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Hate so say I was right on this.

iubud

iubud

Hall of Famer
Aug 7, 2003
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Anyone get a message like this from their employer?

"With the initiation of the Affordable Care Act (or ACA), rates have risen drastically for this coming year. We are not alone, unfortunately all other businesses have seen a substantial increase in their plan's premium. Our company leadership discussed this long and hard and we decided to continue to provide the excellent plan we currently have instead of switching to a plan with a large deductible that would cost our associates more money in the long run. The company will be paying for the vast majority of this increase but you'll also see an increase in your per pay contributions for 2015."

My insurance is going up $270 per month for family coverage. Obama said ACA would lower rates. As I type this, there is a ticker below Obama speaking that said, "We did not mislead on ACA". If they didn't mislead, then they are incredibly stupid.

Anyone that has ever taken Econ 101 knows the saying "There is no such thing as a free lunch". Apparently Obama never took an Economics class.
 
My wife's plan is switching to a high deductible plan in 2016 (but they have already announced it). However, the company is also going to give everyone $X, pre-tax, into their HSA (not sure if it will technically be an HSA). So in the end, employees out-of-pocket cost will be pretty similar to what it is currently. Apparently it's all being driven by the ACA.

They're also bumping up the cost of spouse coverage to discourage spouses from jumping on to their coverage. Funny thing is, even with the increase it will still be less than half of what I would have to pay for coverage through my employer. Part of that is simply a result of large company vs. not-so-large company, as well as the fact that law firm health insurance is typically very expensive--particularly for the lawyers.
 
noodle


I'm not sure what you are saying about the particular cost to lawyers. Lawyers aren't being singled out as more expensive or charged a higher premium simply due to their profession are they? I'm an attorney and our modest firm of 30 employees is considering just disbanding the health insurance efforts and send all employees to the exchanges with a bump in salary. The cost of health care is very much a burden on our ability to remain profitable. And our plan is mediocre at best.
 
Re: noodle

Originally posted by gold89:

I'm not sure what you are saying about the particular cost to lawyers. Lawyers aren't being singled out as more expensive or charged a higher premium simply due to their profession are they? I'm an attorney and our modest firm of 30 employees is considering just disbanding the health insurance efforts and send all employees to the exchanges with a bump in salary. The cost of health care is very much a burden on our ability to remain profitable. And our plan is mediocre at best.
Click to expand...
Not at all. However, the majority of law firms are small employers (and even the large firms are not that big by corporate standards). Also, I think the average age of people on firm health insurance plans is probably significantly higher than average, which also drives up costs. I've been at three different firms in my career, and none of them had decent health insurance coverage. Heck, I had a better plan when I was in-house at a startup with less than 10 employees.
 
similar deal here

I switched to the High deductible plan this year, although th PPO plan is still available to me. My employer puts $1200 int our HSA, more if we meet certain criteria, and I can contribute a total of 6500 plus another 1k due to the fact that I am over 55.

We used up most of the HSA this year but my costs for next year are only going up 1% for the HDHP.

This post was edited on 11/17 12:48 PM by DougS
 
I've been on a HD employer plan for 4 or 5 years now. My premium for family coverage went up $24 for the year. After attesting to non tobacco use, the premium is $600.00 for the year. Tobacco users pay about $2900 for the same plan. The deductible is $5000.00 The company matches my contribution into my HSA up to $1000.00

The non HD plan is close to $800.00 a month for tobacco users.
 
I wonder what part of ACA is driving this?

I'm not sure what is happening, I have seen at least other person on Facebook report a similar notice. Yet one of the key components to ACA, the exchanges, shouldn't impact employer insurance costs at all. Two other key components, the preexisting conditions and keeping kids on insurance until 26, have already been in place and those costs should already be built into. So what is it about ACA that is causing this to happen? It isn't health care inflation as for the last year it has been about 1/2% under what it was the previous 4 years. See graph.

It is quite possible there is some component driving this. It is also possible ACA makes a convenient excuse to profit-take.

I know my plan barely changes for next year, but it is one of the high deductible savings plans like a couple posters below have.
 
No, mine is exactly the same amount

I think many companies are taking advantage of the situation and using it as an excuse to raise prices.
 
Why is lawyer insurance so high?

Are paper cuts that rampant, or do you guys have really unsafe golf courses up there?
 
Well...

...while I'm far from a defender of this law and think the country would do well if we scrapped it entirely and went back to the drawing board, I do think a couple things are worth remembering:

1) There are people who come out of this ahead. You're not one them -- and neither am I. You're absolutely correct that there's no such thing as a free lunch. As it turns out, you and I and many others are the ones paying for the lunch. But there are people getting their lunch (at least in part, if not entirely) paid for.

2) It's not as if healthcare costs weren't rising before Obamacare. I do think the proponents of Obamacare sold it as something that would save people money -- at least, those who aren't rich. And it could well be that costs would be even higher for you (and the rest of us lunch-buyers) this year, next year, the following year, etc. without the ACA. We'll never know. Ultimately, though, I think the primary motivation of Obamacare was to expand coverage. Containing costs was, at best, a secondary consideration. But, as you say, that's not exactly the way it was advertised.
 
Mine went

up some but not a whole lot. Of course mine is a supplemental plan since I am on Medicare.

I think the insurance companies must be giving the liberals a better deal than conservatives since all the liberals so far have said their premiums stayed the same and conservatives all went up.
3dgrin.r191677.gif
 
My sister-in law, hair sylist/cosmotologist


who probably makes 20 grand in a good year, told me her payment went from 240 to 380 per month. For a very high deductable plan which pays for virtually nothing unless she gets a serious illness and even then covers only 70 %, so she would go bankrupt anyway. It's not an employee plan, straight obamacare. We are looking for something cheaper but not looking good.

Thankful that I am on VA , although it's problems are well documented.
 
How does a supplemental plan work?

Is it really worth the price?

I am thinking of retiring, and have Medicare pay for my Group Health. I am getting tons of mails, soliciting supplemental plans. Group Health says it would be waste of money.

So, what does your supplemental plan pay that Medicare doesn't? Is it worth the cost?
 
I don't know, but I was/am

paying $152/month for a high deductible plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield that I am fairly happy with. About a month ago I got a notice in the mail giving me the heads up that, because of the ACA, my plan would no longer be available on January 1. I went to the exchange website and the cheapest plan I could find was $350/month. That was with a HIGHER deductible and HIGHER maximum out-of-pocket costs than I have now.

So I now know for sure that when Obama said "if you like your current health insurance plan you can keep it", he was full of crap.....because I liked mine, and I can't keep it. I think he knew it when he said, but he was going to do or say anything in order to get his signature POS legislation passed. I've given him the benefit of the doubt on many things he's done and I try not to be critical of every move he makes, but this is really inexcusable in my opinion.
 
My HSC(?)A

was reduced by $50 but I got an extra $100 added for taking a wellness survey.
 
Most supplemetal plans

pay the difference between what Medicare pays and what is allowed. Remember that Medicare covers only 80% of allowable charges on most things so if you went into the hospital and run up a $100,000 bill you'll be stuck with at least $20,000 if you don't have a supplemental plan. Back in 2010 my father-in-law was in the hospital for quite some time and if I recall correctly the bill was close to $200,000 but he didn't have to pay anything because between Medicare and the supplemental plan everything was paid.
I'm in a little different boat since my supplemental plan covers me (on Medicare) and covers my wife who is not on Medicare. It's according to whether you want to gamble that you won't have any large hospital bills....I'm not a gambler in those areas so I'll always try to have a supplemental plan. I think most experts would recommend that you have a supplemental plan. However, there may be people on here who know more about it than I do so hopefully they'll chime in.

For what it worth: My father-in-law passed away in 2010 so his wife, who is on Medicare, has a supplemental plan and I think it's about $240/month.

BTW, you'll be surprised how busy you'll be after you retire. Good luck with your retirement plans....Retirement, IMO, is great unless you have to pinch pennies and then I don't think it would be so great.
 
My nephew's wife

got a notice about 3 weeks ago that her health plan was going up about $280/month. I think that's almost double what she pays now. She says it's for the same plan. However, I know none of the details....just going by what she says.
 
It's being used as an excuse for everything. . .

Like health insurance going up every year is a new thing. It's also being used as the new reason we aren't getting raises where I work. All they say is "because of Obamacare" with no further explanation or specific reasons. People hear that "explanation" and just say "that f*cking Obama".
 
You're telling me someone who makes $20k per year doesn't qualify . . .

For a subsidized plan and will have to pay $380/month? I call total horsesh*t on that. And what is "straight Obamacare" anyways? You do realize that "Obamacare" is only the name of the law and not an actual healthcare plan, don't you?
 
My Employer Went To A High-Deductible Plan Years Ago, Then

we switched to my wife's plan.

Last year, her plan cost us $1,500 more than the prior year (during daughters' first year of college when we had LOADS of extra money laying around).

This year, to hold costs, they switched insurers.

The new plan has a new network of physicians - soooo many must change their doctors.

I live around Democrats. Lifelong Democrats in a state where 65% of registered voters are Democrats, and where local politics is dominated by Democrats even though our Congressional delegation is 5 R's and 1 D.

Obamacare is killing the Democrats as a "brand".
Everybody is now seeing - and saying - "we were lied to."
Generational. Change.
 
My cousin's wife's great aunt's butcher gets free healthcare

From aliens.

But seriously, it is difficult to say if you were right or not. Healthcare had been increasing at an unsustainable rate for more than a decade. It is difficult to believe that this particular increase is "all Obama". But healthcare is broken and has been for a long time and HCR didn't fix it. I hope that our leadership can put their heads together an revise/replace what we have with something that works.
 
According to healthsherpa.com . . .

In Indianapolis, a non-smoking 35-year-old making $20,000/year could get a Bronze plan for as little as $10/month, a Silver plan for as little as $74/month, and a Gold plan for as little as $167/month. The same information would be available at healthcare.gov, but healthsherpa.com is quicker and easier.

Premiums can vary widely from state to state, and perhaps other factors would drive your sister-in-law's costs up (like her husband's income), but unless her household income were much higher than $20,000/year, I'd be very surprised if her only options were that expensive.
 
As MtM notes below . . .

Obamacare made relatively few changes to employer-provided coverage, which for the most part already met or exceeded the law's minimum coverage requirements. And whatever may be the case with the particular insurer your employer utilizes, insurance premiums overall haven't grown any faster than they did before. In fact, health care costs are now growing more slowly than they were before Obamacare was passed.

Premiums on the exchanges are growing Prices on the exchanges compare favorably to the cost in the employer group market:

"In 2014 health insurance plans offered on the ACA's 51 new exchanges are on average, comparable to, or lower priced than, similar employer-based plans. In addition, most exchange shoppers have a wider variety of plans than the typical employer-based offering."

Meanwhile, over 70 percent of those who obtained insurance through the exchanges 10 million people who've obtained coverage, dropping the uninsured percentage to a level last seen in the 1990s.
 
My company switched providers last year

So the rates stayed the same and the coverage got better.
 
Re: My sister-in law, hair sylist/cosmotologist


Originally posted by Tracon:

who probably makes 20 grand in a good year, told me her payment went from 240 to 380 per month. For a very high deductable plan which pays for virtually nothing unless she gets a serious illness and even then covers only 70 %, so she would go bankrupt anyway. It's not an employee plan, straight obamacare. We are looking for something cheaper but not looking good.

Thankful that I am on VA , although it's problems are well documented.
Click to expand...

as Rock pointed out, something doesn't sound right with these numbers.

This post was edited on 11/18 7:46 PM by i'vegotwinners
 
Re: My Employer Went To A High-Deductible Plan Years Ago, Then


Originally posted by MyTeamIsOnTheFloor:
we switched to my wife's plan.

Last year, her plan cost us $1,500 more than the prior year (during daughters' first year of college when we had LOADS of extra money laying around).

This year, to hold costs, they switched insurers.

The new plan has a new network of physicians - soooo many must change their doctors.

I live around Democrats. Lifelong Democrats in a state where 65% of registered voters are Democrats, and where local politics is dominated by Democrats even though our Congressional delegation is 5 R's and 1 D.

Obamacare is killing the Democrats as a "brand".
Everybody is now seeing - and saying - "we were lied to."
Generational. Change.
Click to expand...

what state do you live in?
 
Our premiums are going down about $100/mo . . .

last year there was only one plan offered through my wife's employer; this year there are four plans. The plan we had last year has premiums exactly the same as last year's premiums, except that the dental plan's premiums went down $5/mo.

The plan we've signed up for this year is a PPO, with premiums - unsubsidized - at $432/mo for a family of 3. The employer plan is the State of Georgia's . . .

. . . much of what drives insurance costs are the size and composition of the participant pool. The larger and younger the pool, the lower the costs and the lower the premiums. For the life of me I have no idea why we carve our population up into inconsistently sized and composed pools when the most effective way to keep costs and premiums low is to increase the size of the pool as much as possible . . . .
 
My notice in the mail from Blue Cross

Blue Shield specifically said that "due to policy requirements under the Affordable Care Act, your policy will no longer be available as of January 1, 2015." Maybe not 100% word for word since I can't remember the EXACT wording, but that is essentially what it said. It specifically mentioned the ACA regulations/requirements as THE reason my policy was no longer available.

So I don't think I'm misplacing the blame or making excuses when I say Obama was lying through he teeth when he said "if you like your current health care plan, you can keep it." That was a flat out lie, I'm not sure there's any other way to put it. My plan is no longer available and the new plans I can choose from offer higher deductibles, less coverage, and are more than twice the cost.
 
"ncrease the size of the pool as much as possible . . . ."

I see what you did there.
 
Actually, yes

Kentucky expanded Medicaid, created its own exchange, and otherwise embraced Obamacare. As a result, Kentuckians are dong very well. This is great news. I wish all Kentuckians understood that.
 
Thank you.

When Group Health had a public forum a while ago on how to turn Medicare into Group Health plan, the speaker said something like $100 some additional dollars a month is all I need to pay. Now that I am nearing the reality, I should check it out more thoroughly.

I know what you mean how busy it can be. I have already been asked. One, doing some software project, which I have turned down. Another, helping out robotics class my grandson is taking. Volunteering with a local symphony orchestra is the third. Unless I am careful, I will be busier than my working life.

Thank you for the advice.
 
The good

thing about volunteering (which my wife and I do a LOT) is that you can tell the people you are doing things for that you won't be there next week if you want to do something. We've tried to be careful about volunteering where they get to depend on you because we don't want to be tied down if we want to go somewhere. I worked it IT also when I was working and I went back on a consultant basis and did a couple jobs but I made sure that I had an agreement that I decided the days that I worked...not them, We negotiated and finish date and then I worked when I wanted to to get it done.

Retirement is a big step. If you are like me it was the first time in my life (since I was 6 or 7) that I didn't have a schedule to keep. Think about it...you go to school for years (a schedule) and then you start to work (another schedule) and now all of a sudden you get up and don't have a schedule. Neither my wife or I had a hard time adjusting. I started volunteering right away because I am the type of person that needs a kick in the rear sometimes to keep me moving.
smile.r191677.gif
 
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