I hate health insurance changes

[indimom]

While a lot of people has suffered a lot of increases in insurance, the biggest problem is the combination of prices going up, coverage going down, AND not getting a pay raise in 5 years.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

My sister is a teacher. I *think* the insurance is so cheap because of the union(s).

When I started 13 years ago, health insurance with dental for singles was FREE. Copays and meds where also really really cheap. Ahh... the good old days!

Here in Texas, the teachers had pretty good insurance and they aren't allowed to have unions. I mean, they have these organizations that they belong to, but it's much more of legal insurance. There is no salary negotion and no one is allowed to strike. But, I can say that a lot of us are seeing our benefits change drastically and when asked, the reps did blame it on certain things that came into play not too long ago that I don't want to get into due to board rules.

I am Canadian. I am lucky to live in a place where my health care is very well done. If I go to the doctors or the hospital all I do is show my Yukon health care card. We don't have any monthly payments unless you have extra insurance to cover prescriptions or something.
But if you need to go to er or have a baby or get your child into the doctor, all that stuff is covered by government health care.
There are a lot of myths about long line wait times, and quality of care, most of which are untrue.

Oh goodie! Can we please make this into another thread about Canadian vs. American healthcare? I was so hoping that would happen.

 

[Janepod]

Oh goodie! Can we please make this into another thread about Canadian vs. American healthcare? I was so hoping that would happen.

 

[Heidict]

Oh goodie! Can we please make this into another thread about Canadian vs. American healthcare? I was so hoping that would happen.

I was thinking the same thing! This thread had nothing to do with Canadian healthcare and to come on here and start raving about it was in bad taste and totally off topic

OP, your mothers plan sounds pretty average. What is the deductible?

 

[MIGrandma]

My hat is off to all the hard working teachers out there. But I think you have to realize that for many of us, the salary and benefits you are complaining of are more generous that what we get.

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.

 

[MIGrandma]

Oh goodie! Can we please make this into another thread about Canadian vs. American healthcare? I was so hoping that would happen.

Yeah, me too!

 

[crashbb]

I was thinking the same thing! This thread had nothing to do with Canadian healthcare and to come on here and start raving about it was in bad taste and totally off topic

I'm a Canadian and I cringe when I see that happen (and it seems to be happening more and more on the DIS).

OP - it does sound like your mother's new insurance is about average or better (I did live in the US for a while, so I get US insurance - at least as much as most people do). Doesn't really help the sting of the change though.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

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.

I usually don't open these threads because I just get upset. Our situation is exactly like yours except we've only been married 28 years. DH is self employed and I am part time so we purchase our own insurance with the same numbers as yours.

And retirement? What's that?

 

[cabanafrau]

I understand it really stinks when health insurance costs go up, up, up, but I have to agree w/ many of the other posters who have spoken about the fact these increases are very, very old news to those of us in the private sector. I cannot understand how those in the public sector expect taxpayers to gladly fund a level of health insurance benefits many of us haven't even dreamt of in ten years or more.

FIL is a retired teacher who was fortunate enough to be able to retire in his early 50's. A couple years ago the IL's were up in arms about the fact their prescription co-pay was tripling -- up to $6! It's been at least 15 years since we've seen a prescription co-pay in the single digits. BTW, the $6 isn't at all a burden to them.

 

[cabanafrau]

I am Canadian. I am lucky to live in a place where my health care is very well done. If I go to the doctors or the hospital all I do is show my Yukon health care card. We don't have any monthly payments unless you have extra insurance to cover prescriptions or something.
But if you need to go to er or have a baby or get your child into the doctor, all that stuff is covered by government health care.
There are a lot of myths about long line wait times, and quality of care, most of which are untrue.

So the Canadians I bump into at the doctor's office on a routine basis are mythological? I had no idea.

 

[Callie]

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.

 

[minnie56]

So the Canadians I bump into at the doctor's office on a routine basis are mythological? I had no idea.

Oh jeez, please don't get it going...

 

[cabanafrau]

Oh jeez, please don't get it going...

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

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

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

It seems that every 3-4 days, we get a thread that starts out harmless enough, but ends up into a Canadian healthcare vs. American healthcare debate. I think most people are just asking that this not be one of those threads.

 

[cabanafrau]

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

 

[Colleen27]

No, it is possible due to new laws - if OP lives in a state where laws were changed regarding collective bargaining of public sector workers, then yeah, new laws would have meant changes to the health insurance.

And even if she doesn't, state budgets are driving a lot of these cuts. A lot of districts are looking to previously generous benefits (given originally to make up for the lousy pay, but that seems to have been forgotten these days...) as a place to cut as their funding declines.

We've been dealing with much worse in regard to our own insurance plan, but I still have a lot of sympathy for what teachers are dealing with. It is hard enough getting a very expensive education to make peanuts, now they're finding that the two "sure thing" upsides of the job (health insurance and retirement) are getting pulled out from under them as well. I know quite a few teachers who are wishing right about now that they'd gone into just about any other line of work. Low pay was fine when it was in line with low contributions to health insurance and retirement, but not so much now that the trend is towards comparable-to-private costs for benefits.

 

[Social Worker Sue]

A visit to a urgent care clinic is now $40, when it was free after the deductibles.
Regular doctor is $20 co-pay. Same as above, free after deductible.

This is awesome! Your mom is so lucky

Our deductible also got MASSIVE!
Not to mention this new plan costs about 21% more than the old one.

What do you consider massive? And, I know that my sister (also a teacher) pays very little for her healthcare plan. If it went up 21%, she would still be paying less than most Americans.

So, tell your mom she is a Lucky Duck

 

[Princess Dolly]

And even if she doesn't, state budgets are driving a lot of these cuts. A lot of districts are looking to previously generous benefits (given originally to make up for the lousy pay, but that seems to have been forgotten these days...) as a place to cut as their funding declines.

We've been dealing with much worse in regard to our own insurance plan, but I still have a lot of sympathy for what teachers are dealing with. It is hard enough getting a very expensive education to make peanuts, now they're finding that the two "sure thing" upsides of the job (health insurance and retirement) are getting pulled out from under them as well. I know quite a few teachers who are wishing right about now that they'd gone into just about any other line of work. Low pay was fine when it was in line with low contributions to health insurance and retirement, but not so much now that the trend is towards comparable-to-private costs for benefits.

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?

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

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

LOL. Not a bad idea. Actually, those discussions get quite heated.

 

[jrmasm]

And even if she doesn't, state budgets are driving a lot of these cuts. A lot of districts are looking to previously generous benefits (given originally to make up for the lousy pay, but that seems to have been forgotten these days...) as a place to cut as their funding declines.

We've been dealing with much worse in regard to our own insurance plan, but I still have a lot of sympathy for what teachers are dealing with. It is hard enough getting a very expensive education to make peanuts, now they're finding that the two "sure thing" upsides of the job (health insurance and retirement) are getting pulled out from under them as well. I know quite a few teachers who are wishing right about now that they'd gone into just about any other line of work. Low pay was fine when it was in line with low contributions to health insurance and retirement, but not so much now that the trend is towards comparable-to-private costs for benefits.

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.