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Well my brother told me yesterday when he called me that his company got everyone together and told them that if they have a spouse then they will be required to take their spouses insurance because they are totally dropping theirs . Then a dumbazz girl at my brothers work says "Oh you guys can take the obamacare ,its free !!! and he told me everyone started in on her wanting to know where she heard it was free ?....well my husband and I looked at the obama care and they absouloutly have no plan available for us ..and the premiums are outrageous .I guess we will just pay the fine .Im sure we are not the only ones in this boat .
Sounds like your brother's employer still offers health insurance to their employees and the employee's spouse/family. But the employer only will pay for the employee's portion of the insurance. If the employee wants their spouse or family added, then the employee will have to pay the full cost for spouse/family. The alternative is for the spouses to get insurance through spouse's employer. Some flavor if this scenario. But if they offer insurance to the employee, they surely have it available for the spouse. It's just he financial part that is changing for the spouse. If the brother still gets insurance from work, he cannot get any insurance from the health exchanges. not sure about the wife.
Surely you can understand that not everyone is seeing an increase. Surely you can understand that most people reporting this information have no idea what they are talking about if you look at their other posts on this subject. Surely you can read that NO ONE has posted ANY numbers to validate their claims that they have these "huge increases"...I've yet to see what a person has for co-pays, deductibles, OOP max and monthly premiums compared to what they will have next year. I've only seen post were people "heard" that these are going up. Get that information from your clients too and see what the real, hard numbers are because I HAVE been looking at those numbers and the changes are not out of line with typical plan year premium increases.
As I have posted before, several days ago I received my 2014 premium notice from BC/BS of Alabama, same exact coverage, increase was $5.00 a month. Not what I consider a HUGE increase.
As I have posted before, several days ago I received my 2014 premium notice from BC/BS of Alabama, same exact coverage, increase was $5.00 a month. Not what I consider a HUGE increase.
How does your premium compare with the Alabama rates on this table for the county where you live (picking the age group that's closest to you)?
P.S. Never mind. Guess you forgot to tell us you're on Medicare. Which doesn't have anything to do with policies for pre-Medicare people:
Good question I am wondering the same thing. I am on Medicare but will be looking for my wife who is only 63. Will her premium be based upon our income together?
Just because a premium goes DOWN, it doesn't mean the coverage STAYS THE SAME.
Surely you can understand this????
People are reporting that to keep the same COVERAGE, their premium is going UP.
Are you saying they are all LYING about their insurance premium increasing????
I can see what people may be talking about. Here's an "exchange" calculator I found for the State of Michigan (IMO - it's inexcusable that there isn't a calculator like this available on the federal website for every state whose exchanges are being run by the federal government) :
I plugged in my BIL (between 60 and 64) - who lives in Michigan. And his rate for a Platinum plan (which is the closest to what I had before I went on Medicare) would be $1000-1100/month. A Gold plan would be between about $750 and $1000/month. This is without any applicable subsidies (even with subsidies - we're talking far from cheap). Robyn
I can see what people may be talking about. Here's an "exchange" calculator I found for the State of Michigan (IMO - it's inexcusable that there isn't a calculator like this available on the federal website for every state whose exchanges are being run by the federal government) :
I plugged in my BIL (between 60 and 64) - who lives in Michigan. And his rate for a Platinum plan (which is the closest to what I had before I went on Medicare) would be $1000-1100/month. A Gold plan would be between about $750 and $1000/month. This is without any applicable subsidies (even with subsidies - we're talking far from cheap). Robyn
I plugged in our age (61) and our pathetic retirement income and our premiums would be over 50% of our gross income. If no subsidies $1,000 a month is hardly doable nor is $2,000 a month. Crawling towards Medicare I fear. I really do not know how the lower income soon to retire seniors will be able to do this in MI, even with subsidies.
I can see what people may be talking about. Here's an "exchange" calculator I found for the State of Michigan (IMO - it's inexcusable that there isn't a calculator like this available on the federal website for every state whose exchanges are being run by the federal government) :
I plugged in my BIL (between 60 and 64) - who lives in Michigan. And his rate for a Platinum plan (which is the closest to what I had before I went on Medicare) would be $1000-1100/month. A Gold plan would be between about $750 and $1000/month. This is without any applicable subsidies (even with subsidies - we're talking far from cheap). Robyn
Platinum coverage is NOT common any longer though. Seriously, the Platinum plans I've seen have $10 co-pays for office visits and $5 prescription co-pays with OOP maxes of $4000. Price out a silver plan for the same people and see what the premium and TOTAL cost difference really is. For my friend in FL, the Platinum plan was actually MORE expensive overall then the silver because the premiums were so high. You have to factor that into the total costs as well.
Platinum coverage is NOT common any longer though. Seriously, the Platinum plans I've seen have $10 co-pays for office visits and $5 prescription co-pays with OOP maxes of $4000. Price out a silver plan for the same people and see what the premium and TOTAL cost difference really is. For my friend in FL, the Platinum plan was actually MORE expensive overall then the silver because the premiums were so high. You have to factor that into the total costs as well.
Guess it depends on your age/what health care stuff you use. Which can vary a lot year to year.
Also - I find the Bronze ---> Platinum plan descriptions confusing. Because they're basically result oriented in terms of overall estimated costs for large groups of people - without telling people exactly how they get to those goals (overall - you have to dig into the individual insurance policies to figure out what's covered). Why can't these plans be more like standardized Medicare/Medigap policies - which are relatively easy for most people to understand?
The government has been doing Medicare for decades now. I think things would be easier to understand had it started from the Medicare model - and gone on from there. Robyn
Companies have been cutting employees' hours for the past decade to avoid paying health insurance. That's another benefit of the ACA: not being at the whim of a company's hiring policies to qualify for health insurance.
I doubt those who no longer have the hours consider this a "benefit". And many local governments have only begun to cut hours and employees and they are very specific about it being a result of Obamacare.
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