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8 years ago I was paying $130.00 a month through my employer for health insurance (family coverage). It was a typical 80/20 plan after meeting a $2500.00 deductible ($5000 per family) and $20 doctor visits. A job change and 8 years later and I now pay almost $900.00 a month for an 80/20 plan with a $6500 deductible ($13,000 per family). That's a 700% increase in premiums with a much higher deductible. Anybody else feeling the pain? What do you pay?
$184 a month for a $4500 max out of pocket per person I think. This is for me and two other family members.
We have three options and I pay for the cheapest one with the highest deductibles because I am usually pretty healthy and so is my family. However, one year I had a surgery and the $4500 max came out of my pocket. I guess you pay for that every 5 months though. Glad I don't have your plan.
Our more expensive plans offer all these "perks" like a pharmacy card with $2000 max for the year or something. I don't want all that. I might use it if I had someone in the family with a chronic condition like diabetes. Thankfully, I don't have that.
Just retired last year and my company put us on the Affordable Care Act (ACA aka Obamacare). This was the first time on the plan for my wife and myself - we pay about $1100/month. I had 51 plans to choose from, all different in different ways - and the BlueChoice folks did not understand the plans which made it really hard to choose. Most about the same in cost. Decided on a $3400 deductible for me and a $6800 for my wife. Plans have different coverages. I estimate we will pay about $18-$20k this year with premiums and standard drugs/tests we have had used.
Three trends - healthcare spending/costs have gone up 60% from 2004 to 2014, much higher than any wage increases. Second, employers have also passed on more of the cost to employees, either in premiums or in higher deductibles (which lower their premiums). Third there is probably some effect of the ACA, but I think that is a small part of it as most of the features of ACA are reasonable and the current health care spending per person is huge. With or without the ACA the high cost/spending will still exist.
We are the only(?) developed country that has a for profit health care system and the most expensive one. In 2014, the spending was $9523 per person in the US. We pay many times (like 5x) for the same drugs in the US vs other countries. As a budget exercise, if you evenly distribute the costs, a family of 4 should be paying $38k/yr. Unless the costs/spending change, or more of the burden is taken up by government, I am expecting to continue to pay ~$15-$20k/yr.
Last edited by norm42; 08-07-2016 at 01:15 PM..
Reason: typo
Yes but I have seen this happening since about 2006 when things gradually got worse. On the one hand we ARE paying more on the other we assume less risk. But enough is enough. This is a great deal to keep those with money keep from going bankrupt but as is, I am not sure sure it makes health care affordable. Personally, I think we need to kill the insurance industry and its obscene profits and go to single payer.
My family policy (employer contribution plus my own monthly premiums) runs about $18,000 per year for a family of 4 with in-network deductibles of about $4000 and max $8000 per family. That sounds like a lot until you actually need to go to hospital where the charges can run up so very quickly with no say in the matter. Providers seem to charge whatever they want to see what can get out of my insurance, which is then greatly reduced via the insurance company.
The main thing seems to be to make sure the providers you want are in network. I had exhausted all my in-network deductibles and then found one provider I had used at Bon Secours was inexplicably out-of-network ( the clinic was in,but not the doctor). Ouch. I ended up paying much more. It was a reminder that the insurance usually does a good job.
Look, I had an issue in 2009 before the ACA was approved. Husband. Heart attack. The ambulance service (Greenville County) was not in network. . We were told we should have used a transport service out of Anderson County. My husband was being moved from Hillcrest to Greenville Memorial and they decided he need a real live ambulance with you know, defibrillators etc.. Had to pay out of pocket. It is the Insurance Companies; they are a scam and they have the ears of congress be it the ACA or whatever. They are the ones greasing the palms and running the show.
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