Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm having to again initiate health insurance coverage out-of-pocket (not through an employer). Previously, as in last year, it was in the $300 range. Looking again in the past few days, the lowest I've seen is in the $600 range. That's a significant change; doubling in costs.
What's up with this? I have a theory, but would like feedback. Anyone else seeing this kind of thing?
My wife's Obamacare plan increased mainly due to her drawing income now. But for the same identical plan it pays less for everything. She has to pay more for prescriptions, doctor visits, etc. than last year.
My individually purchased plan actually went down $30 a month for 2019. Was surprised as all that was being written was how much more it would cost due to repeal of individual mandate.
Our insurance costs have gone up greatly every year since the ACA was enacted. Just got the BCBS PPO 2019 plan and here are our costs for a husband and wife:
Monthly premium: $1000
Individual deductible: $6650 each
Yes, terrible. We are self employed.
About the only good news is that preventive care is still covered at 100 percent and that after we meet our huge deductibles, everything in network (and it is a good network) is covered at 100 percent. So there's that.
My individually purchased plan actually went down $30 a month for 2019. Was surprised as all that was being written was how much more it would cost due to repeal of individual mandate.
Did any of your benefits change? Did your deductible go up? Did your network decrease? Did your copays go up? Look for hidden stuff, not just the premium. Our premiums didn't change at all - but our benefits changed.
I'm having to again initiate health insurance coverage out-of-pocket (not through an employer). Previously, as in last year, it was in the $300 range. Looking again in the past few days, the lowest I've seen is in the $600 range. That's a significant change; doubling in costs.
What's up with this? I have a theory, but would like feedback. Anyone else seeing this kind of thing?
I have a privately bought Blue Cross policy, and expected a big rise. Instead when I got my letter, it is actually about $20 a month less for 2019. I'm not sure why, but I heard NJ and a few other states did something to keep their residents' policies from skyrocketing (due to the current administration doing away with the individual mandate, which should have made all policies rise across the board). Not sure what they did, but I'm grateful. At 56 I was already paying $665 a month, with a $3,000 deductible.
In any case, the raise in premiums is in large part due to the loss of the mandate, which means a lot of younger people just won't sign up for insurance and causing insurers to raise prices for everyone else to make up for that.
Update: I just found out the reason mine went down, not up. NJ enacted it's own state mandate this year, requiring all NJ residents to purchase health insurance. Thank you, Governor Murphy!
Did any of your benefits change? Did your deductible go up? Did your network decrease? Did your copays go up? Look for hidden stuff, not just the premium. Our premiums didn't change at all - but our benefits changed.
Yes network decreased to the point I will be switching insurers, but due to the massive amount of hyperbolic press coverage regarding the repeal of the individual mandate and it's supposed demise of ACA, I was surprised I wasnt going to face huge increases in premiums.
Yes network decreased to the point I will be switching insurers, but due to the massive amount of hyperbolic press coverage regarding the repeal of the individual mandate and it's supposed demise of ACA, I was surprised I wasnt going to face huge increases in premiums.
So you are getting less for your money. That happened to us too. "Good news, your premiums aren't going up! Oh, OK, but your deductibles are."
We've faced one huge increase in premiums and/or decrease in services year after year since the ACA was enacted. We had small increases (which we expected) each year prior to the ACA but the minute it was enacted our premiums went out the roof, and have stayed there since then. Just when I thought a $5000 EACH deductible was crazy, we got the deductibles for 2019 raised - to $6650 each. Basically all we have is preventive care and catastrophic care.
I'm having to again initiate health insurance coverage out-of-pocket (not through an employer). Previously, as in last year, it was in the $300 range. Looking again in the past few days, the lowest I've seen is in the $600 range. That's a significant change; doubling in costs.
What's up with this? I have a theory, but would like feedback. Anyone else seeing this kind of thing?
Check another tier. For example, if you are in Silver, check the Gold and Bronze plans. Some plans in some states significantly increased Silver plans only. They did this increase in response to changes the Trump Admin made in how government cost sharing subsidies are paid. The gov stopped paying the cost sharing subsidy but the recipients are still allowed to get the same discount. This means the insurance companies still had to give discounts out to people, but the gov stopped payments to the insurance companies.
In response, the insurance companies raised the rates for the premiums, the cover this shortfall. What happened though, is everyone on that plan had a premium increase, including people that self-pay 100% and don't get any subsidy. In some states, only the Silver plans got massive increases,while other tiers weren't impacted. The reason Silver plans got the rate increase is because those are the plans that most subsidized people are on.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
