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Post by lbp on Sept 27, 2017 13:14:34 GMT
When is this going to end??? I already pay $929.00 per month for just me and my husband. Our policy has a $4500.00 per person deductible. We just got notice that our rate is going up 28%. I will now be paying over $14,000 per year for health insurance for 2 people who have only used it for preventive health care for the last 5 years. Regular Dr. visits are $45.00 and specialty visits (ob-gyn) are $75.00. I can't pay this nor can the rest of the employees in our company.
Our company can't afford to pay this increase. We will be no longer be offering health insurance for our employees. I hate this, but we just can't afford to pay this and keep the doors open.
I hope they can find something they can afford in the marketplace but I have a feeling the biggest part of them are just not going to bother with insurance and will pay the price at tax time.
This sucks!
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Post by melanell on Sept 27, 2017 13:15:48 GMT
That is insanely expensive. My gosh.
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Post by gar on Sept 27, 2017 13:21:07 GMT
When is this going to end??? I already pay $929.00 per month for just me and my husband. Our policy has a $4500.00 per person deductible. We just got notice that our rate is going up 28%. I will now be paying over $14,000 per year for health insurance for 2 people who have only used it for preventive health care for the last 5 years. Regular Dr. visits are $45.00 and specialty visits (ob-gyn) are $75.00. I can't pay this nor can the rest of the employees in our company.
Our company can't afford to pay this increase. We will be no longer be offering health insurance for our employees. I hate this, but we just can't afford to pay this and keep the doors open.
I hope they can find something they can afford in the marketplace but I have a feeling the biggest part of them are just not going to bother with insurance and will pay the price at tax time.
This sucks!
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,263
Jun 25, 2014 22:52:46 GMT
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Post by iowgirl on Sept 27, 2017 13:26:38 GMT
We are self employed and pay about that same amount for three of us. One kid is still on it.
Ours pays nothing until we hit our deductible of $5000. No prescription, no dental, no vision. It is simply crazy.
This is what needs to be addressed with health care reform! Yes we can get insurance, but come on! Who can afford this?
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Post by deshacrafts on Sept 27, 2017 13:43:02 GMT
Same issue for us, but we have been paying $1700.00 for my DH and myself with a $2500 deductible. We are in a small business pool, but it is still incredibly expensive for healthcare. We only have one employee, our son, who we pay another $340.00 for. Luckily our small business is able to pay this for now, but if it goes up much more I'm not sure what we will do. Probably raise our deductible and then insurance just becomes a backup plan as you end up spending for all your services anyway (making having insurance even more expensive).
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Post by littlemama on Sept 27, 2017 13:49:07 GMT
We need a single payer system and drug manufacturers should not be allowed to advertise to the general public, thus reducing the costs of some medications. Trust me, the $15000 per dose medication that I am on was going to be prescribed whether I had seen a commercial for it or not - because my doctor is up on the new medications that are available to treat my condition when all other meds fail. If we didn't have insurance, or if there were a lifetime cap on it, I wouldn't live much longer.
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Post by mnmloveli on Sept 27, 2017 14:22:17 GMT
When is this going to end??? I already pay $929.00 per month for just me and my husband. Our policy has a $4500.00 per person deductible. We just got notice that our rate is going up 28%. I will now be paying over $14,000 per year for health insurance for 2 people who have only used it for preventive health care for the last 5 years. Regular Dr. visits are $45.00 and specialty visits (ob-gyn) are $75.00. I can't pay this nor can the rest of the employees in our company.
Our company can't afford to pay this increase. We will be no longer be offering health insurance for our employees. I hate this, but we just can't afford to pay this and keep the doors open.
I hope they can find something they can afford in the marketplace but I have a feeling the biggest part of them are just not going to bother with insurance and will pay the price at tax time.
This sucks! My husband and I are in the same boat. So sad. We have the lowest plan, Bronze, and pay $900 a month with a $7,000 deductible for each of us. We can't afford to go to the doctor because of this deductible but yet we have to have insurance by government decision. Do they really think this is affordable healthcare ? I've heard my insurance has asked for an 18% increase for 2018; hopefully they get less. Prior to Obamacare, New York had a plan called Healthy New York. We paid approximately $800 a month, a $1,200 deductible between us and all co-pays of $15-30 for the doctors/tests. Also had so many doctors to choose from. Hopefully Washington gets this right soon ! I can't afford much more.
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freebird
Drama Llama
'cause I'm free as a bird now
Posts: 6,927
Jun 25, 2014 20:06:48 GMT
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Post by freebird on Sept 27, 2017 14:28:29 GMT
I've shared before but I will again. We got on Christian Healthcare Ministries and it's literally been a godsend. We pay $300/month for both of us, we spend $40 extra a quarter and get unlimited coverage - including some per-existing for the first 3 years then full coverage. Our share is $500 per event. If we talk the bill down, we don't even have to pay the $500. It DOES work, I put in a claim and have been reimbursed. AND, it met the ACA requirements so no penalties.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Sept 27, 2017 14:29:10 GMT
Holy crap! You pay more for health insurance than we do for our mortgage! That's crazy!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 22:54:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 14:32:20 GMT
We haven't heard what the increase would be but we have been talking about dropping insurance, taking the premium and putting it in a hsa and using that to pay for everything. We only use it for preventative care and DS's ADHD. The insurance won't pay for meds until we hit the deductible. If we do that, we pay full price until October and then get a low Co pay for two months. Really? It's cheaper to use good rx all year long instead.
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Post by ntsf on Sept 27, 2017 14:37:12 GMT
well the republicans' efforts to mess with the aca puts more uncertainty in the markets.. and this causes insurance to rise.. if they put efforts into making it better.. the rates could go down.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 22:54:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 14:38:04 GMT
Preach. This girl pays $17k a year with a $2500 deductible. Good thing I had surgery to eat that up! My employer pays nada towards our insurance.
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Country Ham
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,314
Jun 25, 2014 19:32:08 GMT
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Post by Country Ham on Sept 27, 2017 14:40:45 GMT
well the republicans' efforts to mess with the aca puts more uncertainty in the markets.. and this causes insurance to rise.. if they put efforts into making it better.. the rates could go down. I thought that the ACA was supposed prevent insurance companies from doing this though? Even with uncertainties?
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Post by ntsf on Sept 27, 2017 14:44:45 GMT
no.. if the state doesn't have strict control over rates.. uncertainty creates higher rates.. they don't know whether there will be the supplemental funds allocated every month.. trump is playing games with it. also discouraging people from signing up.. by dissing it all the time, cut funds to create publicity to sign up... less people on health care.. more expensive for everyone. the individual market is the worse.. and they could fix it in congress. but I don't think it will happen.
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Post by stampnscrap1128 on Sept 27, 2017 14:45:52 GMT
What really makes me angry is how our expen$ive premiums (we pay almost $2,000 a month for 2 people) goes to the millions and millions of dollars that insurance company CEOs make. Totally obscene.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Sept 27, 2017 14:48:01 GMT
That does suck. Right now I think we pay something like $1000 per month for our family of 3, and we have a $6000 deductible per person with a family max of $13K. We pay everything out of pocket until the deductible is paid, including prescriptions, office visits, urgent care, everything. The insurance we have does get us some minimal discounts on some things that would cost more without any insurance, and because of the ACA it covers preventative things like vaccines and mammograms. Vision and dental aren't included.
While it definitely sucks, it was considerably cheaper for us to do it this way than to have the next level up because the monthly premiums for that were astronomical and it's cheaper to put the difference in cost between the two plans into an HSA annually to pay toward whatever we actually need vs. paying up front for something we *might* need. If we don't need it, that money just sits in the HSA until we do have to pay for something. I will say because of that we don't run to the doctor for every little thing. Someone has to be REALLY sick before we drag our sorry butts in, because every time we do we know it's going to cost us at least $300.
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Post by delilahtwo on Sept 27, 2017 14:49:32 GMT
Insurance companies are not your friend. They are there to make money, preferably lots of it. They do this by charging a lot and paying out as little as possible. Single payer is the best option imo. Preferably government run, everyone pays in and insurance doesn't have to make a profit on it. You just have to break even. In Canada, our government caps what drug companies can charge for drugs, it makes a big difference. We don't have direct to consumer advertising but we see so much US TV we might as well have. A lot of drug companies spend as much on advertising as they do on research and development. It's sad really.
Our Canadian system isn't perfect but even paying taxes, the average person isn't paying as much tax as a lot of you are paying in health insurance. Each province runs things somewhat differently so costs per person are higher in some provinces than others but it's federally mandated to have universal health care and I'm so grateful for that.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Sept 27, 2017 15:02:55 GMT
I've shared before but I will again. We got on Christian Healthcare Ministries and it's literally been a godsend. We pay $300/month for both of us, we spend $40 extra a quarter and get unlimited coverage - including some per-existing for the first 3 years then full coverage. Our share is $500 per event. If we talk the bill down, we don't even have to pay the $500. It DOES work, I put in a claim and have been reimbursed. AND, it met the ACA requirements so no penalties. DH looked into something similar for us that our accountant uses. I can't remember exactly what it was that made us not go that route, but there was some compelling reason why we didn't. It's basically self insurance, IIRC. I think for us it might have been that it would be cheaper to take DD to Urgent Care and pay what it costs than to have to pay the per event cost, and with a kid in germ factory school who gets sick multiple times a year it would still rack up fast no matter what we did.
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freebird
Drama Llama
'cause I'm free as a bird now
Posts: 6,927
Jun 25, 2014 20:06:48 GMT
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Post by freebird on Sept 27, 2017 15:11:52 GMT
I've shared before but I will again. We got on Christian Healthcare Ministries and it's literally been a godsend. We pay $300/month for both of us, we spend $40 extra a quarter and get unlimited coverage - including some per-existing for the first 3 years then full coverage. Our share is $500 per event. If we talk the bill down, we don't even have to pay the $500. It DOES work, I put in a claim and have been reimbursed. AND, it met the ACA requirements so no penalties. DH looked into something similar for us that our accountant uses. I can't remember exactly what it was that made us not go that route, but there was some compelling reason why we didn't. It's basically self insurance, IIRC. I think for us it might have been that it would be cheaper to take DD to Urgent Care and pay what it costs than to have to pay the per event cost, and with a kid in germ factory school who gets sick multiple times a year it would still rack up fast no matter what we did. It's a health share. I agree to give $300 every month to help others pay their health bills. If I have an incident, the other members agree to help me pay my bills. It's not insurance - it's a share program. There are different organizations that do this program but we felt like CHM worked best for us. I'd research it. It's definitely different than what we're used to with insurance, but since most insurance is just crap anymore, we felt like this was the best way to go - since we were self paying our own medical bills anyway!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 20, 2024 22:54:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 15:23:01 GMT
well the republicans' efforts to mess with the aca puts more uncertainty in the markets.. and this causes insurance to rise.. if they put efforts into making it better.. the rates could go down. no.. if the state doesn't have strict control over rates.. uncertainty creates higher rates.. they don't know whether there will be the supplemental funds allocated every month.. trump is playing games with it. also discouraging people from signing up.. by dissing it all the time, cut funds to create publicity to sign up... less people on health care.. more expensive for everyone. the individual market is the worse.. and they could fix it in congress. but I don't think it will happen. I find this interesting since our rates started to do the slow skyrocket long before Trump came into office. And while I agree the Republicans have been spouting off for years they had a better plan in mind ready to go (liars), and the back and forth is creating uncertainty now, this has been happening for several years.
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scorpeao
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,521
Location: NorCal USA
Jun 25, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
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Post by scorpeao on Sept 27, 2017 15:30:56 GMT
Insurance is a for profit business and until that changes everyone will continue to see their rates rise. You can go ahead and blame the ACA for the increase, but the insurance companies aren't stupid...they saw an opportunity to raise rates and not have to take accountability...the big, bad wolf, aka Obama, bore the brunt of the blame.
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Post by #notLauren on Sept 27, 2017 15:33:44 GMT
Yep, it sucks. And it's going to get worse. Obamacare is going to implode.
But hey, there are people now who get low cost health care subsidized by you that they didn't have before. (insert sarcasm here).
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Post by #notLauren on Sept 27, 2017 15:34:51 GMT
I've shared before but I will again. We got on Christian Healthcare Ministries and it's literally been a godsend. We pay $300/month for both of us, we spend $40 extra a quarter and get unlimited coverage - including some per-existing for the first 3 years then full coverage. Our share is $500 per event. If we talk the bill down, we don't even have to pay the $500. It DOES work, I put in a claim and have been reimbursed. AND, it met the ACA requirements so no penalties. Can I ask what state you live in? Many states limit who can provide health care in that state.
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Post by compwalla on Sept 27, 2017 15:35:57 GMT
My employer pays nada towards our insurance. That's what I think is at the heart of the problem. We have shackled the task of providing health care to employers who vary in size and profits and ability to provide insurance. If they can't or you work for yourself, you're on your own and this is unsustainable. People love to hate on government but there are certain things government is just better at than the private sector. Providing a specific service for every single citizen is one of those things. We pay taxes so that when there is a fire any person anywhere with any income and any level of personal resources can call 911 and have professionally trained firefighters come and put that shit out and save peoples' lives. There are efficiencies to the collective approach that cannot be replicated by the private sector and disastrous racist, classist, and tragic consequences when the private sector tries. What privately owned fire company would bother responding to a trailer park? There is no profit in saving a single-wide on the shitty side of the tracks. That's what we see in healthcare. There is no profit in caring for people without money so those people don't get cared for. It's inhumane and we are better than that. We can reduce costs, we can pay for it all, and we can get coverage to every single American. I never thought the ACA was going to fix everything all in one go. There are things that are amazing about it and there are things that really suck. Real people are getting smacked by the growing pains and instead of coming together and making progress in the right direction, we have half of congress just wanting to undo it all and throw us back to where we were before. People are getting fucked over by the premium increases and insane deductibles but there are also people who literally wouldn't be alive without the ACA. Or who would be bankrupt or homeless. One good next step is a public option - allowing people to buy into Medicare before retirement age so they can get the same coverage as older Americans at a rate less than a private insurance company would charge. This is a good interim step towards universal coverage. That's the reason the Republicans killed the public option when it was first included in the ACA. Because if individuals and small businesses can buy coverage for their employees through Medicare and we allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices like the DoD already does, then we move even closer to expanding that coverage to everyone. Progress always happens in fits and starts. I'm hopeful that the latest repeal defeat and the growing momentum for universal coverage is going to lurch us forward into a more humane and affordable system. Until that happens, we are all at the mercy of insurance companies who can and do use every excuse (real and imagined) to jack up premiums every year -- a thing which has always happened, even before the ACA was passed.
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Post by #notLauren on Sept 27, 2017 15:36:25 GMT
Insurance is a for profit business and until that changes everyone will continue to see their rates rise. You can go ahead and blame the ACA for the increase, but the insurance companies aren't stupid...they saw an opportunity to raise rates and not have to take accountability...the big, bad wolf, aka Obama, bore the brunt of the blame. They raised their rates because they were required to include high risk people with pre-existing conditions. That is a direct result of Obamacare. They payouts substantially increased over what they had been previously; hence the rates increased.
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,393
Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on Sept 27, 2017 15:39:01 GMT
Insurance is a for profit business and until that changes everyone will continue to see their rates rise. You can go ahead and blame the ACA for the increase, but the insurance companies aren't stupid...they saw an opportunity to raise rates and not have to take accountability...the big, bad wolf, aka Obama, bore the brunt of the blame. Agree! Our rates (self employed) had been going up every year long before the ACA became law. My hope is for congress to finally come together to fix what needs fixing.
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Post by #notLauren on Sept 27, 2017 15:40:04 GMT
Insurance is a for profit business and until that changes everyone will continue to see their rates rise. You can go ahead and blame the ACA for the increase, but the insurance companies aren't stupid...they saw an opportunity to raise rates and not have to take accountability...the big, bad wolf, aka Obama, bore the brunt of the blame. Agree! Our rates (self employed) had been going up every year long before the ACA became law. My hope is for congress to finally come together to fix what needs fixing. You don't see a connection there? The government getting involved in health care has resulted in increased rates. Why would you want to now turn it totally over to them?
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scorpeao
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,521
Location: NorCal USA
Jun 25, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
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Post by scorpeao on Sept 27, 2017 15:46:47 GMT
Agree! Our rates (self employed) had been going up every year long before the ACA became law. My hope is for congress to finally come together to fix what needs fixing. You don't see a connection there? The government getting involved in health care has resulted in increased rates. Why would you want to now turn it totally over to them? There needs to be government regulations on how much a profit insurance companies can generate. This goes for drug companies too. There's a reason that other countries have lower health care/prescription med costs, and it's not because the government has stayed out of it.
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Post by #notLauren on Sept 27, 2017 15:58:45 GMT
I just have a very hard time with the government determining how much in profits a private organization can make.
We talk about a slippery slope. Where does it end. Do we determine how much individuals can earn? Do we limit how much people can leave to their heirs? Who gets to determine the maximum figure?
I don't trust our government (either party) to make these kind of decisions.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Sept 27, 2017 16:03:56 GMT
You don't see a connection there? The government getting involved in health care has resulted in increased rates. Why would you want to now turn it totally over to them? There needs to be government regulations on how much a profit insurance companies can generate. This goes for drug companies too. There's a reason that other countries have lower health care/prescription med costs, and it's not because the government has stayed out of it. FYI the ACA included a provision to limit profit for insurance companies: 80% of all revenue most go to health care costs - limiting the percentage of overhead, profits, marketing etc to 20%. FYI average profits for an insurance company is 3.3%
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