More health care frustrations...................

So it's that time of year again. Re-up on the health insurance. Premium is going up $200/month. WTH? My family will be payin $1k/month with a $13k deductible.

So the lil woman get's on the horn with our agent. She finds a premo for around $900 with same deductible, same plan. Still.....ouch! For the heck of it, the wife checks MNsure(public exchange). Find out based on last years income, we qualify for a subsidy, couple hondo a month. If we made a few bucks less, the kids would be on medical assistance?!?!?! Wah????

Wife gets the agent back on the horn and asks what's up with that? Yup we qualify. If we made a few bucks more, we still get a kick back.

But here's the catch. They figure your subsidy on you last years income. After tax time you find out you went a few bucks over last years, you pay back the WHOLE subsidy. It's not prorated. Agent has other customers that ended up payin back $5-6k at tax time last year. If that's the case, if I make less, the gov't should cut me a check.

Also, being self employed, big brother needs my tax returns, bank statements, copies of my invoices, all my customers names, and copies of my customer's checks! WTH? They must have forgot the stool sample and my first born.

david n said:

So it's that time of year again. Re-up on the health insurance. Premium is going up $200/month. WTH? My family will be payin $1k/month with a $13k deductible.

So the lil woman get's on the horn with our agent. She finds a premo for around $900 with same deductible, same plan. Still.....ouch! For the heck of it, the wife checks MNsure(public exchange). Find out based on last years income, we qualify for a subsidy, couple hondo a month. If we made a few bucks less, the kids would be on medical assistance?!?!?! Wah????

Wife gets the agent back on the horn and asks what's up with that? Yup we qualify. If we made a few bucks more, we still get a kick back.

But here's the catch. They figure your subsidy on you last years income. After tax time you find out you went a few bucks over last years, you pay back the WHOLE subsidy. It's not prorated. Agent has other customers that ended up payin back $5-6k at tax time last year. If that's the case, if I make less, the gov't should cut me a check.

Also, being self employed, big brother needs my tax returns, bank statements, copies of my invoices, all my customers names, and copies of my customer's checks! WTH? They must have forgot the stool sample and my first born.

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i have a HSA or health savings account with a high deductible insurance. mine is about
.
1) $250 / month for me and the wife
.
2) $3500 deductible before insurance starts paying
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3) i have about $80/month (about $1000/yr) before taxes going into HSA savings bank account which i use to pay the deductible and HSA i do not loose money if not used at end of year, so with $8000 in HSA saved over the years i have plenty to pay deductible
.
high deductible plan with HSA debit card account i save a lot compared to previous years where insurance deductible was low. for many people it is the cheapest option

My o care quote was 965.00 / month with 9000.00 deductible for the wife and I. What a deal! I go without now, it's going to bite me in the ass one day.....

moonlight machine said:

My o care quote was 965.00 / month with 9000.00 deductible for the wife and I. What a deal! I go without now, it's going to bite me in the ass one day.....

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Seeing as how I couldn't afford it BEFORE when it was more affordable, I'm in the opt-out stage right now myself.
What a scam...mandatory ridiculously priced insurance with insane deductibles, that many citizens cannot afford, but will be fined if they don't have coverage.

I wonder what the fuck will happen in 5-7 years, the millions of people that are not insured, their 'fines' mounting up.

DMF_TomB said:

.
i have a HSA or health savings account with a high deductible insurance. mine is about
.
1) $250 / month for me and the wife
.
2) $3500 deductible before insurance starts paying
n

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Is this the total bill or is your employer picking up most of the tab?
This seems way, way low for a HSA with your stated deductible.
One would expect big increases now. Good or bad, like it or not , the fight has been settled and the giant simply marches on as in the past.

No President, no political party can stop it. This is way bigger than who gets elected into office and neither side can even remotely hope to control it.
The President can launch a nuclear war, he is powerless here against these market forces.
It costs what it does. Those sending the bill are simply delivering the message and while it may feel good it does not help to shoot the messenger.
Bob

Colorado accepts estimates for discount.
Last year I got 5k back by buying through the exchange.

You'll get something any time you are making less than 4x poverty.

Once again, the govmnt needs to do something about the cost of healthcare.

Around here the hospitals systems are buying eachother and all the independent Dr practices. First thing they do is raise the price.

My general practitioner was part of a small FOR PROFIT practice. UNC Medical bought them. UNC is NON PROFIT. They almost doubled the price of a visit. And tacked on fees.

It seems that it was not such a good idea to pass The Affordable Care Act without reading every page of the bill. The small print turned out to be foolish , if not criminal. Regards, Clark

I wonder what the fuck will happen in 5-7 years, the millions of people that are not insured, their 'fines' mounting up.

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It'll be all the republicans fault.

Oh, and women and children will be hardest hit.

smalltime said:

It'll be all the republicans fault.

Oh, and women and children will be hardest hit.

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Well, considering the ACA is a Heritage Foundation initiative, that's not too unreasonable.

I thought ACA was voted in largely by Dems?

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/111-2010/h165

And yet many of you seem to fight against a national tax funded health care You do realize that in the USA insurance companies keep getting richer and richer?

It'll never change until you get them out of the equation.

https://www.justlanded.com/english/Denmark/Denmark-Guide/Health/Introduction

In English and Danish
http://sundhedsstyrelsen.dk/~/media/294CC6232ACD47E19C5B6B6F737A2512.ashx

Gordon B. Clarke said:

It'll never change until you get them out of the equation.

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That won't ever happen.

As long as insurance companies (and countless other big corps) own all of the politicians, nothing will ever change.

Mebfab said:

My general practitioner was part of a small FOR PROFIT practice. UNC Medical bought them. UNC is NON PROFIT. They almost doubled the price of a visit. And tacked on fees.

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Well, if there's no money left after everyone gets(nice fat salaries) paid I guess your non profit eh?

Yea!! I got my new bill it doubled.
I really believe their is going to be a lot of unemployed people from manufacturing positions and closed businesses.
We cannot pay this kind of money ,It is not there anymore. WTF

The chart in this link explains some of it: The Smoking Gun: How U.S. Health Care Came to Cost Insanely More | THCB

US health care started accelerating in cost around 1980. Look at the chart and you'll see health care costs actually leveled off a bit starting in 2008. Where we end up in 2020 is anyone's guess. While steps are being taken to reign in costs, the pharma industry in particular is aiming to find $100,000+ a year cures for everything from cancer to hepatitis:

More Americans Taking Home $100,000-Plus in Prescriptions - NBC News

In any case, it's way too simplistic (and dead wrong on a per capita basis, though it has contributed to many individuals seeing hikes) to blame the ACA for rising health care costs. The biggest rise came from 1980 to 2008. It has actually leveled off a bit since (see the chart).

It would be fair to say that aging baby boomers, more Veterans than ever needing care, more on Medicaid than ever, ever-pricier medicines, longer lives under Medicare, increasing diabesity, the financialization and consolidation of health care providers, plain greed, lack of competition in many regions, special regulatory favors (e.g. not negotiating drug prices, requiring higher levels of licensing than needed), doctors and especially hospitals padding their bills, states failing to set up competitive exchanges, etc. are big problems.

As for our individual costs, don't forget that insurance companies (as in years past) are using every year that passes to put you into a higher paying bracket. Just going from 49 years old to 50 can be a significant jump. Get into your 60's and it's even more expensive. What you can look forward to is Medicare, which is pretty well run and pretty reasonably priced (even if we deal with the boomer issue ahead).

A couple of folks have noted that they can't afford health insurance, even though they might qualify for subsidies. What I can tell you from personal experience is that you can't afford to get really sick and not have health insurance. Pre-Obamacare I was paying Blue Cross $1500 a month to cover my wife and I -- both of us healthy -- and with hefty deductibles. Part of this was lack of bargaining power with Blue Cross as sole proprietor of a small California business. I was healthy -- played soccer into my fifties. But each year saw huge hikes after about age 55.

However, had I not paid that $1500 a month, I'd now be bankrupt, maybe dead. As it was, getting sick still cost me around $150K out of pocket -- and even more from loss of income. Bottom line -- my suggestion is to try to find a way to insure yourself and your family. And maybe learn enough of the big picture to be an informed citizen in advocating for the future.

chip_maker said:

That won't ever happen.

As long as insurance companies (and countless other big corps) own all of the politicians, nothing will ever change.

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Time for a (new) uprising?

Gordon B. Clarke said:

Time for a (new) uprising?

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Long overdue IMO.

Gordon B. Clarke said:

Time for a (new) uprising?

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Not gonna happen for a while
The hurt on a majority of peoples pocketbook is not high enough yet.
I've been complaining since the early 80's that we can't keep on increasing at this rate but it does not stop.
Now with politics being so divided in the US there is no way anything good for the public will happen.
Fingers will get pointed, blame will get placed on the other side, The system will march forward until something strangles the cash flow and we are far away from that.
In the end most will give up 99% of their wealth to stay alive and the system will gladly take it.
Bob

I thought ACA was voted in largely by Dems?

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Not a single republican vote for the law.

But it's still the republican's fault:

Well, considering the ACA is a Heritage Foundation initiative, that's not too unreasonable.

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That's why it got all those republican votes^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^