I hate health insurance changes

[Hannathy]

.
Also, when you are living on a certain budget and then your coverage changes and you have to change your budget with no raise in many years (and less pay to begin with), it can be a struggle. I hate the well I have it so much worse than you posts. How do you really know?

Because this is the same thing we have all been dealing with, only it started years ago for us.

 

[jrmasm]

I so agree with the bolded. And it's not just teachers, it's all public sector workers including fire, police, etc.

Also, when you are living on a certain budget and then your coverage changes and you have to change your budget with no raise in many years (and less pay to begin with), it can be a struggle. I hate the well I have it so much worse than you posts. How do you really know?

 

[Hannathy]

Yup, that's what a lot of people seem to be ignoring. Public sector jobs have generally been lower paid than in the private sector. It was the benefits that made these jobs attractive. As benefits are being erroded they are becoming more in line with the private sector but not the salaries are still lower.

Generally speaking of course.

But not true in very many areas of this country! It has been years and years since the public sector salaries have been lower in the area I live now or where I grew up or lived after college. It just isn't true in vast areas of this country.

 

[Princess Dolly]

Because this is the same thing we have all been dealing with, only it started years ago for us.

No, your pay/salary was probably higher to begin with.

 

[jrmasm]

But not true in very many areas of this country! It has been years and years since the public sector salaries have been lower in the area I live now or where I grew up or lived after college. It just isn't true in vast areas of this country.

Really? I'd love to see numbers showing that in most area of the country public and private sector pay is equal.

 

[wdwcoltsfan]

I so agree with the bolded. And it's not just teachers, it's all public sector workers including fire, police, etc.

Also, when you are living on a certain budget and then your coverage changes and you have to change your budget with no raise in many years (and less pay to begin with), it can be a struggle. I hate the well I have it so much worse than you posts. How do you really know?

I agree with you. I didn't take the OPs post to say, "my costs are so much worse than anyone else." Rather, it's a "our costs have increased and it sucks." As someone who has seen our family insurance premium increase $2000 this year, I can sympathize. I think this was just a vent from someone who saw costs go up.

 

[Princess Dolly]

I agree with you. I didn't take the OPs post to say, "my costs are so much worse than anyone else." Rather, it's a "our costs have increased and it sucks." As someone who has seen our family insurance premium increase $2000 this year, I can sympathize. I think this was just a vent from someone who saw costs go up.

Oh I didn't mean the OP was saying that her family has it worse that others, I was talking about posts that followed in this thread.

 

[EMAW_KSU]

I haven't seen any of this discussion here. Maybe we need a sticky explaining some of these more obscure rules.

Nobody reads stickies.

 

[wdwcoltsfan]

Oh I didn't mean the OP was saying that her family has it worse that others, I was talking about posts that followed in this thread.

I know I didn't express myself very well. I agree about the following posts telling her she should be happy with what she has. It's all relative to ones individual situation.

 

[Princess Dolly]

I know I didn't express myself very well. I agree about the following posts telling her she should be happy with what she has. It's all relative to ones individual situation.

Exactly.

 

[Southernmiss]

Welcome to what the rest of us have been experiencing for the last 5-10 yrs. So no sympathy here.

Your plan is still better than ours and my DH works for a large company. And I'd be willing to bet a months salary that we pay more for it from his pay.

I'm sorry, but no sympathy from me either. I would LOVE to have insurance coverage like the OP is talking about.

We have paid our own health insurance most of our 37 years of married life. The ONLY time we didn't pay much was the 3 years DH worked part-time for Wal-Mart. We had great coverage then. $20 co-pay at the doctor's office was the best thing. We only paid $25/every 2 weeks (taken out of his check).

Currently our health insurance costs us $750/month for the two of us. We have no co-pay so any doctor visits come 100% out of our pocket. We have a high deductible, $2500/each of us I think, and we pay 20% of hospital stays.

They just raised our rate by about $50/month, because we both turned 55 this year.

Yeah, I would be happy paying the insurance that OP is talking about.

Yep, and DH is a state empoyee and has our states "teacher's" insurance.

Stinks--lots of premium increases and high deductibles with Dr visits of $150 out of pocket. There have been many years where the insurance increased and pay didn't.

We are not "sickly" people and do not go to the dr. unless it is very serious for these reasons.

Hopefully, something will change in our healthcare system soon.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Has anyone had the "new laws" affect them positively? Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to send policyholders refunds in any year during which they spend less than 80 percent of premium dollars on actual medical care, I got a refund check of about $450.00 from my insurance company. I can't be the only one, can I?

 

[EMAW_KSU]

Has anyone had the "new laws" affect them positively? Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to send policyholders refunds in any year during which they spend less than 80 percent of premium dollars on actual medical care, I got a refund check of about $450.00 from my insurance company. I can't be the only one, can I?

How do they figure the refund?

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

How do they figure the refund?

I honestly don't know, but seeing we rarely make trips to the doctor, other than annual checkups, I was suprised, and glad, to get it. I always felt shafted paying for something we almost never use. In the end, our refund worked out to just a bit more than our single monthy premium payment for my family of four.

 

[scrapquitler]

Has anyone had the "new laws" affect them positively? Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to send policyholders refunds in any year during which they spend less than 80 percent of premium dollars on actual medical care, I got a refund check of about $450.00 from my insurance company. I can't be the only one, can I?

I got a letter about a week ago stating that my plans ratios fell within the limit, and we are not due a refund.

 

[minnie56]

Isn't this a discussion board? Am I missing something?

Sure it is. But the topic of this thread isn't Canadian Health Care versus U.S Health Care. That's all...and yes, it can get heated so why??

 

[1Mouse2RulethemAll]

Has anyone had the "new laws" affect them positively? Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to send policyholders refunds in any year during which they spend less than 80 percent of premium dollars on actual medical care, I got a refund check of about $450.00 from my insurance company. I can't be the only one, can I?

My insurance said our refund would be shown as no increase in the premium next year.


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[Laugh O. Grams]

I got a letter about a week ago stating that my plans ratios fell within the limit, and we are not due a refund.

That's too bad.

I do think that it should be said that if you pay for healthcare through an employer's plan, your employer is getting issued the refund checks, and are obligated to pay you back the money you've been refunded in one way or another, be it via check, pay raise, lower premiums for next year, etc. $1.1 billion in premiums have been returned to policyholders under the Affordable Care Act and it's up to us to make sure we're all getting our due.

 

[spacemountainmom]

Has anyone had the "new laws" affect them positively? Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to send policyholders refunds in any year during which they spend less than 80 percent of premium dollars on actual medical care, I got a refund check of about $450.00 from my insurance company. I can't be the only one, can I?

My dh is self employed and we pay very high premiums for high deductible health insurance. During the last policy year dh went to the doctor twice, dd once and ds did not go at all. We got a letter saying that there would not be a refund. I don't think they even paid out enough to equal one month's worth of premium. I don't get it.

 

[denisenh]

Its a new state law.
And yes we have been spoiled, but it still doesn't make it any easier. Thankfully my mom is about to retire.
Its a harder blow for her considering shes basically been a single mom our entire lives with not a single amount of support. She's amazing. But this newest change has her stressed to the max.

I hope your mother knows how much you appreciate her! That is so sweet! It is so difficult to make ends meet these days. We seem to trim a bit here, trim a bit there just to make the budget work. We stay home more, bake cookies, play board games, enjoy our own backyard...kind of like the 1960's.
Try to convince mom that stressing over money just isn't worth the toll it takes on health of mind and body. It will all be just fine.