Obama care cost

[manning]

We keep hearing about premium costs.

What is the bottom line cost?

After factoring in premium price and changes in deductible what is the true increase/decrease in costs?

 

[disneychrista]

There is no one answer. It will depend on your coverages, your ages, your income etc.

 

[tvguy]

There is no one answer. It will depend on your coverages, your ages, your income etc.

Exactly.

In my case, I now have to pay $2,500 up front before my insurance pays anything, but the premium goes down by $200 a month, so it appears it will almost a wash over the course of the year. The difference is, even with a FSA, I have to come up with the $2,500 up front, and get it back over the year in FSA money or premium savings instead of it being evenly divided over the year.

 

[tlh0726]

Thank goodness our policy that we have will remain in effect until end of 2014.
We currently pay $646 a month for family coverage and this is with a $2500 deductible

Starting Dec 1 our premium will go up about $68.00 a month. Not as big of a hit that I was expecting

To get the same level of coverage and same deductible based on prices as of now, our premium will go up an additional $343.00 a month on top of the Dec 1st increase.

It is crazy!!!!!!

 

[bearzabout]

We are two of the 50 million or so lucky ones that lost our great individual insurance policies on 12/31 because of Obamacare. We are 50 and 61. It looks like our costs will go up big time and for the first time in our lives, we are contemplating being uninsured.

Since the Obamacare website is so difficult to use, a local agency we use for business insurance sent us an email stating they will help people look at all the options with the new individual policies as well as Obamacare. They will even calculate any tax subsidies for Obamacare policies. I am calling them Monday.

Call a few agencies you have dealt with in the past to see if they can work with you to determine the real costs and options. I hear the government will accept snail mail applications in the future. if you can figure out the options before going online, you won't have to supply all your private info for some hacker to steal if it turns out Obamacare is the best option for you.

Keep in mind that you won't really know what the insurance doesn't cover until you go to use it. Use any free preventative services offered that you can and try to stay healthy. The costs for getting sick are going to skyrocket for most of us. Many friends I know have to decide to wipe out their savings or die because of the changes to Medicare coverage and supplemental policies that no longer cover the treatments that keep them alive.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We are two of the 50 million or so lucky ones that lost our great individual insurance policies on 12/31 because of Obamacare. We are 50 and 61. It looks like our costs will go up big time and for the first time in our lives, we are contemplating being uninsured.

Since the Obamacare website is so difficult to use, a local agency we use for business insurance sent us an email stating they will help people look at all the options with the new individual policies as well as Obamacare. They will even calculate any tax subsidies for Obamacare policies. I am calling them Monday.

Call a few agencies you have dealt with in the past to see if they can work with you to determine the real costs and options. I hear the government will accept snail mail applications in the future. if you can figure out the options before going online, you won't have to supply all your private info for some hacker to steal if it turns out Obamacare is the best option for you.

Keep in mind that you won't really know what the insurance doesn't cover until you go to use it. Use any free preventative services offered that you can and try to stay healthy. The costs for getting sick are going to skyrocket for most of us. Many friends I know have to decide to wipe out their savings or die because of the changes to Medicare coverage and supplemental policies that no longer cover the treatments that keep them alive.

Wow! A lot of hyperbole here. If you stick to facts, rather than assumptions, you will be taken more seriously.

Many of your friends are going to wipe out all their savings or chose to die? All because of the Affordable Health Care Act?

 

[tvguy]

Wow! A lot of hyperbole here. If you stick to facts, rather than assumptions, you will be taken more seriously.

Many of your friends are going to wipe out all their savings or chose to die? All because of the Affordable Health Care Act?

Hyperbole, absolutely. I would respectfully add, that since it's inception, hyperbole was a critical component of ACA on both sides. Now, lets get to work and fix it.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Wow! A lot of hyperbole here. If you stick to facts, rather than assumptions, you will be taken more seriously.

Many of your friends are going to wipe out all their savings or chose to die? All because of the Affordable Health Care Act?

My monthly Crohns infusions are going from $223 to $679 per month. The first 3 months go to deductible now where it did not before. In addition. I am paying an additional $150 per month just for the coverage.

This alone adds $7,000 a year to my health costs, just in Crohns treatments. I have discussed other options with my gastro doc and she is moving me to pills. Another option is an every other month infusion. We'll see how my body reacts. My family can cover some of the increase, but not that kind of jump.

One option to help would be to get rid of that $2500 cap instituted by Obamacare, allowing families to put more tax free money back for medical needs.
Yes, the AFA will wipe out people's savings and they will have to choose whether to get treatment or suffer. This is real, not hyperbole.

 

[Judyat]

Just going on some facts - my kids are able to stay on our policies till age 26. That saves us a lot every month. No pre-existing conditions. Half of Americans have some kind of pre-existing condition. You can't be dropped. No cap limits. Help if you need it paying for coverage. You never know when an illness or accident will affect you or someone in your family. To have these things in the ACA are priceless and no one can take your insurance away from you.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

My monthly Crohns infusions are going from $223 to $679 per month. The first 3 months go to deductible now where it did not before. In addition. I am paying an additional $150 per month just for the coverage.

This alone adds $7,000 a year to my health costs, just in Crohns treatments. I have discussed other options with my gastro doc and she is moving me to pills. Another option is an every other month infusion. We'll see how my body reacts. My family can cover some of the increase, but not that kind of jump.

One option to help would be to get rid of that $2500 cap instituted by Obamacare, allowing families to put more tax free money back for medical needs.
Yes, the AFA will wipe out people's savings and they will have to choose whether to get treatment or suffer. This is real, not hyperbole.

So you use a lot of very expensive medical care and are surprised that your insurance premiums are going up?

If you get in lots of car accidents, would you be surprised that your auto insurance jumps? If you have a couple of house fires would you be surprised to see your homeowner's insurance premium increase? The only difference now is, unlike your auto and homeowner's insurance, your health insurance cannot dump you as uninsurable.

Your increasing costs, while deeply unfortunate and a major expense, have nothing to do with the ACA, it has to do with that fact that you are using a lot of insurance and that cost needs to be paid. If you don't pay it, via higher premiums, who will, unless we go to a single payer plan?

 

[kydisneyfans]

So you use a lot of very expensive medical care and are surprised that your insurance premiums are going up?

If you get in lots of car accidents, would you be surprised that your auto insurance jumps? If you have a couple of house fires would you be surprised to see your homeowner's insurance premium increase? The only difference now is, unlike your auto and homeowner's insurance, your health insurance cannot dump you as uninsurable.

Your increasing costs, while deeply unfortunate and a major expense, have nothing to do with the ACA, it has to do with that fact that you are using a lot of insurance and that cost needs to be paid. If you don't pay it, via higher premiums, who will, unless we go to a single payer plan?

I've been on 2 different insurances with a few percentage point increases in 20 years of having Crohns, the infusions have gone up about $50 a month total in those 20 years. The same treatment going up 300% in 1 year is absurd. To not blame it on the ACA is absurd, something is done one 1 way for 20 years then bam, a new law and it goes up 300%. My company pays for the plan, not the taxpayer.

All I can say is that I hope someone in your family never suffers a disease that they don't want and cannot afford the treatment. This is facing millions of us.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

I've been on 2 different insurances with a few percentage point increases in 20 years of having Crohns, the infusions have gone up about $50 a month total in those 20 years. The same treatment going up 300% in 1 year is absurd. To not blame it on the ACA is absurd, something is done one 1 way for 20 years then bam, a new law and it goes up 300%. My company pays for the plan, not the taxpayer.

All I can say is that I hope someone in your family never suffers a disease that they don't want and cannot afford the treatment. This is facing millions of us.

The ACA is a very effective bogeyman, but I am not persuaded that it is the cause. If your premiums haven't been increasing so as to cover the cost of your treatments over the past several years, then you've been lucky, and you've been even more lucky (if you have non-group insurance) that you have not been dropped by your carrier. Now, you cannot be, and that should provide you with peace of mind.

And, FWIW, my son has very significant special needs and our health care expenses are phenomenally high, and as a result I would expect to see my costs increase (and, fortunately, we are in a group plan so our higher costs are balanced by my colleagues who are lower users of the plan).

The costs of your care have to be paid somewhere, and by someone. Or do you disagree?

 

[johde]

This. The cost, or cost savings, are currently incalculable because the introduction of the insurance mandate component of the ACA is not the sole, or even the major, factor at play. Most increases in premiums, copays and deductibles, as well as cuts to coverage, both historically and currently, are tied to usage of the insurance benefit by the insurable pool covered therein. For example, a company of 100 people may see a massive increase in its premiums if two of the employees, or their covered dependents, are struck with catastrophic illness costing major money, in addition to the general usage projected for the insured pool. Case-in-point, a colleague's son at my employer had liver failure and required a transplant at an out-of-state medical center while another colleague had pancreatic cancer and pursued very aggressive treatment. The cost of both to my employer's insurable pool was over $2,000,000 (based on what my colleagues told me, when complimenting the insurance benefit), and that impacts the insurable pool for the entire company. In this case, my employer has continued to hold the line and did not increase our premiums, but if those claims, along with all the others in our relatively small company, exceeded the collective premiums paid, then the insurance premiums must increase for somebody (in this case, the employer's share) in the next year.

All of these complaints about increasing premiums are more likely tied to usage and benefits paid than with the roll out of the ACA and nobody wants to address controlling costs. It's just easier for a certain segment of the population to blame it on the ACA and our President.

For those of us in the individual marketplace, you've eloquently described why the ACA is causing our rates to potentially skyrocket. Right now, we're a group of one. The ACA is forcing us to join a pool with all the people previously in the high risk pool as well as people previously denied coverage because of a preexisting condition. This year's premiums are based on a certain number of "healthy" people and a certain number of "sick" people joining the exchange. If the actual numbers skew towards "sick" people the premiums for our new group will go even higher.

Additionally, all of the new "free" preventative services aren't really free they are just prepaid. All of those wellness visits, flu shots, tetnus shots, birth control pills, etc. mandated by the ACA aren't free, there just being added on to the bill. If these thing reduce the incidences and severity of illness, premium will come down in the future. But, that's in the future.

For me personally, I was given an early renewal option on my current individual plan. For my $2,500 deductible 0% coinsurance HSA plan I was offered $182 that I can keep until Nov, 30 2014. A new exchange plan from the same company $2,000 deductible, 0% coinsurance is $464. Same person, nearly same time frame, the only difference is ACA mandates on preexisting conditions, gender equity, and exchanges.

 

[kydisneyfans]

The ACA is a very effective bogeyman, but I am not persuaded that it is the cause. If your premiums haven't been increasing so as to cover the cost of your treatments over the past several years, then you've been lucky, and you've been even more lucky (if you have non-group insurance) that you have not been dropped by your carrier. Now, you cannot be, and that should provide you with peace of mind.

And, FWIW, my son has very significant special needs and our health care expenses are phenomenally high, and as a result I would expect to see my costs increase (and, fortunately, we are in a group plan so our higher costs are balanced by my colleagues who are lower users of the plan).

The costs of your care have to be paid somewhere, and by someone. Or do you disagree?

I agree the cost had to be paid, but keeping it the same way it has since 1993 is preferable. As for ACA, the company plan was "too good", causing a tax. Instead of my company paying the "tax" they went to a plan with lesser coverage.

Why should someone with decent insurance get punished because it's "too good"?

Do you get penalized if you have a $500 deductible vs 1% on home insurance?
Is a certain amount of life insurance "too much" eligible for surcharges in the future?
If your auto insurance drops because you're a good driver, are you surcharged due to the coverage being "too good"?

It should not with health insurance either.

 

[johde]

The kaiser foundation site will can help you estimate things but it's just an estimate. I've tried 4 different calculators and gotten for different answers on my subsidy.

Kaiser - $187 a month.

ValuePenguin - $167 a month

Ehealthinsurance $154 a month

Medical Mutual - $240 a month

So, until you actually get through the process, there's no way of telling 100% what your subsidy is going to be.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

I agree the cost had to be paid, but keeping it the same way it has since 1993 is preferable. As for ACA, the company plan was "too good", causing a tax. Instead of my company paying the "tax" they went to a plan with lesser coverage.

Why should someone with decent insurance get punished because it's "too good"?

Do you get penalized if you have a $500 deductible vs 1% on home insurance?
Is a certain amount of life insurance "too much" eligible for surcharges in the future?
If your auto insurance drops because you're a good driver, are you surcharged due to the coverage being "too good"?

It should not with health insurance either.

Then your issue is with your employer, not with the ACA, as the deductibility of employer-paid health insurance is a benefit you have enjoyed but which has been subsidized by other taxpayers for years. It is not a right, is is not sacrosanct, and as you said, your employer, not the government, chose to discontinue the benefit, so take up your issues with them. Lots of employers chose to not drop their coverages, so perhaps find a job with one of them and put the pressure on your employer to offer better benefits.

As to the rest of your points, I cannot follow what you are trying to posit so I don't know how to respond.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Then your issue is with your employer, not with the ACA, as the deductibility of employer-paid health insurance is a benefit you have enjoyed but which has been subsidized by other taxpayers for years. It is not a right, is is not sacrosanct, and as you said, your employer, not the government, chose to discontinue the benefit, so take up your issues with them. Lots of employers chose to not drop their coverages, so perhaps find a job with one of them and put the pressure on your employer to offer better benefits.

As to the rest of your points, I cannot follow what you are trying to posit so I don't know how to respond.

The issue is my employer is being penalized for treating it's employees well.
They chose to discontinue offering insurance due to a new tax imposed by Federal law. If they choose to pay the tax, then they will increase costs and pass that on to the customer, so either way it's a lose-lose situation.

As for jobs, good luck, 88% of the ones created are part time as companies react to the new costs and taxes affiliated with providing coverage to fulltime employees.

As for my other points, it's crystal clear what I meant. Other insurances carried don't get "surcharged" or "penalized" if they are good, health insurance shouldn't either.

 

[wiscbugs]

I have never heard so much whining in my life!

 

[jcamacam]

I have never heard so much whining in my life!

For good reason when those of us who don't want ObamaCare are having it forced on us

 

[njcarita]

I have never heard so much whining in my life!

gosh i dont see whinning....... i see people wondering how they will pay for their " affordable " health care............. and what will no longer be covered...... i am hoping that when the webiste FINALLY works and i can see the true rates and what plans there are.... it wont be as BAD as it seems it will be... cause for me paying 1300/month is at my limit............ so for me back to topic....... i have no idea yet cause the exchange website is NOT working yet... i have tried every day for the past 20 to log on without any success.............