What are metal levels? Health insurance plans in Washington state are divided into categories of coverage that are labelled by metal levels. The categories of coverage are bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.
The metal level of a health insurance plan describes the benefits that plan provides.
Bronze plans charge the lowest monthly premiums compared to other metal levels. With a low-cost premium, bronze plans have the highest deductibles, copays and coinsurance rates compared to other metal levels. A typical coinsurance rate for a bronze plan leaves the insured responsible for 40% of their medical bills.
Silver plans charge higher monthly premiums compared to bronze plans. With this higher monthly premium comes lower deductibles, copays, and coinsurance rates compared to bronze plans. A typical coinsurance rate for a silver plan leaves the insured responsible for 30% of their medical bills.
Gold plans charge higher monthly premiums than silver plans. With this higher monthly premium comes even lower deductibles, copays and coinsurance rates compared to silver plans. A typical coinsurance rate for a gold plan leaves the insured responsible for 20% of their medical bills.
Platinum plans charge the highest monthly premium compared to other metal levels. Platinum plans have the lowest deductibles, copays and coininsurance rates compared to all other metal levels. A typical coinsurance rate for a platinum plans leaves the insured responsible for 10% of their medical bills. Platinum plans are not sold by all insurance carriers and they aren’t available in every geographic area.
The metal level concept is pretty simple: the higher the premium, the better the coverage. But you may be left wondering ‘what metal level is right for me?’. This is dependent on your healthcare utilization. If you rarely seek medical care and don’t take an prescriptions, an inexpensive bronze plan could be a great fit for you. Alternatively, if you take multiple medications or see specialists frequently a gold or platinum plan may be a better fit. Your utilization may change from year to year as well. For example, you may want to elect a gold or platinum plan for a year during which you plan to have a baby or undergo surgery.
