health insurance - Obama care cost questions

[Scootypuffjr]

I found better rates when I called the Heath insurance companies directly. I pay $190 for my son, with a very low deductible, and most things we use it for are covered with a $15 copay

 

[willowsnn3]

Does Florida have a health care plan for children? Both my daughters are single parents and since their jobs don't provide insurance they had to apply for ACA but the kids are eligible for the Peach Care program with a small premium.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

I found better rates when I called the Heath insurance companies directly. I pay $190 for my son, with a very low deductible, and most things we use it for are covered with a $15 copay

That is just covering your son? She looked up Florida Kid Care and that was going to cost her $133 a child, but it wouldn't cover her or my brother.

 

[PlutoPony]

Isn't age another factor determining the health care cost?

Our COBRA was $1700/month and that was 18 months ago. Could have signed onto a retiree plan at $2200/month. These are for medium deductibles (~$3000) and max out of pocket around 5000. Health care insurance can be very expensive no matter where you get it.

 

[rajak73]

Btw... It's actually called the Affordable Care Act.

Obamacare was a media-hype nickname of sorts.

See www.healthcare.gov for real information.

Not if you are self employed.

 

[leebee]

I honestly think many folks just don't realize how much health insurance really costs. Many of us have insurance through our employers, the money is automatically withheld from our paychecks every week (two weeks, month, etc.), and we simply don't realize how MUCH health care costs us. When my husband took a leave of absence, we could continue our health insurance by paying the premium ourselves every month. Because he is paid bi-weekly, and his employer picks up 60% of the cost, we never realized that we are paying $540 a month for insurance (family plan)- and that's only 40% of the actual monthly premium. It costs $1350 a month, and that's a discounted rate as we are part of a group plan. We have copays and deductibles ($3000 OOP per year for the family)- it's not a cadillac plan, for sure. It's simply what it costs. Where I work, the school department pays 100% of single coverage for each employee (support staff)- but single coverage through Anthem BC/BS is $9400 per person, per year, at our school, and we have a very good rating. (As an aside, I didn't realize that health insurance group rates depend not just on the actual cost of the plan, but on the rating of the group- if your group had a lot of usage/claims last year, your rate will be higher this year). Although everyone thought COBRA was a blessing, as it guarantees that you can't lose your health insurance for a period of time after employment ends, all it really means is that you are able to continue your health care coverage under the cost contracted by your employer at the time you left the position. It's certainly not cheap, and your former employer won't be picking up their percentage, but at least you don't need to pay the full cost for an independently-sold plan. When my husband left a former position (the grant that paid his salary ended), we had the option of continuing our insurance through COBRA, but couldn't afford it. We crossed our fingers and went without health insurance for 3 months until his next job began (he'd already signed the contract, so we knew it would only be a short time before we had health insurance aging).

 

[NewRVLady]

OP- - how many years before you can get Medicare ?
Sometimes people work just to get insurance

 

[maxaroni]

We currently pay $1100 per month on an employer based plan, family plan. It's a high deductible plan with the employer paying a portion. It's also an age based plan as far as cost of premium.

I honestly think many folks just don't realize how much health insurance really costs. Many of us have insurance through our employers, the money is automatically withheld from our paychecks every week (two weeks, month, etc.), and we simply don't realize how MUCH health care costs us. When my husband took a leave of absence, we could continue our health insurance by paying the premium ourselves every month. Because he is paid bi-weekly, and his employer picks up 60% of the cost, we never realized that we are paying $540 a month for insurance (family plan)- and that's only 40% of the actual monthly premium. It costs $1350 a month, and that's a discounted rate as we are part of a group plan. We have copays and deductibles ($3000 OOP per year for the family)- it's not a cadillac plan, for sure. It's simply what it costs. Where I work, the school department pays 100% of single coverage for each employee (support staff)- but single coverage through Anthem BC/BS is $9400 per person, per year, at our school, and we have a very good rating. (As an aside, I didn't realize that health insurance group rates depend not just on the actual cost of the plan, but on the rating of the group- if your group had a lot of usage/claims last year, your rate will be higher this year). Although everyone thought COBRA was a blessing, as it guarantees that you can't lose your health insurance for a period of time after employment ends, all it really means is that you are able to continue your health care coverage under the cost contracted by your employer at the time you left the position. It's certainly not cheap, and your former employer won't be picking up their percentage, but at least you don't need to pay the full cost for an independently-sold plan. When my husband left a former position (the grant that paid his salary ended), we had the option of continuing our insurance through COBRA, but couldn't afford it. We crossed our fingers and went without health insurance for 3 months until his next job began (he'd already signed the contract, so we knew it would only be a short time before we had health insurance aging).

 

[Scootypuffjr]

That is just covering your son? She looked up Florida Kid Care and that was going to cost her $133 a child, but it wouldn't cover her or my brother.

That is just my son, but we are in Colorado and it does vary greatly state to state.

 

[descovy]

Not if you are self employed.

Cute. But as a child of a farmer (thus self employed) health insurance was always extremely expensive and limited as well. It didn't just suddenly recently become expensive due to ACA.

 

[mom2rtk]

Cute. But as a child of a farmer (thus self employed) health insurance was always extremely expensive and limited as well. It didn't just suddenly recently become expensive due to ACA.

At the very least I think we can say that passing the ACA made them take their eyes off the ball. They marked it off their "to do" list and are on to other things, while middle class America continues to suffer with skyrocketing prices. I looked at that bill when it was first proposed and knew it did nothing to bend the cost curve down. So why didn't they see the same thing?

 

[morgan98]

At the very least I think we can say that passing the ACA made them take their eyes off the ball. They marked it off their "to do" list and are on to other things, while middle class America continues to suffer with skyrocketing prices. I looked at that bill when it was first proposed and knew it did nothing to bend the cost curve down. So why didn't they see the same thing?

I am not really sure that making it affordable for everyone was really one of the goals. I have insurance through an employer plan, so I am not speaking from my own experience, but rather my understanding of the provisions. It was made more affordable if your income is below a certain threshold and the cost is partially subsidized by the government. If you are above the income limits you are pretty much paying market rates, which have been high (and increasing) for quite some time.

What it did do is make health insurance available to pretty much everyone across the board, which was an issue in the past. It also allows children to be covered up to the age of 26, covers routine exams and removed lifetime caps on coverage.

 

[mom2rtk]

I am not really sure that making it affordable for everyone was really one of the goals. I have insurance through an employer plan, so I am not speaking from my own experience, but rather my understanding of the provisions. It was made more affordable if your income is below a certain threshold and the cost is partially subsidized by the government. If you are above the income limits you are pretty much paying market rates, which have been high (and increasing) for quite some time.

What it did do is make health insurance available to pretty much everyone across the board, which was an issue in the past. It also allows children to be covered up to the age of 26, covers routine exams and removed lifetime caps on coverage.

I actually think high costs were an issue. They contended that by adding more insureds to the pool, everyone's rates would come down. Remember the promise that costs would decrease by $2500/year for the average family?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I would think that Cobra would be better than this! $1400/month, YIKES, CRAZY HIGH! GOOD LUCK to her while searching for a less expensive alternative!

That's what the "family plan" through my employer costs - and that's after they cover 75% of my costs (0% on the wife & kids). And it's not even a very good plan

I too was unable to find anything "affordable" via ACA. My family is insured via a private broker in my hometown.

 

[rajak73]

Cute. But as a child of a farmer (thus self employed) health insurance was always extremely expensive and limited as well. It didn't just suddenly recently become expensive due to ACA.

Didn't say it just recently become expensive did I? And it hasn't got any more "affordable" either!

 

[rajak73]

I actually think high costs were an issue. They contended that by adding more insureds to the pool, everyone's rates would come down. Remember the promise that costs would decrease by $2500/year for the average family?

At the very least I think we can say that passing the ACA made them take their eyes off the ball. They marked it off their "to do" list and are on to other things, while middle class America continues to suffer with skyrocketing prices. I looked at that bill when it was first proposed and knew it did nothing to bend the cost curve down. So why didn't they see the same thing?

Because they had to hurry up and pass it before the Senator that was replacing Ted Kennedy arrived. There are some good aspects of the ACA, I just wish they would have took their time a little more and made it what it should have been. You realize the first year of the ACA, I had to send out forms for anyone that did more than $600 worth of business with me. That had exactly what to do with healthcare?

 

[holden]

Our monthly premium almost doubled when ACA became effective. DH is self-employed, so we pay for 100% of our insurance.

 

[longboard55]

since we are giving out numbers, my coverage 60 year old male dropped from $930 a month to $505 with a bronze plan, my wife dropped cobra and went to a silver plan and saved $200 a month. 23 year old daughter was about exactly the same. You also need to consider states like California have done everything to make it work better, and other states have done everything to make it fail. I did have to switch companies and went from blue cross to blue shield to get in the local medical group.

 

[Under the Library]

We have BC/BS through the ACA website, we pay $156 monthly to cover my husband & myself. The boys are covered though a local CMS Medicaid program. I hope that she is able to find something better than what she was quoted. It varies greatly from state to state. And I know it's somewhat income based so she can choose to use the tax credit every month to help pay the premium, which is what we elected, or to get the credit when she files her taxes. HTH.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I actually think high costs were an issue. They contended that by adding more insureds to the pool, everyone's rates would come down. Remember the promise that costs would decrease by $2500/year for the average family?

Yes, I remember a number but not sure how much they said. The reason they were saying that is because a large majority of the people in this country #1 believe everything the gov't tells them and #2 are not smart enough(literally) to figure things out on their own so they just go with the flow which is why we are in this mess in the first place. The two biggest reasons we have this problem are those who are/were uninsured racking up big bills and two the stipulations the gov't is now forcing on the medical field in order for them to get reimbursed from those who have insurance. We can now add insurance to the list of things the gov't figured out how to screw up.

Just keep looking around and hopefully the OP will get a better rate.