Health Insurance Changes

[Jenny in GA]

My BCBS personal health insurance coverage for myself and 2 children went up 10% starting this month to $373. I can't do anything else to tweak my coverage, i.e. raise the deductible or raise the out of pocket limit. I'm already at the top of that tier -- $5000 out of pocket deductible per person. It totally stinks.

 

 

Well, I don't know if this makes me you feel any better, but that coverage would be like heaven for my family. We pay almost exactly $1400/month.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Well, I don't know if this makes me you feel any better, but that coverage would be like heaven for my family. We pay almost exactly $1400/month.

 

That is awful! I can't even imagine.

[2squared]

Health insurance is one of our top reasons for dh staying in the Reserves. We pay less than $200/month for awesome coverage. Then we combine that with his civilian plan through work (high deductible, extemely low premium plan) which gives us $2400/year for medical expenses.

[sarah1615]

I see people mentioning that insurance companies are stating the AHCA as the increase in premiums, but I have a hard time trusting that the insurance companies are just hurting so badly. It makes sense to me that given that insurance companies are not happy about ObamaCare they are trying to add a political swing to their rate increases. They are always blaming something external for the increases in insurance cost for individuals while increasing their profits ridiculously every year!

[Kathryn]

I see people mentioning that insurance companies are stating the AHCA as the increase in premiums, but I have a hard time trusting that the insurance companies are just hurting so badly. It makes sense to me that given that insurance companies are not happy about ObamaCare they are trying to add a political swing to their rate increases. They are always blaming something external for the increases in insurance cost for individuals while increasing their profits ridiculously every year!

 

:iagree:

Our premiums have increased at about the same percentage each year for a while now. The deductible and out-of-pocket max haven't doubled like they will this year, but we've had ridiculous increases for years.

[Mom-ninja.]

I see people mentioning that insurance companies are stating the AHCA as the increase in premiums, but I have a hard time trusting that the insurance companies are just hurting so badly. It makes sense to me that given that insurance companies are not happy about ObamaCare they are trying to add a political swing to their rate increases. They are always blaming something external for the increases in insurance cost for individuals while increasing their profits ridiculously every year!

 

 

:iagree: Of course the insurance companies are openingly blaming AHCA. Insurance companies have been enjoying large profits and crappy customer coverage for too long.

 

Our insurance rates have gone up every year for the last 10 years.

[TammyS]

We had good insurance and reasonable premiums for a long time. Then our premiums shot up and then we had a baby who stayed in the NICU for a week. If he had been born 3 months earlier, the whole thing would have cost us $2000 (as our out of pocket max had been $1k per person). But it ended up costing us $6k, because our out of pocket max tripled, in addition to huge premium increases. AND it has gone up again since then. I know who I blame (and it ain't the insurance companies, who, though we like to demonize them actually have some of the lowest profit margins among large businesses).

[stripe]

I see people mentioning that insurance companies are stating the AHCA as the increase in premiums, but I have a hard time trusting that the insurance companies are just hurting so badly.

 

It's rather like the banks, angry about recently mandated consumer protection policies, that have started jacking up fees as a way to recoup their lost income.

 

Neither banks nor insurance companies are "hurting."

[Joker]

It's rather like the banks, angry about recently mandated consumer protection policies, that have started jacking up fees as a way to recoup their lost income.

 

Neither banks nor insurance companies are "hurting."

 

Dh is an actuary with an insurance company, and some are hurting. He's looking for another job as we speak (has been for the past year), and it's tough. Most of his co-workers are also looking for another job, but they're all struggling to find anything.

 

We've always had great insurance with very little increases, but that's all about to change. Next year it will become difficult for us to afford to go to the doctor or get our regular prescriptions. I'm glad this plan is allowing others to finally get coverage, but our coverage is now changing so much that I don't know we'll be able to afford to actually use it.

[stripe]

:iagree: Many of the employees at my husband's company are hourly workers. Their hours will now be reduced to less than 30 per week so that the company does not have to pay for their health coverage. It is SERIOUSLY going to hurt these families. And many other companies will do the exact same thing.

 

Where I am, this is nothing new; companies have been avoiding hiring people full time for years. Decades, even. To avoid benefits.

 

Also a fair number of people have random schedules and aren't guaranteed hours every week. A neighbor of mine changed from working at the grocery store, earning $7-something/ hour, where sometimes she and 34 hours and sometimes 15 hours a week, notified only the week before.

 

With all due respect, I have seen a different side of America than I saw growing up. What some experience as awful, is much nicer than what a large number of others experience everyday. We've already seen on this thread that some of the horrible and super expensive health care plans people have, are way better than what other people have and would be a huge blessing to them.

 

Many, many people in this country have horrible jobs with borderline abusive employers who pay them very little, with no benefits or crummy ones. To those people, "government health care" sounds like a dream come true, not a nightmare. For people whose insurance has been high cost with payouts like the John Grisham movie, these regulations are welcome.

 

The number of PhDs, MBAs, and the like who are unemployed or underemployed or quite poor is frightening.

[TammyS]

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/08/25/why-health-insurers-make-lousy-villains

[Jenny in GA]

We've always had great insurance with very little increases, but that's all about to change. Next year it will become difficult for us to afford to go to the doctor or get our regular prescriptions. I'm glad this plan is allowing others to finally get coverage, but our coverage is now changing so much that I don't know we'll be able to afford to actually use it.

 

Exactly.

With a $75 co-pay, we now have to evaluate whether something is "worth" going to the doctor or not.

It is really sad that people with health insurance are actually canceling doctor appointments (which we recently did) because it costs so much just to visit a doctor.

 

I don't even know if this plan is allowing people to get coverage. I still cannot get coverage, and I was told that even when it goes into effect, yes, I can buy coverage, IF I can afford to pay through the nose. Just because they can't deny me anymore doesn't mean they can't charge me whatever they want.

[Tutor]

We just applied for private health insurance and were pleasantly surprised that we could get a high deductible, catastrophic plan for under $300/ month for dh and I. (We can't afford to add the kids... that would cost about $1200/ month, so they are going on CHiP... not so happy about that, but at least I won't have to worry whenever they get sick). We have a medical deductible of $7500 and a prescription deductible of $1000 then everything is covered 100%. All well visits are covered 100% from the get go.

 

This is all assuming we're approved, of course.

[TammyS]

Exactly.

With a $75 co-pay, we now have to evaluate whether something is "worth" going to the doctor or not.

 

 

Actually, I think this is a good thing. One of the biggest problems with health insurance as a concept is that we have separated the consumer and the payer into two different persons. So the person who consumes the product doesn't think of the cost of the product. In fact, they frequently don't KNOW the cost of the product. So they don't evaluate whether they should be consuming the product at that time, which means there is a lot of unnecessary and inefficient consumption.

 

NPR did a story about this a few years back. They talked to a guy who got an acne medication. He went to the pharmacy to fill it. The pharmacist asked if he wanted it in a tube or in disposable pads. The guy asked which was better. The pharmacist said that they are both the same. But, oh, there is a coupon for the pads from the pharma company that is the same amount as your co-pay ($30). So the guy thought what we all would, duh, go for the "free" one instead (free to him at the time). Much later, he found out that the stuff in the tube cost $50. The disposable pads were several hundred. So now the insurance company paid several hundred more for the same thing, because the consumer of the product didn't feel the need to find out which was cheapest. Naturally, those costs get passed on.

 

While I don't demonize the insurance industry, I do feel it's just not a good way to do business. You've a megalothic sized middle man standing between the provider of the product and the consumer of the product.

 

I am just about ready to jump ship to an expense sharing system. The one my friend is in has a $500 deductible and then they pay (theoretically, depending on what costs are that month) 100% after that. But they also have as part of their program that every bit of money that you negotiate down from the provider you get taken off of your deductible (which would get people to pay more attention to things like billing errors, etc., such as when my son was born and the hospital automatically billed us for a circ he never got). So they are restoring the provider/consumer relationship, at least to some degree.

[Amy in NH]

Our insurance costs have been steadily (and sometimes dramatically) rising every year for a decade or more. We haven't found out yet about this year's increase, but we certainly expect one. And because of the history of rising insurance costs, we certainly won't be blaming it on the Affordable Health Care Act.

 

:iagree: We've always had crappy coverage with high premiums and deductibles. Nothing new here, except that now I can actually afford to get female preventative care.

 

Exactly.

It is really sad that people with health insurance are actually canceling doctor appointments (which we recently did) because it costs so much just to visit a doctor.

 

 

 

Yup. Welcome to the reality of more people than you probably realize.

 

Maybe if everyone has to put up with what many of us have to deal with every day, some real reform might happen?

Edited October 16, 2012 by Amy in NH

[charcat13]

Maybe if everyone has to put up with what many of us have to deal with every day, some real reform might happen?

 

This mentality seems sad to me. It comes across as,"if I have it bad everyone else should too." How is it better to have access to insurance you can't afford or have insurance that has such high deductibles and copays it's unusable? Isn't that basically the same as having no insurance? So we get to say everyone has coverage, but no one really gets care. I don't understand how this has fixed anything. Just because we're all equally miserable doesn't mean anyone is better off.

[kewb]

Our insurance costs have been steadily (and sometimes dramatically) rising every year for a decade or more. We haven't found out yet about this year's increase, but we certainly expect one. And because of the history of rising insurance costs, we certainly won't be blaming it on the Affordable Health Care Act.

 

:iagree:

[staceyobu]

NPR did a story about this a few years back. They talked to a guy who got an acne medication. He went to the pharmacy to fill it. The pharmacist asked if he wanted it in a tube or in disposable pads. The guy asked which was better. The pharmacist said that they are both the same. But, oh, there is a coupon for the pads from the pharma company that is the same amount as your co-pay ($30). So the guy thought what we all would, duh, go for the "free" one instead (free to him at the time). Much later, he found out that the stuff in the tube cost $50. The disposable pads were several hundred. So now the insurance company paid several hundred more for the same thing, because the consumer of the product didn't feel the need to find out which was cheapest. Naturally, those costs get passed on.

 

When I had my last baby, they wanted me to take a breast pump kit. I said I didn't need it... I had no plans of pumping. The pump kit was covered by our insurance. They pressured and pressured and pressured. Literally, came into my room repeatedly telling me I needed it. I finally said, whatever... leave it in here.

 

I *know* they made money off this from insurance. It really made me angry... but after two nights of no sleep and recovering from a delivery, i got tired of fighting about it.

[happyhomemaker25]

Dh is an actuary with an insurance company, and some are hurting. He's looking for another job as we speak (has been for the past year), and it's tough. Most of his co-workers are also looking for another job, but they're all struggling to find anything.

 

We've always had great insurance with very little increases, but that's all about to change. Next year it will become difficult for us to afford to go to the doctor or get our regular prescriptions. I'm glad this plan is allowing others to finally get coverage, but our coverage is now changing so much that I don't know we'll be able to afford to actually use it.

 

Yeah, my husband was warned before the last election that if it went a certain way they would have to lay off a bunch of people to prepare for the changes coming. In March of 2009 he was laid off with a lot of other people. They've been steadily laying people off since. It was a pretty big insurance company. It's also the insurance company my mom retired from and now, as I mentioned earlier, her premium has gone way up as has her deductible. This is the most dramatic increase she has seen and her buddy, a VP for the company said they are having to raise costs across the board this year and slash even more employees and it's because of the AHCA.

I'm not a big fan of insurance companies because they do over charge the doctors and other healthcare providers, but it's not pretty in the insurance industry right now.

[charcat13]

I didn't take it that way at all. I took it to mean apparently some people don't get it because they don't have to deal with it, but maybe if they did, real change would happen.

 

I don't believe most people with decent insurance are thinking, "oh we'll, I've got mine." Again, IMHO statements like these set up an us vs them rather than a let's get this fixed mentality. I just don't see how dragging some people down makes the situation better.

[charcat13]

Yeah, my husband was warned before the last election that if it went a certain way they would have to lay off a bunch of people to prepare for the changes coming. In March of 2009 he was laid off with a lot of other people. They've been steadily laying people off since. It was a pretty big insurance company. It's also the insurance company my mom retired from and now, as I mentioned earlier, her premium has gone way up as has her deductible. This is the most dramatic increase she has seen and her buddy, a VP for the company said they are having to raise costs across the board this year and slash even more employees and it's because of the AHCA.

I'm not a big fan of insurance companies because they do over charge the doctors and other healthcare providers, but it's not pretty in the insurance industry right now.

 

That really stinks. I think the system could be better, but the average person working for the insurance company is simply trying to feed their family like everyone else.

[Shellers]

We are currently paying $1,500 a month for health insurance.

 

Next year we will have to pay $1,650 a month. :confused:

[Virg]

....We can't save for kids' college, can't take vacations, can't hire a babysitter, are driving cars that are over ten years old ... just because our routine health care is so expensive.

 

And there's nothing we can do about it.

 

This is us.

 

We have children with rare medical issues. (DH says we will never win the lottery because we already did in diseases lol!) It is very difficult but I am glad that we have insurance through DH's job (Forbe's 500 company). He purposely applied to get in at a big company to better protect our health coverage and he puts up with a ton of crappy policies to keep the coverage. Even with a better-than-most-insurance, everything is going up more than normal this year and I don't know how we will pay for everything we are going to need: medical formula for feeding tubes, procedures that are necessary, etc. My only hope is that we just keep going more and more in debt but that the doctors and hospitals allow us to keep coming.

 

Prescriptions are where we will be screwed. They won't give them to us unless you pay up front and since some of them will be my child's food... We don't qualify for any help because we "make too much." Never mind that we spend most of our disposable income on healthcare. Each of my children has several hundred dollars in RX alone. I agree that if all, or even most, of my family was healthy, we would "make too much." That isn't the case however.

[charcat13]

This is us.

 

We have children with rare medical issues. (DH says we will never win the lottery because we already did in diseases lol!) It is very difficult but I am glad that we have insurance through DH's job (Forbe's 500 company). He purposely applied to get in at a big company to better protect our health coverage and he puts up with a ton of crappy policies to keep the coverage. Even with a better-than-most-insurance, everything is going up more than normal this year and I don't know how we will pay for everything we are going to need: medical formula for feeding tubes, procedures that are necessary, etc. My only hope is that we just keep going more and more in debt but that the doctors and hospitals allow us to keep coming.

 

Prescriptions are where we will be screwed. They won't give them to us unless you pay up front and since some of them will be my child's food... We don't qualify for any help because we "make too much." Never mind that we spend most of our disposable income on healthcare. Each of my children has several hundred dollars in RX alone. I agree that if all, or even most, of my family was healthy, we would "make too much." That isn't the case however.

 

:grouphug: That is such a terrible situation. Is there a resource in your community that can help? Church outreach or similar assistance.

[ondreeuh]

We just switched plans under the same carrier. Our previous plan was an 80/20 plan with a $10,500 per individual out-of-pocket max. We had to play quite a bit for my son's heart surgery this summer.

 

Our new plan has a lower out-of-pocket max; I think 300 per individual. Unfortunately they only cover 50% of anything. In addition to that, their network includes very few practitioners in the state (and no ENTs or behavioral health practitioners). Those doctors are out of network, and our cost doesn't count towards our out-of-pocket max unless we appeal on the basis of there being no in-network providers available. Cue giant headache. Of course my son already had a pretty thorough cardiac workup this month, an ENT visit, and is seeing a psychiatrist. This is in addition to pediatrician appts. for all 3 kids. I am saving my receipts and will deduct it from taxes if nothing else, but I still have to appeal every out-of-network charge.

 

I am counting down the days until we can re-enroll in Tricare. We should never have dropped out - and our 12-month lockout is almost over.

[Jenny in GA]

Actually, I think this is a good thing. One of the biggest problems with health insurance as a concept is that we have separated the consumer and the payer into two different persons. So the person who consumes the product doesn't think of the cost of the product. In fact, they frequently don't KNOW the cost of the product. So they don't evaluate whether they should be consuming the product at that time, which means there is a lot of unnecessary and inefficient consumption.

 

 

I don't think it's a good thing that people with insurance are re-thinking seeing a specialist they ought to be seeing, or getting a mammogram or pap, etc, because they can't afford it.

 

I have a serious chronic illness and have three specialists I see regularly, and four when things are going more poorly. Add this to things like getting pap smears and mammograms, and I'm easily going to the doctor twenty times a year. That doesn't even count the rest of my family. And it doesn't count things that are a "problem" that come up, like getting strep throat.

 

At $75 per doctor visit (not to mention our huge premiums), it is a ridiculous chunk of our budget.

[Jenny in GA]

This is us.

 

Prescriptions are where we will be screwed. They won't give them to us unless you pay up front and since some of them will be my child's food... We don't qualify for any help because we "make too much." Never mind that we spend most of our disposable income on healthcare. Each of my children has several hundred dollars in RX alone. I agree that if all, or even most, of my family was healthy, we would "make too much." That isn't the case however.

 

Yup, us too. We don't qualify for anything because we "make too much," but a third of our income goes to routine health care and health insurance.

[Donna A.]

:iagree: Many of the employees at my husband's company are hourly workers. Their hours will now be reduced to less than 30 per week so that the company does not have to pay for their health coverage. It is SERIOUSLY going to hurt these families. And many other companies will do the exact same thing.

 

:iagree: This especially hurts small businesses. My hairdresser told me that in order to avoid extra costs that would ultimately force her to close, she will have to keep her staff below a certain #.

 

Meanwhile, over the past several months as my dh has searched and searched to try to find employment OUTSIDE of a government agency :tongue_smilie: he's noticed a huge increase in employers hiring only temp or short-term contractual employees -- without benefits.

[AnnaM]

My parents own a small business and have always provided health insurance that was covered by the company. It was a really great perk for all of the employees (about 10). This year they had to drop it all together because the premiums got so high.

[Aelwydd]

Meanwhile, over the past several months as my dh has searched and searched to try to find employment OUTSIDE of a government agency he's noticed a huge increase in employers hiring only temp or short-term contractual employees -- without benefits.

 

Private employers are generally not adding very many good paying jobs. Mostly "junk" jobs, as I call them. Minimum wage, part-time/temp, contracting, etc.

 

I still think it's part of a vast, neo-fascist scheme on part of large industrial/ corporate heads/ very wealthy/ political leaders on both sides of the aisle to reduce the rest of us to a modern feudal society. They will continue to buy up everything as Americans continue to default and fall faster into debt. Why should either political party change the system, when they get money (and their marching orders) from folks who profit directly from the status quo?

 

Until the Real Tea Party meets up with OWS and join forces to take on both sides of the two headed beast (big business and big government), the Powers That Be will just keep taking care of themselves at the expense of the rest of us. They don't care if we don't have health care (or food, or housing, or education, etc) except inasmuch as they have enough "help" around to slave away for their purposes. They figure there's more than enough of us to serve their needs anyway, so if 10 or 20 percent die off, what's it to them?

 

Obamacare is a joke (and I'm a liberal, BTW), just some crumbs grudgingly thrown our way by the politicians to assuage the natives for a bit. Just like the same old "free market magic" parlayed by the other side is a joke, given that what we have is neither "free" nor really a fair market. You see? They just throw this half-baked crap at us and let us duke it out among ourselves, because it keeps us distracted from recognizing that they have no intention of ceding their power back to the common man.

 

I don't believe in our government, and I don't believe in the folks on Wall Street. But those forces are running our country, so I've already figured that things are going to get a lot more difficult before they get better. I'm dreading when health care costs take up more than 50% of my income, and when food constitutes the other half.

[Jennifer3141]

:iagree: Of course the insurance companies are openingly blaming AHCA. Insurance companies have been enjoying large profits and crappy customer coverage for too long.

 

Our insurance rates have gone up every year for the last 10 years.

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

DH and I don't even participate in his practice's insurance plan because it's not so great. We buy ours on ehealthinsurance and pay $455 a month for REALLY great insurance for everyone in our family. We've got no maximum benefit limit and our deductible amount is $2500 per person per year but there's a nice catch - only two people per family have to hit it per year so it's capped at $5000.

 

We did have to evaluate and dump some coverage items. We decided to have no mental health covereage. When the kids are teenagers, we may need to re-evaluate that. And I have no OB covereage but I have already decided that if I am ever graced with baby number 3, I'm going the midwife route anyway. Cross my fingers and hope we don't have any congenital defects past the normal abortion limits, I guess.

 

And we don't have prescription coverage. We have a "discount" card for prescriptions. Since we don't have any prescriptions, I don't know how this will work.

 

No copays for ofiice visits to our regular doctors. I love that one.

 

And we added an extra $150,000 life insurance policy on both of us to the entire cost. I'm just really happy with purchasing our own insurance.

[QueenCat]

I don't think it's a good thing that people with insurance are re-thinking seeing a specialist they ought to be seeing, or getting a mammogram or pap, etc, because they can't afford it.

 

Mammograms and paps are REQUIRED to be covered at 100%. You are not allowed to be charged a deductible or co-payment for them. All insurance companies must cover them at 100%.

[cathmom]

Our insurance costs have been steadily (and sometimes dramatically) rising every year for a decade or more. We haven't found out yet about this year's increase, but we certainly expect one. And because of the history of rising insurance costs, we certainly won't be blaming it on the Affordable Health Care Act.

 

Exactly! We've had a private plan for 16 years and every single year our premium has gone up, some years by quite a lot.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/08/25/why-health-insurers-make-lousy-villains

 

So explain why a non-profit company was sitting on so much profit that they finally agreed, after being investigated by the state, to send a onetime check with no admittance of wrongdoing to their customers, please.

[mom2scouts]

Yes, I have heard this from so many friends. Expect it to get much worse unless the "Affordable HC Act" is killed. It was so frustratingly predictable. :(

 

:iagree:We already lost our health insurance. My dh works at a small business and many small business owners I know say it will be less expensive to pay the fines than provide health insurance for their employees. One of my adult sons doesn't have health insurance either because his small business owner can't afford it.

[melmichigan]

We have a 15% coinsurance to keep BCBSM this year. We have to have physicals on a time frame, and health assessment counseling if anything is out of range or we will pay a higher deductible. I'm grateful we can keep BCBSM, the company is trying to get everyone on HMO's.

 

The other change for us has been the announcement that our Flexible Health Spending contribution has been cut in half, and is max at $2496. For a family of seven it won't take but a month or two to run through that amount.

 

This is a contract year so we are expecting more changes beginning next year, and keeping our fingers crossed that they don't lock out over this type of negotiations this year.

Edited October 17, 2012 by melmichigan

[lovemy9kids]

:iagree: Many of the employees at my husband's company are hourly workers. Their hours will now be reduced to less than 30 per week so that the company does not have to pay for their health coverage. It is SERIOUSLY going to hurt these families. And many other companies will do the exact same thing.

:iagree:

[Amy in NH]

:iagree:We already lost our health insurance. My dh works at a small business and many small business owners I know say it will be less expensive to pay the fines than provide health insurance for their employees. One of my adult sons doesn't have health insurance either because his small business owner can't afford it.

 

I'm thinking it will probably be cheaper to get good coverage from one of the state insurance pools, once they are set up.

[Rivka]

So we get to say everyone has coverage, but no one really gets care. I don't understand how this has fixed anything. Just because we're all equally miserable doesn't mean anyone is better off.

 

The AHCA doesn't fully take effect until 2014. Of course things don't look better yet.

[QueenCat]

I'm thinking it will probably be cheaper to get good coverage from one of the state insurance pools, once they are set up.

 

For many, that is likely to be a better option. For some, it will be the first real option they've had in a long time, if ever.

[mommymilkies]

Dh's work insurance dropped from over $1600 per family/month to ~$1300 a month, so an improvement. I think it's only $400 for just the kids, but we still can't afford it. His insurance has gone up every year for at least a decade, according to co-workers, so this is the first drop in at least that long. I have only heard people talking about theirs not changing or getting slightly better.

[mom31257]

Dh is laid off and our insurance stopped at the end of September. We are paying for Cobra right now to try and get through a medical situation with me. We will have to drop insurance altogether after my surgery is done. Does anyone know if there is going to be an option for uninsured and when it would come into effect? I have a benign tumor on my septum that is going to have to be removed.

[Pink Fairy]

Ours is going up almost $200 to over $1800/mo. :( Thankfully, my husband's employer contributes $1000 to that. I'm grateful we have health insurance, but between gas prices, furlough days, and increasing food costs I feel like we are so much worse off financially than we were just a few years ago.

[happyhomemaker25]

I'm thinking it will probably be cheaper to get good coverage from one of the state insurance pools, once they are set up.

 

I don't know. I'm on the transition PCIP program. We've been fighting with them since March. We submitted our application in March. We had to call them repeatedly to find out the status. They finally approved me at the end of June with an April effective date. They wanted three months of premiums up front. Over $600. We called and were told we had til the end of August to make the payment so we scrimped and saved every penny only to be cancelled the second week in August. We reapplied and after 2 months of haggling and arguing they approved me for an October 1 effective date. I sent in my premium for October, the check was cashed a week later and I was very happy that I now had insurance. Yesterday I got a bill saying they'd changed my effective date to September 1 and I now owed two months on November 1. It's already a tight month with car trouble and having to pay out of pocket for medicine that cost over $300 while we waited for the premium check to cash. I have no idea where I'm going to get the extra almost $300 I need to have to pay 2 months premium. They swear they have a letter asking them to expedite the effective date. The only thing we can think of is when we were cancelled the first time the girl asked us to send in a letter detailing what was happening.

I just don't know that trusting the state or federal government to run healthcare is going to be as effective as everyone wants it to be. From what I've seen it's a big ol' mess of hooey. Plus, please, don't expect any kind of customer service. One in 10 people we've talked to has been helpful.

[QueenCat]

I don't know. I'm on the transition PCIP program. We've been fighting with them since March. We submitted our application in March. We had to call them repeatedly to find out the status. They finally approved me at the end of June with an April effective date. They wanted three months of premiums up front. Over $600. We called and were told we had til the end of August to make the payment so we scrimped and saved every penny only to be cancelled the second week in August. We reapplied and after 2 months of haggling and arguing they approved me for an October 1 effective date. I sent in my premium for October, the check was cashed a week later and I was very happy that I now had insurance. Yesterday I got a bill saying they'd changed my effective date to September 1 and I now owed two months on November 1. It's already a tight month with car trouble and having to pay out of pocket for medicine that cost over $300 while we waited for the premium check to cash. I have no idea where I'm going to get the extra almost $300 I need to have to pay 2 months premium. They swear they have a letter asking them to expedite the effective date. The only thing we can think of is when we were cancelled the first time the girl asked us to send in a letter detailing what was happening.

 

 

Are you saying the premiums are $600 for three months? If so, that is actually quite cheap. That would be a decent price for one month. I realize having to double/triple up isn't easy but in the long run, that is quite good in pricing to have insurance coverage. Hopefully, the logistics for your specific issue will be resolved soon.

[TammyS]

So explain why a non-profit company was sitting on so much profit that they finally agreed, after being investigated by the state, to send a onetime check with no admittance of wrongdoing to their customers, please.

 

I'm sorry, but your question doesn't make sense. The article you reference is for-profit companies. :confused: I'm afraid that I don't know what you are talking about.

[happyhomemaker25]

Are you saying the premiums are $600 for three months? If so, that is actually quite cheap. That would be a decent price for one month. I realize having to double/triple up isn't easy but in the long run, that is quite good in pricing to have insurance coverage. Hopefully, the logistics for your specific issue will be resolved soon.

 

Its a GREAT price and I love it! I don't love the way they keep changing my effective date, this is the second time now and piling up the charges. The reason I have to go with this insurance is we are living below poverty level with my husbands job as a security guard. We budget everything. We did not budget having to pay $600 for a premium that was supposed to be around $231.

The price is great, the screw ups not so much. I have not had one claim paid yet, because I've been battling the screw ups with my effective dates. How is that beneficial? How is that going to be improved by adding more people to the program when the AHCA becomes a reality?

[goldberry]

Yes, I have heard this from so many friends. Expect it to get much worse unless the "Affordable HC Act" is killed. It was so frustratingly predictable. :(

 

So if the AHCA gets killed, and insurance KEEPS going up while providing less (as it did for years BEFORE the AHCA)...then what?

[goldberry]

I just don't know that trusting the state or federal government to run healthcare is going to be as effective as everyone wants it to be. From what I've seen it's a big ol' mess of hooey. Plus, please, don't expect any kind of customer service. One in 10 people we've talked to has been helpful.

 

We went through almost the exact same process applying for private insurance. It took about 6 months altogether. I honestly don't expect any customer service from ANYONE in the insurance biz anymore. They expect you to grovel for the privilege of having them cover you....

[mommymilkies]

We went through almost the exact same process applying for private insurance. It took about 6 months altogether. I honestly don't expect any customer service from ANYONE in the insurance biz anymore. They expect you to grovel for the privilege of having them cover you....

 

:iagree: I went through over a year of dealing with BCBS because of their idiocy over a charge. I have Medicaid and while there has been stupidity, it's nothing compared to what we went through with BCBS.

[cathmom]

I'm sorry, but your question doesn't make sense. The article you reference is for-profit companies. :confused: I'm afraid that I don't know what you are talking about.

 

The article you posted was about how insurance companies aren't evil and have a small profit margin. In NC, the "non-profit" BCBS keeps sitting on massive profits while continuing to increase rates every year. They're doing it again right now.