UGH!!! Health Insurance! How Much Did Your Premiums Go Up?

[#1hoosierfan]

This year we had the high deductible 5000/10000 plan, and paid no premium.

This year we are thinking of switching to the other high deductible plan which is 2600/5200. The premium will be about $190 a month for the family plan.

We currently have $8000 in our HSA. DS1 may be looking at braces next year, so we are hoping to preserve some for that.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

I think $3 a month? Great plan - I have never had issues. Get it through my husbands work.

 

[dclpluto]

Mine went up 6 dollars a paycheck. Get paid every two weeks. Was 60 dollars a paycheck going up to 66.
This year the ded was 800 next year its 900. Out of person max is 2400 if you stay in network. This is for me and the wife.

 

[nancygirl1]

I don't know how a lot of you do it.

There are 5 of us and we are not the healthiest family. Terrible genetics and several car accidents! We would go bankrupt if we had to pay such high premiums and deductibles. Our employer is self insured and we have unbelievable coverage. We pay close to $500 hundred a month, but our employer picks up 80% and we pay the 20% for premiums. If we had to pay the full premium we couldn't afford it. I know the new hires now have plans with deductibles and not as good insurance. We are truly blessed in that area. Everything else not so much...

 

[DVCcurious]

There are a lot of lies in this thread.

 

[Dakota731]

Under the ACA, insurance companies can't raise your rate more than other similar plans just because you needed care in the previous year

Unless you are unfortunate enough to live in one of the FIVE states (South Carolina the newest) that only have ONE Obamacare insurance provider left to choose from in the exchange. Then they can charge whatever they want since there is no competition.

 

[DisneyMandC]

There are a lot of lies in this thread.

Your signature seems to indicate you're only correct 50% of the time... so is your post also a lie?

 

[dclpluto]

There are a lot of lies in this thread.

Why are you saying there is a lot of lies? Some people have a lot to pay some people very little. Mostly depends on who they are employed with and what plan they have.

 

[Dakota731]

There are a lot of lies in this thread.

Wow. Because your experience is different than others on this board, they have to be lying? We are fortunate that our premiums have gone up and coverage has down but not to the extent than many have experienced, so I have compassion towards those who have not been so fortunate. Maybe you are lucky enough to have union or government insurance but for a lot of middle class people, these increases have been huge to their budgets. I feel bad for my brother who is self-employed and can't pay the astronomical monthly premiums so is paying $4000 in penalties for his family for NO insurance. I feel bad for my neighbor who would like to hire new employees for his thriving construction business but can't afford to help pay their healthcare. I feel bad for a co-worker who had cancer in the past so now has to pay $1500 a month for his monthly premium for a policy that pays nothing. To quote old Dr. Phil "you can't fix what you don't acknowledge!"

 

[manning]

The bubble may about to burst.

 

[TEM1234]

My husbands (he carries the kids) went up $12 a paycheck- 106 per paycheck to 118. We also have the option to drop to a High Deductible Plan which is $30 a paycheck cheaper - so $60 a month cheaper.

Mine went up $2 a month. (to $17 a month)

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

And what are you doing to mitigate the price increase?

We just got our notice and the cost is going up another $500 per month!!!! I could drop my cable AND cellphone plans and I still would not make up that difference. We're looking into a cheaper plan, but the deductibles and co-pays on them are so high that it would end up costing us pretty much the same amount OOP in the long run while requiring referrals and restricting access to select providers.

So, how are others absorbing the cost increases? Are you dumbing down your plans (if at all possible) or are you tightening your belts more in order to keep your current coverage? If it's the latter, what kind of cost-saving measures are you taking to absorb the hit?

Ours went up $300 with a higher deductible. I changed insurances companies so it was only a $100 increase instead. Still have a deductible and a restricted network though!

 

[Southernmiss]

Family coverage up by $120 per month.

 

[dsanner106]

Ours did not go up at all. We have had the same deductible $250/person $500/family since DH started 31 years ago. Co-pay is 20% of discounted bills for outpatient and 10% of discounted bills for inpatient.
We have a self-funded plan that uses BC/BS PPO to process the claims through a union DH is a member of.

Unions were excluded when Obamacare was implemented and so many plans people had, including mine were ruled illegal under the new guidelines. I have 2 employers, both eliminate all healthcare plans, my wifes employer explained that our fantastic policy was no longer allowed

 

[dsanner106]

Tennessee has an average 65% increase on policies this year, mine went up about that amount.

 

[aprilchem]

So, for those of you who say that your rates are the same or going down, is that with keeping the same plan? or is it because your employer changed the available plans? or your employer is taking care of the increase.

And for those who work for the government or have union plans, I'm jealous. You guys seem to be insulated from the cost increases.

Ours went down in cost about 2% this year with no change in coverage. Just got my open enrollment stuff last week; it's due this Friday.

ETA I forgot that we got a new benefit this year - free counseling for stress, depression, etc. So I guess the coverage got better with the 2% decrease.

 

[Music City Mama]

Mine is going up 4.5% (about $25/month) for family medical and dental. Little to no change with regard to deductible/benefits. Breathing a sigh of relief...

 

[daughtersrus]

Unions were excluded when Obamacare was implemented

I don't think that's true. I believe that there was a delay in requiring self funded plans to make changes.
We have a letter from 2010 from the union that says that they made changes to our policy as required by the ACA. Due to these changes, we now have coverage for well/preventative care, the lifetime max was eliminated for medical was eliminates as were lifetimes max for chiropractic care and substance abuse. We also have other changes as required by ACA like coverage for dependents under 26.

 

[ktlm]

You can look at all the news articles about the increases online. My state has the highest increase in the country with an average premium increase of 76%. We only have one insurer left on the exchange, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the rest have dropped off and will not be providing insurance. I heard from several more friends this weekend. The lowest I heard went from $400 a month to $900 a month for a single person. Most have premiums which have jumped from about $800 to between $1400 and $1600 per month- several with families are over $1600 a month, some over $2,000. I have heard from several people that they absolutely can't do it, so they are just dropping insurance because the penalty for being uninsured is only the price of 1 to 2 months of the health insurance. I worry because some of these people have kids. A couple are going to switch to a catastrophic insurance policy only- which means they said they and their family will not be going to the doctor at all unless it is something very serious or if their kids are sick for more than a week and not getting better. It is really sad. These are the middle class people that do not qualify for any assistance, but flat out can not afford the premiums. Although I have seen articles saying that it won't affect most people because insurance runs through their employer, that is garbage. Our premiums for the office increased 25% in April and are increasing another 20% now. We are okay, but there are several small business employers that can not handle the increase. Plus, my office pays for the employee, but the employee must pay for the dependents-- it is still pre-tax-- but the insurer breaks it down individually as to how the premium is calculated (not an average per person, but rather the insurer shows exactly the premium for each individual and dependent on the plan) and the increases per some of the specific people are quite large. Some of the dependent premiums have almost doubled. Our state - or at least the middle class in our state- is definitely much much worse off right now.

 

[DawnM]

Dh's stayed the same, but he dropped me, so he is paying $300/mo less. I got my own insurance through my new job and pay $18/mo. for it. It is a great plan.