What's the cost of health insurance through the Marketplace? Plug in different scenarios using this interactive and see what drives health insurance costs. 

Hat tip for co-founder Jessica for requesting for more insurance related resources on the blog! 

The Kaiser Family Foundation has a tool, Health Insurance Marketplace calculator, that asks six questions and then provides users with data on their healthcare premiums and potential subsidies. A 22-year-old single non-smoker earning a $40,000 salary who doesn't receive health insurance through an employer [and not on their parents' plan] and living in Johnson County, Iowa, yields the following results: 

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How you might use this with your students? 

Create a graphical organizer and have students develop different scenarios and see how premiums (cost) and subsidies differ. I created a basic one to get you started. 

• What is the impact of changing one variable at a time (e.g., income, zip code, size of family, # of children) to see how this impacts their subsidy and costs? 
• Analyze different family situations (single, small family, large family) to see how that impacts costs and subsidies. 

Makes sense to use this interactive after your students have a strong fundamental understanding of health insurance (see NGPF's Semester Course lesson 7.4 and 7.5) 

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Looking for more insurance activities? NGPF has over a dozen to choose from.

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Bummer is a fun Arcade game where students will quickly learn about the importance of education (helpful hint: don't overlook the alien insurance)

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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