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Open health insurance enrollment time for my company. They had to switch health insurers due to prohibitive cost increases in one year. Our corporate reps and the insurance reps both said it was due to health care reform. This is a fairly large company that you would think would be able to negotiate acceptable group rates. Our new rates? Get ready for it.....

Monthly family coverage without dental $817 and this is after the company contributes over $425; tack on another $125 for dental for a grand total of $942 to be paid by the employee. They had to negotiate for weeks and find a policy with more limited benefits to get that rate. Wait, it gets better.

$4,000 deductible. Only waived on routine office visits and mandated wellness checks. Medication co-pay starts at $30 for generics, skyrockets from there.
Wait, it gets better.

30% co-pay for any and all hospitalizations, surgeries and treatments. No cap for employee contribution, no major medical, they cover 70% after your deductible is met, period. Minimal lab and X-ray coverage, no other diagnostic coverage at all.

Over 100% cost increase and approximately 30-40% benefit decrease.
If you need to file a claim, between premiums and deductible, you will spend over $15,000 a year before you'll see anything covered and that doesn't include your actual co-pays.

And this was the best option they could find. Can you imagine the cost of the worst?

Some of our clerks don't make much more than the premium in a month. Many are losing coverage for their kids and spouses. I saw a lot of people crying today, not knowing what they were going to do.

I'm not that big on starting a political brouhaha, but something is very, very wrong here. I can't afford my insurance, I'm a college graduate and a registered nurse with 25 years experience who lives a very low expense lifestyle. If I get hit by a truck, my only thought will be the other guy better have insurance or it's a truck from a company I can sue. And if any of us gets really sick or hurt, we are looking at horrific medical bills, possible medical bankruptcy and loss of our home. What a dreadful way to have to think and live. We are seriously discussing moving further south in Texas and risking the gang violence around the border to be able to access health care in Mexico. It may not happen tomorrow, but it may be the only option in the future.

You know what? I don't figure tea is too strong, not now and I'm ready to start throwing some into the harbor. Feel free to disagree and I don't want to argue politics. This is just reality for me, my family and close to 100 people in my local branch alone. I'm mad as h*ll and I'm not going to take it anymore!

As a person formerly in HR (read that as "victim of the economic downturn") I'm afraid this is what it's coming to.

I'll reserve my opinion of the polictical situation. I will however say this: I cannot stress enough the value of having a Flexible Spending Account. It's not intended to be money-saver in the short run, but rather in the long run it will help to reduce your taxable earnings. It is incumbent on you to do some extra administrative work, but small price to pay for creating less taxable income. Please remember that is crucial to estimate as accurately as possible, though because if you have more $$ deducted than you use, you don't get it back.

Since I'm not the expert on the subject, but I do mean well, here's where you can learn more on the subject if you are so inclined:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p969/ar02.html

All in all, pheeling your pain. I'm a college grad too, and I'm left to just to get by being quiet and shy.

My rates have been off the charts for the past couple of years. It's simply cost prohabitive to insure anyone but myself.

This isn't really a "new" thing however. Over the past 5 years I've known people who couldn't afford necessary medical treatments. People who were refused medical assistance, and those that had to get a 2nd mortgage to pay for their meds.

I have a 19 year old son, full time college student that may require medical attention. I don't want to have to choose between if he gets medical care or a roof over his head. I see it enough with my elderly patients on fixed incomes. Remember the American dream that your children would have a better life and you are oh so willing to sacrifice darn near anything to help see that come true? Call it the American nightmare now because I am scared to death what my kids will face. There's no way I can handle college, mortgage, health insurance, utilities, car payment (on my fancy Rav4). I have no credit card debt and I still can't do it. Do I sell my house and we move into a 2-bedroom apartment? Oh wait, I forgot. Can't sell my house in this market, the one behind us has been listed for 4 months. And we are on the low end of prices for a decent neighborhood here. And apartments are outrageous here. I may be getting the Rosetta Stone for Spanish quicker than I think. I may go have a nice boat drink with ginger ale and cyanide now. Just joking on that, but really, not by much.

ph4ever wrote:My rates have been off the charts for the past couple of years. It's simply cost prohabitive to insure anyone but myself.

This isn't really a "new" thing however. Over the past 5 years I've known people who couldn't afford necessary medical treatments. People who were refused medical assistance, and those that had to get a 2nd mortgage to pay for their meds.

Exactly. This isn't a new thing, what's new is how many more people are being affected than before. When I was still working for the school district I was shelling out $11,000 a year for my share of the premiums. Then I had the 10% I had to pay since it was 90/10 coverage. Those with families paid the same or quite a bit less, I was punished for being single. What a load of crap. We definitely neeed things to change...NOW.

And I still had to deal with all the asshats who constantly wanted to tell me how lucky I was to have all the benefits of being a teacher.

Three years ago this past December between my employer's contribution and mine spent about $15k annually to insure myself and my teenager. The split was roughly 50/50 and the coverage was good. Max co-pay on meds was $30.00, to see the doc was $25, max out of pocket $2k per person.

Two years ago, the cost went up about $17500 and the split shifted 35 for my employer and 65 for me. Everything else remained the same

Last year they came in and gave us two choices, we could keep the same plan and the annual cost would be roughly $20k. The split would be 20/80.
Or we could take a High Deductible plan for the $17500 and the split would be 35/65 however the plan doesn't cover anything until you've spent $8k for a family. My employer also threw in a Health Savings Account with $700.00 already in it.

I looked at the two options and decided to see what I could find on my own. I got my daughter basically the same coverage as we had 3 years ago for $1200 annually. I found myself a plan for $7500 a year. My co-pays are a little higher and my out of pocket increased to $3000 but otherwise it's about the same.

I think some employers are using Health Care Reform as an excuse and others are just not willing to eat as much of the premium as they used to. This means that it behooves us to shop around and see what our options are.

I'm very sorry for you all. It must be frightening.

I've tried shopping. Didn't get far, very limited benefits for high cost. I don't know if living in Texas is a factor. I wish I could find something. Anyone has any leads on something at least acceptable, send me a pm.

I feel your pain and I don't want to get political either but REAL health care reform was thwarted by some very powerful interests. The package that finally passed through the legislative process was very watered down and a far cry from what this country really needs, which is single payer, universal health care. That option never even made it to the table because of scaremongering on the part of the health insurance companies and solid opposition from a particular political party which shall remain nameless.

Not to make light of your situation but are you too old to emigrate and can you learn to speak Canadian?

Getting back to the personal I hope things improve for you and your family. Good luck.

flyboy55 wrote:I feel your pain and I don't want to get political either but REAL health care reform was thwarted by some very powerful interests. The package that finally passed through the legislative process was very watered down and a far cry from what this country really needs, which is single payer, universal health care. That option never even made it to the table because of scaremongering on the part of the health insurance companies and solid opposition from a particular political party which shall remain nameless.

Not to make light of your situation but are you too old to emigrate and can you learn to speak Canadian?

Getting back to the personal I hope things improve for you and your family. Good luck.

I live in south Texas. I would probably freeze to death in the summer up there.

Oh, no, our summers are pretty steamy!
(but not very long)

That is an insane amount of money. Our open season doesn't start 'til mid October plus we are in the middle of a merger, so at this point, anything could happen.

One thing I know for sure is that my kiddos' pre-existing condition can no longer preclude them from any kind of health coverage.

Well you are now paying for some of the benefits of the new health care bill.

Covering pre-existing conditions will cost a lot since they are sure thing instant payouts.
Covering dependents until age 26 will also cost money.
No ceiling on coverage is also very expensive.

I have decided that if I do get cancer, I will go to my vet for treatment.
Cancer treatment for my recently deceased dog - $300 per week
Exact same treatment for my wife's cousin - $10,000 per week

Skibo wrote:Well you are now paying for some of the benefits of the new health care bill.

Covering pre-existing conditions will cost a lot since they are sure thing instant payouts.
Covering dependents until age 26 will also cost money.
No ceiling on coverage is also very expensive.

I have decided that if I do get cancer, I will go to my vet for treatment.
Cancer treatment for my recently deceased dog - $300 per week
Exact same treatment for my wife's cousin - $10,000 per week

Did you by any chance compare cancer treatments USA vs another country?

Of course the insurance companies are blaming "health care reform." They spent hundreds of millions of dollars to obstruct and slander the whole thing, because it threatens their very comfortable parasitism of you and I. Remember, Anthem Health Insurance tried raising their rates 38% *before* healthcare reform passed, and that egregious attempt probably contributed to its passage.

The picture is much more complex than people's sound bites will tell you. Especially those who profit from keeping the system the way it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVgOl3cETb4

Oh, I absolutely agree this whole thing is driven by profit margins....big ones. And some insurance lobbyists with very deep pockets. And some (many) politicians driven by the desire to ensure their own reelection above all else. That is a very non-partisan statement because it is entrenched in both parties.

I have to think that the insurance companies are taking a page out of what the banks did with the credit/debit reform act, trying to make as much money as possible while they can (because most of the new provisions in the health insurance do NOT take affect for a few more years)

This is making me REALLY nervous for this November Is HMO even going to be an option at any point in the near future? (That's the only thing that kept my plan from spiraling upwards, but it's way too restrictive for most people...)

(In my best "Bette Davis" voice) "Hang on. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

I didn't think the health care reform was to start until 2014. What's going on here?

A few of the provisions began this week, including no coverage caps, no excluding coverage for kiddos with preexisting conditions, and some others I can't recall off hand.