South Dakota family benefits from $0 monthly health insurance premium

This paid piece is sponsored by Avera Health.

A $0 health insurance premium payment may seem like a white whale, but for Britt Jones it’s real life.

She and her family recently moved from Sioux Falls to Spearfish. Through the process of changing insurance plans, they found an individual and family plan through Avera Health Plans and applied for premium tax credits on the Federal Marketplace. The family benefited from tax credits in the past; their last payment in Sioux Falls was $195 a month.

She didn’t expect that her payment would decrease by $195.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had a $0 premium cost per month,” Jones said. “It’s very exciting because we just purchased a new home and we’ve been thinking of ways to cut costs, and $195 is a lot I can put toward something else in our budget.”

Premium savings without losing coverage

Other comparable plans in her area would have been $350 a month. Premium tax credits are available to people who enroll in a plan through the Federal Marketplace and meet certain income guidelines. In South Dakota, 95 percent of Marketplace enrollees save from advance premium tax credits. Enrollees also can apply for cost share reductions, which reduce out-of-pocket costs as long as you use a covered health care service and have a silver plan.

The Joneses chose a Standard 7500 plan, which offers access to local health care providers in the Spearfish area. Added benefits include coverage of virtual urgent and behavioral health care visits and fitness member discounts. She also was able to add dental and vision insurance for herself and her husband for the first time in years.

“I definitely want to have insurance, but we don’t have anyone in our family who has regular doctor visits,” she said. “It’s more for if the kids are sick and they need to go to the doctor.”

Learn more about health plans at the Avera Health Plans blog.