Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Jan 7, 2015 0:23:37 GMT -5
*Rant* the darn ACA is pissing me off. Since it was passed, my premiums (my portion) have tripled and my OOP maxes have gone up 10x. While I am glad that some who werent covered before now have access to coverage, selfishly I am seriously annoyed that there's been such a drastic increase in my personal outlay for our healthcare.
(And now I slink back and try to be thankful that we have good benefits through my employer and we can afford all of our needs and most of our wants. We are relatively healthy and have a great family. Much to be thankful for here.)
Join in with your own rants, or joyous praises of the ACA to make me feel like a schlub.
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Peace Of Mind
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Post by Peace Of Mind on Jan 7, 2015 0:35:06 GMT -5
(((Hugs))) and sympathy for your situation. Can I also add how pissed I am how generics now cost as much as name brand drugs and big pharma bought up all the little guys to get rid of competition? My Rxes went up $400.00+/mth. along with our approx. $100/mth. insurance increase and we don't have ACA. Granted our insurance goes up about the same and has for years (before ACA) but the Rx situation is really pissing me off. I really feel sorry for the fixed income seniors who could die without their important meds. But they (pharma) really care that they get their meds. Don't mess with my hormones assholes! It's not pretty when menopausal women don't have their hormones! Not that I'd know anything about that... www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9803/06/drug.price.spike/index.html?_s=PM:HEALTH
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Jan 7, 2015 7:35:57 GMT -5
That really sucks! Sorry to hear that. I am neutrally affected by the ACA. No co-pay for annual exams is nice, though my insurance already fully covered the annual before ACA. I did like not paying out of pocket for Mirena! My employer does a great of negotiating with Blue Cross and keeping premiums in check. My insurance only went up $5/month for 2015 and the employee percentage remains the same (10% of premium for employees, 15% dependents).
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Miss Tequila
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Post by Miss Tequila on Jan 7, 2015 9:28:40 GMT -5
Our premiums at work were slated to go up 22%nand we negotiated it down to 18%. Part of the issue is the mandates by ACA. I'm on the committee negotiating with the insurance companies so I know what goes into the calculation. But the biggest part is our loss run ratios. ACA has done absolutely nothing to stem the actual COST of healthcare.
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jan 7, 2015 9:30:21 GMT -5
Health insurance is a big reason why I'm changing jobs. Premiums at my work for my family were going to be more than our mortgage (they were going to double). We had to get a private policy for DH and the kids (which was over 20% more than what we were paying and it was after tax money instead of pretax money). Then it jumped up 20% this year and we had to go on the exchange. I've spent over 4 hours on the phone with the exchange in the last year trying to figure it out. Add in that my health insurance agent wanted to use my 2013 tax numbers for 2015 when I 6 weeks unpaid time off in 2013. I wanted to smack him. I was like you can't use that number and he kept saying, we want to use the smallest number and I was like I have a month left in the year and I've already made $10k more in 2014 than I did in 2013. The whole thing is a headache.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 9:45:54 GMT -5
We had big problems with the healthcare system in this country and we still do. I can't fault some of the areas where Obamacare has fixed it. Allowing young adults to stay on their parents' policy till age 26 keeps a generally healthier segment of the population in the insured pool and is a huge help to recent grads who are underemployed. When I retired abruptly last year at age 65, I could get a private policy without worrying that someday (when I ran up an expensive bill) they'd retroactively deny it because I had a benign lump removed from my breast 43 years ago. Yeah, the $6K deductible sucks, but I'm protected for the scary, bankrupting things.
And, as Miss Tequila noted, costs continue to be high. Hospitals have blamed some of it on the cost of treating the uninsured, which gets spread to everyone else, and apparently that's not coming down. Their sticker prices for items such as an aspirin or a pair of disposable latex gloves, however, are so ridiculous they'd be funny if they weren't on our bills.
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Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Jan 7, 2015 9:48:18 GMT -5
I don't like paying all the bills either, but don't think the ACA deserves all the blame. Some of the costs should come from businesses' profits, not just the little guy's pockets. I am blaming it because that's what my employer is using as the excuse for the increase I REALLY liked my $500 deductible co-pay plan that cost me $50/month. Now we have an HDHP plan (only choice) with $350 premiums (my part - another $750 on the employer's side) and a $3,000 deductible/$6,000 OOP max. I could have gone with the HDHP that was only $200/m for me but it had a $6,000 deductible and $12,000 OOP max. Not taking that kind of gamble for $150/m. And I know that I've contributed to the costs for our employee group with two somewhat complicated pregnancies in the past two years. Heck, just deliveries alone for the two kids cost about $35k before insurance and the only intervention I had was an epidural. The overall cost of healthcare is insane. I don't know how people without insurance afford it. And the skyrocketing costs of insurance is one of the biggest hurdles we have for me being able to quit/go PT. DH's earnings almost matched my take-home salary this year. But we would need almost $20,000 to buy comparable insurance on our own. At least last time I looked. I kind of went into shock and stopped there. If I go PT, my pay is cut in half and the cost for my benefits doubles, so I would hardly bring home anything. If I am going to go to the effort to pay for babysitters and get in to work I may as well put in the FT hours and get the benefit of the FT pay.
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Jan 7, 2015 11:19:56 GMT -5
going to a high deductible plan AND having your premiums go up is a real kick in the nuts. The company must have been paying a huge portion of the prior plan, though.
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Abby Normal
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Post by Abby Normal on Jan 7, 2015 11:21:05 GMT -5
At work, ours were slated to go up 20% even though our usage was down. Miraculously, when we told the insurance company we were going to switch, they kept the rates from last year.
But the thing that really pisses me off, is the letter I received from the insurance company. I now have to provide them with my childs SSN so they can report coverage to the IRS. I've always refused before. I hate giving out SSN's.
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Value Buy
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Post by Value Buy on Jan 7, 2015 11:25:07 GMT -5
Just wait in ten to twenty years when the program is broke as Medicare is. Will the government just print money to cover it, or institute more costs to people with corporate healthcare, if there is still such a thing.
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Jan 7, 2015 11:26:33 GMT -5
Just wait in ten to twenty years when the program is broke as Medicare is. Will the government just print money to cover it, or institute more costs to people with corporate healthcare, if there is still such a thing. I don't think the ACA is a program that could go broke.
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Value Buy
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Post by Value Buy on Jan 7, 2015 11:30:02 GMT -5
Just wait in ten to twenty years when the program is broke as Medicare is. Will the government just print money to cover it, or institute more costs to people with corporate healthcare, if there is still such a thing. I don't think the ACA is a program that could go broke. They can only take from the people on health insurance for so long. More corporations are sticking to the 28 hour rule, so until the Fed's lower it to 20 or 22 hours, it could go broke. The price for corporate health insurance does meet a cut off price somewhere
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Jan 7, 2015 11:32:35 GMT -5
I don't think the ACA is a program that could go broke. They can only take from the people on health insurance for so long. More corporations are sticking to the 28 hour rule, so until the Fed's lower it to 20 or 22 hours, it could go broke. The price for corporate health insurance does meet a cut off price somewhere
what could go broke?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 11:48:00 GMT -5
What I don't get is why is healthcare so expensive in the first place. I got the bill for penny swallowing son the other day. He went to ER, got an x-ray to confirm they weren't lodged in his throat and sent home with no further treatment necessary. $1400.
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Jan 7, 2015 11:51:08 GMT -5
What I don't get is why is healthcare so expensive in the first place. I got the bill for penny swallowing son the other day. He went to ER, got an x-ray to confirm they weren't lodged in his throat and sent home with no further treatment necessary. $1400. because every goes to the hospital for everything these days and wants all the best tests and experts. back in the day a kid swallowing a penny would have lost dessert for the night instead of going to the ER and getting an xray! ; )
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 11:54:09 GMT -5
At work, ours were slated to go up 20% even though our usage was down. Miraculously, when we told the insurance company we were going to switch, they kept the rates from last year. But the thing that really pisses me off, is the letter I received from the insurance company. I now have to provide them with my childs SSN so they can report coverage to the IRS. I've always refused before. I hate giving out SSN's. I had to provide my children's SSNs in order to get them coverage many years ago.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 11:55:52 GMT -5
What I don't get is why is healthcare so expensive in the first place. I got the bill for penny swallowing son the other day. He went to ER, got an x-ray to confirm they weren't lodged in his throat and sent home with no further treatment necessary. $1400. because every goes to the hospital for everything these days and wants all the best tests and experts. back in the day a kid swallowing a penny would have lost dessert for the night instead of going to the ER and getting an xray! ; ) Trust me, I would have not taken him to the ER for swallowing a penny, but he was camping with the scouts and they're required to follow protocol.
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Jan 7, 2015 11:58:05 GMT -5
because every goes to the hospital for everything these days and wants all the best tests and experts. back in the day a kid swallowing a penny would have lost dessert for the night instead of going to the ER and getting an xray! ; ) Trust me, I would have not taken him to the ER for swallowing a penny, but he was camping with the scouts and they're required to follow protocol. The scouts are the cause of lots of problems.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Jan 7, 2015 11:59:44 GMT -5
What I don't get is why is healthcare so expensive in the first place. I got the bill for penny swallowing son the other day. He went to ER, got an x-ray to confirm they weren't lodged in his throat and sent home with no further treatment necessary. $1400. So ... We had an expensive year, and thankfully nothing was terribly wrong but the Children's hospital urgent care costs just as much as going to their ER. When the kid as a fever of 104+ or can't stop bawling from a stomach ache and vomiting I'm not going to wait until Monday to take them in. But it seriously sucks to get $1100 bills (for each of those) when our diagnosis was "cold" and "gastroentiritus".
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Abby Normal
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Post by Abby Normal on Jan 7, 2015 12:05:01 GMT -5
At work, ours were slated to go up 20% even though our usage was down. Miraculously, when we told the insurance company we were going to switch, they kept the rates from last year. But the thing that really pisses me off, is the letter I received from the insurance company. I now have to provide them with my childs SSN so they can report coverage to the IRS. I've always refused before. I hate giving out SSN's. I had to provide my children's SSNs in order to get them coverage many years ago. They request it, stating it they needed it for medicare, but you could refuse to provide. Now you can't.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jan 7, 2015 12:17:48 GMT -5
What I don't get is why is healthcare so expensive in the first place. I got the bill for penny swallowing son the other day. He went to ER, got an x-ray to confirm they weren't lodged in his throat and sent home with no further treatment necessary. $1400. So ... We had an expensive year, and thankfully nothing was terribly wrong but the Children's hospital urgent care costs just as much as going to their ER. When the kid as a fever of 104+ or can't stop bawling from a stomach ache and vomiting I'm not going to wait until Monday to take them in. But it seriously sucks to get $1100 bills (for each of those) when our diagnosis was "cold" and "gastroentiritus". It's not that the cost to care for your kid was really that high. You also paid for the cost to treat people who use the emergency room as their primary source of medical care and then don't pay the bill. When annoucing the closing of it's emergency services department a couple of years ago, a Las Vegas hospital explained that it could not afford to continue to provide $25 million a year in services for which it didn't get paid.
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Jan 7, 2015 13:00:50 GMT -5
Our premiums at work were slated to go up 22%nand we negotiated it down to 18%. Part of the issue is the mandates by ACA. I'm on the committee negotiating with the insurance companies so I know what goes into the calculation. But the biggest part is our loss run ratios. ACA has done absolutely nothing to stem the actual COST of healthcare. There is no place for lies on YM!!! It's called AFFORDABLE care act, doesn't it? So, obviously, it is now affordable to all. Stop complaining and start thanking the Miracle Worker, The saint Obama
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Angel!
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Post by Angel! on Jan 7, 2015 13:29:55 GMT -5
My premiums are going down this year, by around 5% IIRC. You can all hate me But, I'm guessing I've been paying more than a lot of you for many years. I've been on a 4K HDHP since 2009 & hit the deductible every year since. That is in addition to the ~$150 in biweekly premiums.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 13:35:26 GMT -5
My premiums are going down this year, by around 5% IIRC. You can all hate me But, I'm guessing I've been paying more than a lot of you for many years. I've been on a 4K HDHP since 2009 & hit the deductible every year since. That is in addition to the ~$150 in biweekly premiums. the cost to me went up 50% - from $60 biweekly to $90 biweekly - for an HDHP. I think $4k deductible per person, not sure the OOP max. I love my HSA. DS2 needed a dermatologist and since there weren't any near me in network, I just took him out of network since I was going to be paying the whole bill anyway (not even close to hitting the deductible). it was nice to have that choice.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 13:44:39 GMT -5
My premiums are going down this year, by around 5% IIRC. You can all hate me But, I'm guessing I've been paying more than a lot of you for many years. I've been on a 4K HDHP since 2009 & hit the deductible every year since. That is in addition to the ~$150 in biweekly premiums. Mine went up, but not a whole lot. $145 to $163/biweekly paycheck for family PPO with $400 pp deductible. I think we've had larger increases than that pre-ACA
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jan 7, 2015 22:21:40 GMT -5
What I don't get is why is healthcare so expensive in the first place. I got the bill for penny swallowing son the other day. He went to ER, got an x-ray to confirm they weren't lodged in his throat and sent home with no further treatment necessary. $1400. Just think what it would have cost if he swallowed a quarter!
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jan 7, 2015 22:25:08 GMT -5
Part of the reason I changed jobs is that my health insurance premiums went from ~$850 a month for $5000 deductable plan to $125 biweekly for $3000 deductable plus employer putting $1000 a year into HSA.
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Jan 8, 2015 7:23:44 GMT -5
These threads make me relieved to have the insurance/premiums I do. Sorry to everyone else being stretched. :-(
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Jan 8, 2015 7:38:08 GMT -5
I'm lucky too, I pay $232.66/month for a open access, no deductible, $1900 maximum out of pocket Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. Its $20.89 more in 2015 than 2014. My employer pays $437.69/month. For comparison purposes here, family coverage would cost me $536.12/month which is still very good. I pay my copays and that's it. The provider network is huge.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jan 8, 2015 7:40:35 GMT -5
These threads make me relieved to have the insurance/premiums I do. Sorry to everyone else being stretched. :-( What a show off, you love your job, have great insurance. Enough already!
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