My ACA plan premium almost tripled
Submitted by mhagle on Fri, 11/11/2016 - 8:29pm
It went up from $165/month to $428/month. Holy crap!! It was a decent silver plan. Guess I will sign up for a crappy cheap bronze plan. Although when I went to the healthcare.gov site it wouldn't take me to a login screen.
I am interested to hear about other experiences. Anyone else have this happen to them?
Comments
I'm on a bronze plan
I'm on a bronze plan, using the WA State Health Exchange. (I'm self-employed so have to buy through the exchange.) My premium went up about 20% for 2017, and the deductible increased by about 10%. Last year, I didn't get a rate increase, but the types and amounts of benefits were reduced.
Between the premiums, co-pays and deductibles, I'd be out of pocket around $15,000 before I started receiving benefits, except for a minuscule amount they pay for doctor's office visits. (We're talking like $6 for a $70 office visit.) I basically use it as catastrophic insurance.
(I know the insurance company executives say they don't issue catastrophic insurance coverage any more. They aren't living in the same world the rest of us are, apparently. "Catastrophe" means something entirely different to them.)
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
' "Catastrophe" means something entirely different to them.'
Reduced stock prices weakening their options packages.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Geee...
Good thing Americans won't have to go Bankrupt paying for medical coverage and bills with the ACA...
Oh Snap!
Looks like being forced to buy expensive useless health insurance is the Obama Legacy...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Yikes! I gota brochure sans pricing from Acsellus (sp?)
but that is my BC/BS portion of UHC. No word notification as to 2017 from them. Yet. Gulp. I gulped even though I am in a large group of NYS retirees but have needed much medical usage this year with more to come. One more surgery (at least one) before year-end.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Last year our son, an adult Aspie had his plan go up ten times
was costing us (he's never had a job). We decided to have him go "naked" since we already pay out of pocket for counseling that insurance wouldn't cover. He doesn't have a job, so I don't think they can fine him, but we shall see.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
I Don't Think The ACA Penalty Is Enforceable
According to this video. So just don't pay it.
ACA penalty is discussed at 2:30 mark.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Thank you, COE. Looks like we're good, then.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
I'd be cautious about relying on Lawrence's advice
on the ACA mandate. (He is a Dem Party shill, after all.)
I forget a lot of the finer points on the mandate, except that unless you're entitled to a federal income tax refund, there's not much of an avenue for the IRS to collect.
However, IIRC, I believe that the unpaid tax penalty can 'follow' you, endlessly.
I'm not absolutely certain, but, I 'believe' that having an unpaid ACA tax penalty may disqualify folks from eligibility for social insurance programs.
(Again, don't quote me on that, but if I were receiving, or hoping to receive financial or medical assistance through any of the federal transfer programs, I'd check it out. I think that it's sorta like the student loan program, in some respects. IOW, one can be 'flagged' for nonpayment.)
Also, I don't recall if it's a dischargeable debt in a bankruptcy proceeding. But, Lawrence is correct that they ditched the idea of placing liens on property.
Also, if one reneges on making all one's premium payments to an Exchange insurer (before dropping out), one can be denied further participation in the ACA, at a later date--even if one's excuse was homelessness, or some other dire circumstance--until restitution is made to one's previous insurer.
In short, it is a totally insurance-friendly law.
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore– to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
The SOSD Fantastic Four
Available For Adoption, Save Our Street Dogs, SOSD
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Yeah, you are probably right
and that video is 6 years old, so they've had plenty of time to tighten the screws.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
I Had To Pay It
One of my then-unemployed sons was a bit laggard in signing up for Obamacare, and it cost me $171, under threat of taking that much out of my refund as I was his financial support for the year. Do tell me again how that it isn't enforceable. I could use that $171 right about now.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Much lower increases here
But starting from an already absurd amount. Not sure why your geography should determine how much you get reamed if it's supposed to be a national program.
This is an aspect of Democratic governance that isn't often discussed. Pundits always talk about political reality. There's also this thing called real reality. A program has to actually fucking work, no matter what David Brooks or Larry Summers thinks of it.
Pundits talking about reality
is like 6 year old girls talking about sparkly pink unicorns. Their absolute certainty and high level of detail should not be taken as a sign of accuracy.
Hey! I've seen
those sparkly pink unicorns!
It was some Good shit I had that time!
peace
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
I'm still uninsured because employment is a pipe dream.
That's what happens when you have disabilities that make driving an actual car difficult to impossible. Not to mention I live in Flawer-Duh, where our governor refused to expand Medicaid.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Cruising friends who spend enough time in the US
each year and are required to purchase health insurance wrote us and said their premiums tripled in California. And they are generally out of the country for at lest 6 months a year. We are out full time so we don't have to purchase the POS coverage or worry about being fined.
Looks like the ACA has turned out to be the pile of crap many of believed it would become. I'm actually a little surprised that it happened so quickly.
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush
At least they have a boat.
And it sounds to me like they need to spend another month outside the country to avoid having to buy into a crashing system of expensive fraud.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
If you talked with cruisers or anyone else
that spends a good deal of time outside of the US you get some insight Americans don't seem to comprehend. It's one thing to go uninsured in most of the rest of the world. You can actually afford to pay out of pocket for your health care costs. We recently had complete executive physicals done in Malaysia. These included just about everything. Complete blood and urine tests, chest x-rays, ultrasounds, EKG and hour consultation with the doctor to go over the results. And it was all completed in one day in one visit to the hospital. Total cost? Less than $250US each!
I recently just had a severe allergic reaction to something unknown. May have been a spider bite, maybe something food related, I'll likely never know. My face started swelling up, then my throat until I couldn't swallow and was having trouble breathing. Went to the emergency room at the hospital where they kept me for the night hooked up to an IV. As soon as they gave me an injection of an anti-histamine, the swelling started to disappear. It wasn't an anaphylactic reaction, just a severe allergic reaction. Thankfully I don't have to buy $700 Epipens from corrupt pharmaceutical companies to save my own life in the future. Total cost for a night in the hospital, IV's injections and prescription medication to take with me? Just under $200US!!!
The one place in the world you dare not go without health insurance is the US, particularly if you're a US citizen. One unexpected accident and you can lose everything, maybe even your life! When I read stories like the ones in this essay where people are essentially spending $13,000/year for nothing, I am shocked beyond belief. I could have a hip replacement surgery here for less. Something with health care in the US is so wrong and the rest of the world knows it. The only ones that don't seem to understand are half the US population that thinks giving people health care, not insurance, for reasonable prices, is socialism. I'll never move back to the US!
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush
As I have Medicare and Medicaid, I am not involved in this
rip off. So I have a question about the ACA. I know that for car insurance, one's credit score is used to determine rates. My question is whether the health insurance does the same. I am thinking that the poorer the consumers get and the more they have to rely on credit cards to get by (which lowers one's score) how someone ever thought this was a good idea.
PS. In the news today, Trump indicated that he would keep the kids on parents' policies to 26 and no exclusion for pre-existing conditions parts. What I have not figured out is how he plans to do this if he keeps his campaign pledge to scrap the ACA. Maybe he will make it a part of his single-payer plan...lol.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Donald: You can't cover preexisting-conditions without
Requiring everyone to buy coverage. Period. Full stop. No discussion. No debate. If you feel the urge to debate, buy a can of spray foam and suck on it until it seals your mouth permanently shut. IDGAF how much business experience you have.
Sure you can. (Medicare does it.)
Umm, why? Forgive me, but I don't see how coverage of pre-existing conditions and the voluntary/mandatory coverage issue are inter-related at all.
I would genuinely like to know. This isn't a bashing attempt. Everything I've ever studied on how insurance works tells me that covering pre-existing conditions is merely another risk to be estimated and calculated for.
I'd appreciate anything you could tell me or direct me towards which would clarify this a bit.
Thank you!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Good point, Sean. Pre-ACA, there was no 'mandate'
to participate in Medicare--yet, most folks would likely agree that Medicare has been a relatively successful program since its inception.
Offer a good or decent product, at a reasonable price--and they will come. (IMO)
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore– to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
The SOSD Fantastic Four
Available For Adoption, Save Our Street Dogs, SOSD
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Moral hazard
If you know you can get insurance whenever you want, then there's no reason for anyone healthy to buy it. One physical a year isn't that expensive out of pocket. Then if you do get sick, you can sign up for insurance that day and get coverage. That creates a death spiral for the plan. Nobody healthy paying in, premiums going up, even fewer people enroll, sick people draining the money. Everything goes boom.
There is no similar moral hazard with Medicare. Young healthy people can't sign up even if they want to.
Guess we have to agree to disagree. :-) Plenty of folks carry
insurance throughout their lifetimes, including their younger and healthier years. We did.
I have never supported the ACA, and would like to see the program's beneficiaries immediately enrolled in Medicare, and the program abolished. Of course, there's some evidence that it may be in the beginnings of a so-called death spiral. (Again, I'm not advocating leaving the participants without health insurance coverage.)
It was clearly a very poorly written law. And, it's design unfairly spreads too much of the costs to beneficiaries of employer-sponsored health plans, IMO. This was definitely not an unintended consequence. The intent was to 'incentivize' employers to slash employees' benefits--which they've done in spades.
Also, due to the 'Family Glitch,' there is little or no redress when premiums for other than 'employees only,' are prohibitive. I see no evidence that lawmakers on either side of the aisle are truly serious about amending this supposed 'glitch.'
Then there's Expanded Medicaid--or, Basic Medicaid, for that matter. How on earth can a progressive support a program that strips the lowest income Americans of (sometimes) their only asset? IMO, it is unconscionable.
Bottom line, it was written for, and by insurers. And it shows.
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore– to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
The SOSD Fantastic Four
Available For Adoption, Save Our Street Dogs, SOSD
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
The new loophole for pre-existing condition denial
is to narrow the provider networks to exclude the specialists. That way certain expensive conditions are not covered, whether pre-existing or not.
Excellent point, Sandino. EOM
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Don't get me started about the credit rating industry
That's a rant worthy of an essay all on its own.
To answer your question, though, credit scores are not used to determine your premium amount under ACA. As far as I know, the insurance companies use actuarial data pertaining to age, geographic location, smoking vs non-smoking, etc. I don't think they're allowed to raise your rates because of claims made, as they do with auto insurance, but I could be wrong.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
thank you. this is good to know...
just in case something happens and the coverage I do have disappears (probably the next time we have a corporate Dem in the WH). Although, I would probably just have to do without.
The credit rating industry was created in hell and should be sent back. Equifax changed my first name after over 50 years of credit history to a name that does belong to me or that I have ever used. They refuse to correct it unless I send them in the mail a photocopy of my license and social security card. Yeah, that sounds safe...especially with people who obviously have no clue what they are doing.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
DT and Ben Carson are not espousing support
for a single-payer plan, that I've seen. In the video posted here the other day, Carson was restating his desire to 'leave health care up to the individual and their doctors.'
What he didn't bother to specify in that interview (but has in the past), was that he's wanting to eliminate the insurer altogether, except, perhaps in catastrophic circumstances.
Their 'leaving out the middle man' refers to having individuals save for their own routine medical costs--via a HSA --Health Savings Account.
(WD, I think I caught that you were being a tad snarky, but a few individuals appear to believe that DT is pushing for a single-payer system.)
We have an HSA, but it would hardly be the sole vehicle that we would choose to cover our medical costs.
Warren Buffet might could swing it, but most folks could not, IMO.
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore– to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
The SOSD Fantastic Four
Available For Adoption, Save Our Street Dogs, SOSD
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Yes, the single-payer remark was meant as a joke.
However, in keeping with the "It takes a Democrat to pass a Republican agenda" thought, it might take a Republican to pass a progressive agenda. It is one of the ways that Republicans can save the party.
I read about the Health Savings Account. In a time when most Americans have no savings because they are barely making it s it is that is hardly a workable solution.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Sounds like a good First Test for Trump
Here's another opportunity for Trump et al to either step up or the Honeymoon will last as long as Hellery's coronation fireworks.
Infrastructure should be a quiz, as he has Congress. Low Points, but high marks can improve standing (read trust)
Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever
Doug Henwood:
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
To quote my favorite socialist
We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. -- Ben Franklin
Texas BCBS Bronze up 70%
My daughter-in-law's boss (owner of a small beauty shop) posted a picture on FB of a notice from BCBS of Texas informing her that her Bronze plan was going up 69.8%. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.
Here's the text she included with a picture of the notice:
I don't know for sure, but something tells me she didn't vote for Clinton...
Hubby's Marketplace plan
is going from $201 to $273/month; we now pay $90 of the premium, next year we'd have to pay $162, so the same tax credit.
I keep getting notifications whining at me to verify my info for 2017; I haven't started a new application yet because I have no idea what my insurance through work is going to do yet, so I can't do much of anything until I know. Last year they wanted $600/month to include both of us, which is about 1/3 of my income after taxes. I can't wait to see how much they want to soak us for next year. 9_9
This shit is bananas.
We in MA experienced a similar phenomenon with RomneyCare.
Little to nothing was done to address the need for cost controls. With the original "mandate" bringing millions of previously uninsured healthy young persons into the pool of insurance 'customers' there was a brief period of lower premiums followed by increases that quickly went into double digits. As premiums continued to rise people downgraded from decent ""Gold" and "Silver" plans into high deductible and high co-pay "Bronze", but the premiums just kept on rising into the unaffordable range.
Healthy younger people and all others without deep pockets began opting out, impinging on the sacred profit motive of insurers drug companies and providers, necessitating progressively larger annual increase, causing further opt outs from the insured pool.
This all went down well before Obamacare (a thinly disguised clone of RomneyCare) was rolled out with great fanfare. The coming collapse of Obamacare has been following a very similar course as RomneyCare did in MA. Massachusetts RomneyCare was spared the ignominy of a complete collapse by the arrival of Obamacare. Unfortunately, Donald Trump's health care plan will be what's coming to the rescue when Obamacare either collapses on its own or gets repealed.
Health care is still all about profit, and profits are still are at the root of the problem.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
My premium went up
from $1100 to $1300. The bronze plan is $1100.
I would have to change drs. if I go bronze. I am lucky. I go on Medicare May 1.
I just thank my lucky stars I do not have a mortgage, car note, or bank loan.
I am also lucky that my properties, both real estate and personal property, are in good repair.
My health insurance is my biggest monthly expense.
BCBS has me over a barrel for 5 more months.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
In CT, LOWEST cost Bronze Plan went up 28%
2017 Bronze Plan - $661/Month or $7,932/year
Details
ESTIMATED MONTHLY PREMIUM $660.92
ANNUAL OUT-OF-POCKET MAX $6550
EMERGENCY ROOM 10%
PRIMARY CARE CO-PAY 10%
ANNUAL DEDUCTIBLE $5685.00
So given Annual Premium + Deductible, I will have spent $13,618 before I gain any benefit of having insurance.
Thanks Obama. Your dog food tastes like shit.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
That's not health insurance
It's armed robbery! And Obama wants to claim this as his legacy achievement? I think he should have set his goals a little higher.
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush
I'm stupid.
I was against ACA from the start. I foolishly thought, hey, Medicare works fairly well, and you can add to it with supplemental insurance and poor people can get Medicaid. Let's build on the base of Medicare and start lowering the eligibility age until everyone is covered. Meanwhile, let employers buy into Medicare instead of private insurance for their employees under the eligibility age.
That seemed reasonable to me. But I was assured by ACA supporters that I was wrong. They said I wanted rainbows and unicorns. They said ACA is better than sliced bread, and everything would be wonderful, and all Americans would be covered at low cost, and we'd all live happily ever after because it was a market-based solution and the very best we could do.
But, being stupid, I doubted. Someone now gets to say "I told you so." I wonder who that someone will be.
What?!? You saw
the unicorns too?
Cool.
peace
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
self-employed in AZ
Before the ACA, I hadn't had health insurance since 2002. Luckily, I'm very healthy, and when I do need health care, I tend to go alternative (acupuncture, herbs, homeopathics), none of which is ever covered by standard insurance.
The first year of Obamacare, I took the penalty. This year, I have been paying $187/month (after the subsidy) and the only time I used it was to get a dermatology screening. With insurance, it cost $50. Without, it would have been $250. The difference, dear readers, is only a little more than one month's premium.
Last week, I got a notice from my insurance company that the same exact silver plan would be going up to $452/month (after the subsidy) in 2017. I just laughed when I read that. Not on my income.
I haven't gone online to search the plans yet, but if I have to suck it up and pay the penalty and go without insurance, I will. I saw a tweet recently that said something like "remember when it was free to NOT have health insurance?"
I have 3 more years before I can go on Medicare. I hope it's still there when I'm eligible.
There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka
Paul Ryan already targeting it
Friday, Nov 11, 2016 5:57 PM UTC
Paul Ryan wants Donald Trump to let him privatize Medicare, gut Obamacare
Paul Ryan has near complete control over the future of health care in the U.S.
Trump’s new transition website, however, describes a health policy agenda that potentially embraces Ryan’s proposals. “Modernize Medicare, so that it will be ready for the challenges with the coming retirement of the Baby Boom generation — and beyond,” the website reads.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Target yes.
Succeed unlikely. After the disaster of ACA, I suspect Medicare will be even more of a 3rd rail than it already was.
May You Be Correct
I await evidence from those empowered to act (like Ryan) to support your position.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Me, too.
Self-employed in AZ. I have 4 years to go until Medicare if I survive that long. I've used the income exemption to avoid the penalty. This year, I'm going to use the utility cutoff notice waiver. Next year, who knows? If I'm lucky, ACA will be repealed before then.