Please sign my health care insurance rate petition to the White House. (medical, plan)

[tuttenmark57]

I need your help to get this petition going. It turns out that "We The People" petitions on the White House Website doesn't allow the issue to be viewable until 150 people sign the petition privately. I am on a campaign to bring an injustice to the President where married couples using Self Plus One Federal Insurance coverage pay more money each month for their coverage than two single people. This is just another example where federal negotiators are not doing their job and since they work for the Executive Branch, I am calling on the President to sign an Executive Order to lower self plus one rates to no more than the amount that two single people would pay. I ask everyone who cares about the mess that medical insurance has become in this country to sign my petition and forward, share or otherwise help me publish it outward to get the necessary votes for a response. It's clumsy in that you have to vote and then respond to their verification email to make it count. The url for the petition is [url]http://wh.gov/iv1FX[/url]. I would really appreciate everyone's help. Thanks in advance.

[Ariadne22]

Originally Posted by tuttenmark57

I am on a campaign to bring an injustice to the President where married couples using Self Plus One Federal Insurance coverage pay more money each month for their coverage than two single people.

The single is an employee with an employer subsidy. Self Plus One is priced on one employee (subsidized) and one nonsubsidized nonemployee. Nothing odd about that. Private employers do this all the time - will subsidize the employee, will not subsidize employee's SO/family.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by Ariadne22

The single is an employee with an employer subsidy. Self Plus One is priced on one employee (subsidized) and one nonsubsidized nonemployee. Nothing odd about that. Private employers do this all the time - will subsidize the employee, will not subsidize employee's SO/family.

Interesting. I wonder if the OP is referring to a private sector employment plan, or a federal employer plan. My husband and I were notified of the new availability of a "self plus one" category for the federal employees BCBS insurance that we use as secondary to Medicare, and have switched to that for 2016. The premium for the Standard Option in this plan will be $501 a month, as opposed to the family plan premium which will be $515. This was an increase in the family plan premium of $450 or so in 2015. I did wonder at the small difference between the premiums for the self plus one vs. the family plan, but figured my husband's explanation about subsidizing costs for those family plans was probably right. I had not realized that an employer subsidy might not include all of the insured individuals ( ie, nonemployees) on a given plan.

But I am not about to sign any petition, looking at what's happened with other folks and their health insurance, coverage and lack of same, and their costs, I realize how lucky we are. Being on Medicare, if we didn't have this secondary insurance we would either need to purchase a medigap plan for each of us, as well as a Part D plan each to cover prescription meds. Depending on those plans, to get coverage close to equivalent to that of our secondary BCBS, we'd spend significantly more than those new premiums will cost us.

[lchoro]

The government is paying roughly 75 percent of the cost of the plans.

https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insur...postal-ffs.pdf

The White House or OPM has nothing to do with the pricing of the plans. You're actually getting a price break from Self Plus Family which was the only previous offering if the One was not a government employee or retiree.

[Iggier]

Originally Posted by lchoro

The White House or OPM has nothing to do with the pricing of the plans.

WRONG!

OPM each year negotiates rates with proposed carriers. The annual call letter refers to rate negotiations in its first paragraph https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insur...15/2015-02.pdf.