High Cost of Medical in US - 2014
Figured it's the season of enrollment for private, so thought I would kick off this years version.
For my family:
My overall benefit contribution went up 3% or $26 per month
Within that, medical went up 7%, dental up 3.5%
Some insurances went down 1%
But when washed across the total price which includes 23% for FSA, it's a 3% bump for my total benefits. So overall, no big deal, but medical is ahead of inflation although not quite runaway.
We can all thank obama for this
My company doesn't even offer regular insurance anymore, All I have to choose from is high deductible plans, which are cheap at first, but you have to pay the full bill for everything medical until your deductible is met, which for me now that I am married is over $6,000
Luckally they allow us HSA plans that roll over year to year
The idea is to think twice before seeking treatment. For example, if a doctor orders a test that another ordered a week prior you will now open your mouth and say so or you pay twice; in the "old" days (especially with Cadillac no copay plans that were common in the public sector) you didn't care as your doctor ordered it and he must know more than you.
The big problem is how the poor will afford the deductible even if they get the coverage for free -- will these folks still go to the ER?
No, pretty sure it's not Cadillac.
Darrin, did those new plans make your costs go up and did they go up last year, this year again......Just wondering because I end up paying that much between contributions, deductibles, and co-pays. Heck pretty close without the co-pays.
Yet since Obamacare, I am about a 3% per year increase given the nuances noted above.
FYI, your HSA is much better than my FSA which got whacked 50% by Obamacare, is more restrictive and has the contingency that you lose what you don't use by the end of each fiscal FSA year.
And yes, iJay, high deductible plans bank on you not being willing to pay the upfront contributions for "normal" insurance and not getting sick to avoid the high deductibles.
One suggestion Darrin. As you go through the year, do a gut check in June. If close to paying full deductible by June, let those non-essential services fly before EOY.
This year the medical plan I can get from my employee covers only 20% of ER after deductible. But I should admit that deductible went down - from $7K for me and my husband to $5K. The premium went up (I didn't expect different - it's up to my employer to decide what each particular employee pays).
My costs jumped big last year, this year they only went up a little, but they did eliminate all the "standard" insurance plans this year.
I choose to take a cheaper plan (higher deductible) and put the money saved into my HSA, so essentially I am paying the same if not a little more
My husbands plan came up for review in January. We opted to stay with what we had. They said the fee would be the same. BAD IDEA for us. Deductibles are crazy, copays are ridiculous, they took away dental and eye. So all in all we pay a lot more. Rumor is they will no longer be paying part of it next year. So we are screwed!
Don't see where that was Obamacare but strange nonetheless Darrin since plans is plans and one would think all types would be offered.
Certainly that's not Obamacare too Christine, but most unfortunate.
My plan did have the note that we could skip insurance and look to the Exchanges if we chose, however, if we opted for the exchanges, there was no coming back. Not sure if that meant forever or just for the year. Since I found the exchanges a bit tedious to wade through last time I checked, I figured I would wait a year before looking at that.
Again sorry you are losing flexibility and paying a higher amount.
Couldn't tell whether my business was "suggesting" we better look or just following some law in highlighting the option.
MG if you are offered healthcare at you job YOU CANNOT get Obamacare. You have no choice but to use your employers insurance. So there is no option. Wasn't Obamacare suppose to be affordable?
Before we were married the "affordable" obamacare wanted well over 400 a monthn (if i remember correctly) for my at the time, unemployed fiance, far from affordable
I forget the exact number, but there was absolutely no way we could afford it at the time, not very helpful of obama at all
That's what I thought Christine, but apparently I can drop my employer based and go to the exchanges give these caveats:
- no credits
- no employer contribution
- don't think I can go back on employer plan if I go exchange but not sure if that's forever or a yearly choice
Did not think it was supposed to work that way, apparently another unexpected loophole where all those "readers" of the law missed it first time round. Certainly makes a further grey area for employers to drop plans which is not good.
Darrin, can't speak to your number, but $400 is only slightly more than I pay for my family under employer-based, so individual wound have been a nice chunk under. And that's just medical for me; vision, dental, etc. are extra. (actually my eye DR is medical so he wiggles in.)
In aggregate, as of August 2014: "consulted agreed that a clear trend is emerging.
Coverage will get more expensive for the majority of consumers, as it almost always does. Changes in premiums will vary enormously, from state to state and from plan to plan. But, overall, the 2015 premiums increases will not be significantly worse than they were in the past. They might even be a little better."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118966/obamacare-premiums-2015-no-rate-shock-just-modest-increases
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/health-research-institute/aca-state-exchanges.jhtml
Unfortunately there was only limited NJ info at this time, however there are lots of disparities between the states: "Why the disparities? One likely factor is how diligently officials have worked on implementing the law." As you read the article, of course, realize Christie dropped the ball of this one on behalf of all NJ citizens early on because he didn't trust government numbers so didn't want to take the FREE start-up money, but at the same time, was incapable of forecasting his own expense numbers. Some business guy he is. It's a web site Dude.
So most see aggregate insurance rates as either the same or a smaller increase than in the past. However, within the national average, many states (probably NJ) will see the same or higher increases. More importantly, on a national basis, there does not seem to be a "sky is falling" about insurance prices.
However, averages can be deceiving especially when you on the shet end of the stick as might be for NJ given Christie's approach and our high rates to begin with. That's why I started this thread, to see how our anecdotal individual numbers are looking.
What I see with three responses is some the same, some higher but lots of offer shifts forcing folks to new types of plans which is very disheartening.
"but $400 is only slightly more than I pay for my family under employer-based, so individual wound have been a nice chunk under"
No mg, you misunderstood, that is what they wanted to charge for individual, as I said, that was for her (my fiance) before we were married
I know but that's higher than what I would pay for individual, by a chunk, just as a reference.
Interesting, as when I was individual (at that time) I paid just over that for a full year. For her, at the time it was a lot of money, and considering obama care is suppose to be "affordable" and based off of salary, her yearly salary at the time was under $10,000 a year, was not affordable at all
OK, reviewing plans for single, 35, 80K salary (so no credits)
price/deductible
268/2350 bronze
299/2500
304/1350 silver
354/2000 gold
424/1000
Hollywood California, same variables
203/5000 bronze
239/4500
236/2000 silver
322/2000
329/0 gold
394/0
There's a lot between the lines to see if ANY of these plans are viable, but it's pretty obvious it's better to be from a state that worked with Obamacare than one that didn't, like NJ.
NJ also has far fewer customer choices and providers. States that worked with Obamacare and set up their own exchange have a lot more choice and prices ranges than ones that didn't, like NJ........
How the press digs for the truth. Watch the program.
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/11/13/we-should-all-know-the-name-rich-weinstein/
Well, Obama, pelosi and reid said these plans are good. That's enough for me! They are so good in fact, they will not participate as others in congress won't. There is always free cheese in a mouse trap!
Nov '14
Is it easier to post untruths in shorter posts because it takes a longer post to refute.
Obama is commander in chief and uses military medical care as he should. I don't this we send any of our soldiers to the exchanges except maybe the ones in Afghanistan :>) He did sign up for a bronze plan anyway kind of, symbolically, and any CEO might have done..... http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/president-obama-enrollment-obamacare-101483.html
What plans do Pelosi and Reid use since Congress does go through the Exchanges unless they opt to purchase on their own... Please tell us.........
I ask since unlike the rest of the private and public sector, Congress has to use the Exchanges. See if you can follow: most private and public sector workers have employer-based insurance and do not use the exchanges. The exchanges are for people that don't have employer based insurance. Get it? If you have employer-based insurance, you can't use the exchanges.
Now Congress is special and has to use the exchanges to get their insurance although they do get funded by their employer. Other employer-funded insurance holders CAN NOT use the exchanges. Get it. It's special.
Now, they can also choose not to take the money and just buy their own insurance themselves just like any of us.
So, what plans do Pelosi and Reid have and who are the others?
Keep right on drinking it MG, Never before has someone used so many words to say absolutely nothing. most will only have employer based insurance for a short time in the future, Obama wants a single payer system, Do you get it? eventually employers will no longer offer insurance and eventually force people into the exchanges, get it? I know you love to fill your posts with long winded diatribes because you will always win by default because most won't take the time to read them, myself included. All I know is the public was lied to and purposely deceived by this clown and his cronies(that includes the repubs) why do you still cling to the thought that any of these representatives have our welfare in mind when it comes to anything? They have to go through exchanges just like the american people, with one difference..... WE PAY FOR IT! we are their employers, though most of them have trouble looking at it that way. Honestly, what is going to be the cost in the future? your $26 dollar increase will be just a fond memory, boy, "those were the good ol' days" .....
Nov '14
add to the carnage the number of Americans who are being forced into part time status so their employers won't have to provide coverage for them at all,
how much does that cost a family ? going from 40 hours to 29.5 hours per week? (about 25% in income that's how much)
so we are earning less, and being forced by law to pay more for our health care, a double-whammy shot to the gut of the bottom line of american families. buy a house? maybe later, but a new car? maybe next year, send the kids to college? maybe. . . just maybe . . . we'll have to see . . . . . .
time to wake up and smell the coffee, 'cause it's a rough hangover to deal with, this Obama-care mess.
Thank you Blue. I thought I was the only one who gave up reading his long winded replies.
The future is the exchanges for better or worse. Yes, you subsidize the poor but they would go to the ER anyway. Actually heard a crazy story (verified) where a young woman called an Ambulance just to get a ride across town -- definitely breaking the social contract...
In Canada the system subsidizes the poor as well so no way around that. What is good is to get all of the public workers off their Cadillac plans to the same one as everyone else; we just have to make sure everyone in DC is on the same plan as well...
To be clear, I have very mixed feelings about the healthcare law, but do see pros and cons. And yes, it is tough to have to read and read to understand, and much easier to pick a single line criticism and repeat and repeat it without understanding, but, hey, that's a choice too. With this program - and anything else proposed by President Obama - or the republicans for that matter - many choose to cover their ears, shake their heads, saying: "nah nah,nah nah, I can't hear you." and base their responses on purely emotional reactions and limited understanding. Can't expect much more given that this is what has been going on in congress -on both sides of the aisle - for the past six years. Realize that if folks that would ordinarily use the healthcare system without insurance (ER for routine care), we will, as a group, ultimately be paying less - (I can already hear the loud denials), understanding this takes reading the long, long details. However, as a member of the healthcare field, and in a specialty, I can tell you that the "businessification" of healthcare has and will continue to result in limited availability of some of the sophisticated options available in this country that make, when used correctly, potential improved care possible.
Just got the HR announcement for healthcare benefits for 2015. Amazingly, my contributions are not going up, nor are my benefits going down. Color me dumbfounded.
Just got it and have to choose before January 1? (nice it didn't change). I am up basically at the normal inflation rate versus the "medical" inflation rate. So quite tolerable in the scheme of things. Second year in a row for me.
Tried to post this under a 2015 version of the thread but apparently while we can have many Venting threads, a 2015 version of this is verboten.
OK, it's enrollment time again so what are your medical increases for us in the age of the ACA?
My medical went up 3.1%, thank you Mr. Obama. That's two years in a row with under double-digit increases. And it's in the face of "the sky is falling with insurers anticipating HUGE increases expected in 2015."
One strange thing I noticed (that I should have noticed over the past few decades) is that the pricing is individual, individual/spouse and, family. Health insurance for me is the same price no matter how my kids are covered. Strange. How about your plan?
No increase in any other health benefit like dental, vision, etc.
What's in your enrollment for next year?
Not sure about anyone else but My Mom has been eligible for insurance thru my Dads benefits (Mars). She got a letter last month they no longer will insure anyone in the company who has Medicare. They gave her 2 weeks to make arrangements to go to a seminar to explain. unfortunately I was laid up and couldn't take her. Now all she has is Medicare. At this rate she will run out of money soon. UGG!!
Mars is not true insurance if it is the same as when I worked there. They do not contract with an outside agency and self insure. That is why their rules are different for members and stricter than insurance companies. I am on Medicare but still working and covered by my companies insurance. No increase this year, same coverage, only change is for me Medicare is prime on payment and my insurance kicks in after that. Because of that I don't need Part B or Drug coverage. Your mother should check out insurance for those to close the gaps in Medicare.
I find it strange that when these plans change that the current insurer does not reach out with an offer. Stinks.
I don't think the ACA helps but: https://www.medicare.gov/about-us/affordable-care-act/affordable-care-act.html
and a plan list: https://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/results/medigapresults/medigap-view-all-policies.aspx
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