent in low-deductible plans. (The rest weren’t sure). Just 35 percent of those in the high-deductible plans were happy with their deductible; 79 percent of low-deductible enrollees were.

“The trend towards high deductibles predated the Affordable Care Act, but the health law in some sense legitimized them by defining what is minimally adequate insurance,” said Larry Levitt, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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