Our health care prems up 30% how bout yours?

[bright eyed]

Given the current health care debate, if you made this public, betcha
you could negotiate that down.
I believe most mega-corps self insure, and use the insurance companies
to handle the admin but actual health care costs are paid by the mega-corp
hence controlling costs.
TJ

not sure my lil non profit can negotiate, nor my friends with staff from 3 people to 30...but could make a good story...

we have a lot of staff with dependents so it would be a big shift...

 

[teejayevans]

About a year ago, I was having heart palpitations and weakness in my left arm and decided to go to the ER. They gave me a couple of meds, kept me on a gurney in the hallway for several hours, gave me an EKG and decided to admit me overnight. The bill - largely covered by insurance - came to nearly $7,000. I know that the bill ws padded because my insurance carrier would pay and I knew that they likely admitted me overnight because they could charge for an empty bed.

Yea, you got screwed, I spent 3 days in hospital, private room, countless
blood tests, drugs, etc for less than that. Hospital has excellent rep, but it's
non-profit, that might have something to do with it.
TJ

 

[barker]

Our health insurance went from $544.32/month up to $663.68/month for me, my wife and my college student daughter. This was for a $2500/person deductible policy.

They allowed me to increase the deductible to $5000/person for a slight premium increase to $561.58.

This is a private policy through Golden Rule, a United Healthcare Company. It has some pre-existing conditions excluded however.

 

[Dennis]

Well, I'm retired now and In Medicare and use the VA as well
But, I still do Some Consulting for my Former Employer and their Company is expecting MUCH HIGHER Premiums to even Be New records..

Their Agentcy said the Ins. Co.'s are holding off till the Last min. to provide New rates, waiting to see what Congress is Going to Do with That OBAMA health Care plan..

With being Forced to Take Anyone- No Pre-X's and expecting many Individuals will Wait Until AFTER something happens and pay the $1,000 Fine, It's going to Jack Pot Ins. Co.'s , let alone Also Raise Costs Considerably for having to take Pre-X people either way.. and of course Pass thos Cost onto Group Plans as well.

And then their are many Co.'s that just might raise the Premiums to Employees enough to Force them to Opt out and Go into the Gov't Plans.. and Only Keep a Premium Plan for Executives and let the Rank & File Go on their Own.. Saving the Co. Alot of $..

many Towns/Cities are watching very closely as well and Planning on doing the same thing ...

Can't Blame them..

 

[teejayevans]

Our health insurance went from $544.32/month up to $663.68/month for me, my wife and my college student daughter. This was for a $2500/person deductible policy.

They allowed me to increase the deductible to $5000/person for a slight premium increase to $561.58.

This is a private policy through Golden Rule, a United Healthcare Company. It has some pre-existing conditions excluded however.

They jacked mine up 20% as well, I switch, if it goes up 20% with no
inflation, can't imagine was will happen if inflation starts to rise.
I had no preconditions
TJ

 

[ls99]

Highmark of PA has asked for a rate increase. I'll find out in Jan what that will be. Currently 580/month for self. DW has hers from past employer, it is about a third of mine in cost.

 

[Aussie Trooper]

Its a global problem and the reasons I see are: shortage of medical staff, increasing litigation driving expensive best practice, increasing reliance for medicine on diverse and cutting edge technologies.....

In Aust our premium increase have to be approved by govt committee, yet every year massive increases. Private health is profitable, but not rediculously so its inneficiencies or true cost driving it....

Ours rise by about 15-20% p.a. for the last memorable years .......

We have two systems a public system with long waiting lists, shared rooms and free for families on less then about $100K combined income.......over $100K your forced to go private with tax penalties if you dont......The level of care in private is significantly better though...

In Aus our top private hospital cover with private room and choice of doctor is $550 per quarter for a family. This does not include out of hospital expenses eg prescriptions, physio etc......Thats about an extra 350 per quarter for all your ancillary needs for a family of 4.....

Our dollar is 0.92 us cents so thats about $600Us per quarter and $380 per quarter US.

 

[teejayevans]

We have two systems a public system with long waiting lists, shared rooms and free for families on less then about $100K combined income.......over $100K your forced to go private with tax penalties if you dont......The level of care in private is significantly better though...
.

I assume if <$100K you can choose to go private.

Lets say you are working, making >100K, and private. What happens when
you retire, I assume many would want to remain in private system so they
don't have to change Doctors, etc.

In your cities you may have a choice of public vs private, but what about
in the outback, can public visit a private doctor/hospital and vice-versa??

I think the British system is similar to yours.
TJ

 

[FUEGO]

Annual enrollment starts today at DW's company (where we get insurance). The rates went up a whopping 2.5% for us. From $33.82 to $34.66 this year (per month). This is obviously going to take a big chunk out of our monthly budget for bubble gum and miscellaneous candy expenditures, but in these difficult times we will figure it out somehow. They did raise the deductible from $2400 to $3000 on our "high deductible" plan, and they added extra benefits for mental health, speech, and phys therapy.

More painfully, our family dental coverage is going up more than a dollar a month from $47.78 to $48.97 (also 2.5%).

Big cuts are coming to the FUEGO household budget.

 

[Amethyst]

BCBS basic (cheapest), family policy, pre-tax dollars (while I am working; reverts to after-tax dollars once I retire):

Currently paying $2500/year, plus another $800 for separate dental/vision. I hear the premiums will go up ?12%? for 2010. No doubt the co-pays will rise, too. This, in a time of "no inflation"

The dental insurance would be good (pays 40% of covered costs) except I always end up stuck in the middle amongst the dental office, BCBS (which gets the claim first and has to deny it), and the dental insurer. Although we pay at the time of service, 2 or 3 months later I always get a bill from the dental office for the "full" cost of the procedure, and I end up having to referee amongst all 3 entities.

Amethyst

 

[gettingthere]

Just got me rate schedule for 2010 benefits from Megacorp. My share of the individual health coverage went up 38% (!). It did not go up at all last year from the previous, so I suppose things could be worse.

We also have had no pay raises for the last two years, though.

 

[nun]

Did anyone else hear the recent "This American Life" programs on NPR all about US healthcare. There were very interesting and explained the origin of the system and the inherent problems.

Living in MA, where health insurance is mandatory, I'm now hoping the legislature can get a handle on costs. I work for the state so get good insurance, $1200/year low copays, no deductibles. Last year the %age of our premium we pay went up from 20% to 25%. I'm also a UK citizen so if I have to I can always return to Britain and get NHS care free at the point of service.

 

[Bikerdude]

I received Megacorp retiree HC benefit package today. 2010 HC & dental went down 5%. Deductibles went up slightly. They self insure and said claims had been favorable during 2009 which allowed the premium reduction. I'll take it.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We just got a notice that our health insurance will go up 7 percent for 2010; "tier 3" prescriptions will be a little cheaper through the insurance prescription program, and limits on mental health service have been raised or eliminated; otherwise, no changes.

Not complaining.

 

[Texas Proud]

Our healthcare premiums are going up 22%... to over $1,000 per month for a family... the company only picks up $350 of that...

Our dental is going up 18%... to about $180 per month... the company picks up $35...

We are a small company and one employee got cancer and is not expected to make it... the costs must have been high....

 

[ziggy29]

Just saw our share of the Megacorp health insurance is going up only 4.9% for 2010. This is a self-insured HDHP/HSA plan administered by Aetna. The PPO option appears to going up by closer to 20%.

 

[REWahoo]

My individual BC/BS $5,000 deductible HSA policy is going up 14.8% next month. The increase announcement included this bit of "good" news:

Additionally, we have made changes in the way we rate to minimize financial impact to you. Rates will be converted into a single year age band format - a separate rate for everyone from age 0 to 65+.

No explanation as to how this might actually "minimize financial impact"...

 

[sirion]

One of the main messages of the "This American Life" program is that it is really hard for healthcare consumers to know the cost of the medications they are taking. The healthcare industry all has a part in masking this price to both doctors and consumers. How can we make smart spending decisions if we don't know the cost of things? It's just one of the many problems facing the healthcare situation.

 

[M Paquette]

No explanation as to how this might actually "minimize financial impact"...

The single year rate bands are wonderful news for you. As long as you can avoid getting older, your rates won't be affected...

 

[bright eyed]

Our stellar finance/hr staff found reasonable solutions, switched plans around (not big changes) just higher co-pays which we can all live with...!

 

[DblDoc]

I haven't seen this years enrollment package yet but rumor has it we have a 6% on average increase in Health plans for 2010. We are supposed to be "pleased" because the industry average is around 6%.

DD

 

[Moemg]

My BCBS federal health plan really took a jump this year . I've had the BCBS standard the last few years but the BCBS basic seems to offer the same benefits as long as you use preferred providers which my physicians are . I was also surprised to see that GEHA had lowered their cost while BCBS went way up . I'm going to send for the booklets and compare the plans line by line .

 

[Dawg52]

My BCBS plan will go up $4/mo first of the year. I'm pissed. A pleasant surprise. Last year up 14%.

 

[Martha]

One of the main messages of the "This American Life" program is that it is really hard for healthcare consumers to know the cost of the medications they are taking. The healthcare industry all has a part in masking this price to both doctors and consumers. How can we make smart spending decisions if we don't know the cost of things? It's just one of the many problems facing the healthcare situation.

You can't know the "true cost" of medications because there isn't one. The cost differs depending who you are and who is paying.

 

[megacorp-firee]

unicare just sent me a 22.5% increase letter, follow up with a 'we are discontinuing insurance in Illinois' letter. BCBS is going to take over their policies, but can raise the rates. So I have to wait until Dec. to see what the real damages will be.
I am pissed.