Affordable Health Care Act? A Joke??? (insurance, deductible, income)

[Freebird2007]

Ok, so I got off the phone with Lifewise who is my private insurance carrier. Besides raising my premiums from the $400 range to over $700, it appears that benefits have been cut too. Not that the benefits were all that great to start out with. Now my fully covered office visits are only covered at 75% for the first 6 and then subject to the $3500 deductible after that of which they will only pay 75%. I shopped around and apparently, Lifewise is the better of the plans.

So my question is.....where is the affordability part of the act? Taking my child to the doctor for a virus has now started me off the year with a $245 bill (after insurance) If this keeps up, I won't be able to afford my premiums let alone any doctor bills. And if I am having this much trouble, how about those that fall far below my income level?

If I am missing something please let me know. We have less than a year for this act to go into effect and so far I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unless there is a large number of insurance companies eagerly lining up to enter the WA market, I say I am screwed. The more and more I think about it, insurance policies are sounding less like insurance policies and more like discount plans.

[cdelena]

Government induced distortion in the health care market seems to hurt everyone.

We now pay twice as much as we did five years ago... we used to have a comprehensive policy with low deductibles and now we have catastrophic insurance with $10K individual deductibles. Now we have to spend 7% of AGI before anything is deductible and next year it will be 10%.

Here in Washington there is even government control of hospital beds and medical outlets where providers are often refused clearance to build or expand. Fewer service providers, less competition, and higher prices.


"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

[Hemlock140]

Mine is mostly employer paid but our contribution went up even after they changed to a less expensive plan. The long range planning by HR includes significant increases over the next few years based on their study of the laws. I have no idea who it's "afordable" for. One friend that has Group Health individual went up so much that she had to change to a plan with lower payments but less benefits and higher deductibles.

[CarawayDJ]

Join the club.