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.
Got a letter today from our AARP/UHC supplement with only 5 monthly payment slips. It seems that they are going to start their billing year in June now instead of January. I wondered why January through May hasn't changed. Well at least not for me. DH has an increase in May because of his discount adjustment. We will be getting hit in June with their yearly increase. Sucks for us because May is DH discount adjustment, then a regular increase in June and then my discount adjustment is in July. So for 3 months in a row we will get hit with increases every year.
I'm wondering why they are doing this? IMO they don't do anything unless it benefits them, so how is this going to monetarily benefit them? Letter claims they are trying to keep costs low to the customer, but I don't believe that at all.
Their statement on saving you money is probably true to an extent. Because of COVID, UHC has probably decided they won't have good numbers on which to basis the annual increase in January - to cover not only extraordinary costs from last year but projected additional costs this year - again, all because of COVID.
My expectation for a while now has been because of COVID, premiums for health insurance will generally see a sharp uptick. Medicare people will not be exempt from this impact what with the expensive and lengthy hospitalizations encountered this past year for so many. Many insurers were waiving deductibles and copays for COVID patients. You can bet these companies will be raising premiums because of these "gifts" and unanticipated claims.
If UHC had been doing the annual inflation increase once a year in January, sounds like the inflation increase is now being deferred to June - so that's a good thing for you, I would think. Gives you a bit of a reprieve until June and an opportunity to save what you think the increase will be. Plan for the worst - expect the annual increase to be higher than normal as these are not normal times.
Last edited by Ariadne22; 09-26-2021 at 12:45 AM..
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.
