La Jolla Renter, on a “grandfathered” plan such as yours, I believe the carrier only has to give 30 days notice by letter of a rate hike. In that letter, they have to tell the policyholder what their new premium will be, eff: [month] 1, [year].
Since your $2950 deductible doesn’t appear to match any of the ACA-compliant plans on the exchange (your deductible alone is between silver and bronze levels but other benefits of your plan could be closer to gold level), if you could list here the particulars of your plan and the age you will be at the time of the rate hike, I might be able to tell you if $840 month seems “fair.”
If you were thinking of taking out a Bronze plan on the exchange, do you have an active HSA to pay your big expenses from and fill in the gaps until you hit your deductible if you experience a high-use year?
You should be aware that Cigna now offers a bronze HSA plan in SD off-exchange as of 11/15/15 as well as two other bronze plans, one of which mirrors bronze exchange coverage.
I’m not certain in your case but I think you may have to wait until “open enrollment” beginning mid-October 2016 to sign up for coverage eff: 1/1/17.
If you don’t qualify for a “subsidy” to help you with your premium, I don’t think it is worth it to sign up for a plan on the exchange as Covered CA is extremely incompetent, bureaucratic and difficult to deal with.
If it only costs $1500 month for the 3 of you to be on your spouse’s Kaiser plan, isn’t that cheaper than paying $840 month for your own plan? Is the reason you’re not on her plan because you don’t want Kaiser? (I wouldn’t want Kaiser so that’s why I’m asking.) It’s not for everyone.
