Can't get a break...health insurance

[JFSinIL]

OK, hubby finished selecting our BCBS plan (including dental)for next year, PPO and keeping most of our doctors. We get some subsidy, still - yet overall the cost per month (with higher co-pays and deductibles :-( ) is more then twice what we have been paying. $480 to $1180. Amazing - it went up almost the exact same amount as the stipend I started getting from the state as as one of my adult son with autism's "aides" (more like minion). Frustrating. Had been hoping to use that extra money to help pay the mortgage.

Edited December 16, 2016 by JFSinIL

[Anne in CA]

That is frustrating. I'm so sorry. 

[mom2scouts]

The plans offered to us with full subsidies will take 25% of our income, have huge deductibles, don't include dental or vision, and aren't accepted by any of our local doctors or hospitals, including the nearby children's hospital. We didn't pick a plan. We might still see if we can join a healthshare.

[Lynnae]

I had to tell a client this week that insurance for he, his wife, and their newborn baby was going to be $1000 a month. He was just over the income limit where you get a subsidy. They are going without insurance instead.

[StephanieZ]

The ACA is pretty well and completely broken. I am sure there are decent fixes possible, but the utter lack of responsible legislating has made that impossible (and set up this catastrophe in the first place.) 

 

Now that the GOP has control of both houses of the legislature and the presidency (and most state governments), removing the influence of antagonism between the parties, I can only hope that their better angels influence the GOP to be productive and offer reasonable health coverage to all Americans. Wouldn't that be a miracle?

 

All I can do is hope . . . 

 

Meanwhile, I think many, many families will be losing coverage and/or taking different jobs that offer coverage. I know our small business just finalized a new group plan, to take effect January 1, in response to the implosion of the individual exchange in our state (plummeting quality of plans coupled with catastrophic pricing increases). The ACA run SHOP Small Business Exchange still offered good plans at reasonable (still very high, but not nearly as bad as the individual exchange) rates. What I had read in 2016 had led me to expect the implosion in the 2017 plans, and that's exactly what happened. (I was ready, as I was strategizing the SHOP Exchange plan options . . .) 

 

Maybe someone will get a grip and just roll out single payer and/or "Medicare for All" . . . And negotiate with drug companies instead of barring the government from doing so  . . . 

 

I believe that eventually, the US will socialize medicine, as has nearly every other large economy . . . (and the private marketplace will offer supplemental plans to offer more control/options to those who can afford it) . . . The only question in my mind is just how much suffering people will endure until then. 

[mommyoffive]

That is awful.  I am so sorry.

[mom2scouts]

I just got an email saying that Healthcare.gov is extending the dates for coverage. They say it's because of demand, but I wonder if people just put it off because it was overwhelming and unaffordable.

[Carol in Cal.]

It's horrible this year.  What a joke.

[MomtoCandJ]

Dh and I won't have insurance next year, the girls qualify for MICHILD which is like Medicaid but we have to pay $10.00 a month (so $5.00 per child in our case). That $10 is regardless to how many children you have. My inlaws won't have insurance either. The premiums plus copay and deductibles is just too much and doesn't cover what we really need (dental and vision). We go to the doctor a few times a year and the deductable is set so high (over $13,000) that it's just unreasonable for healthy people to meet. Besides the fact that WITHOUT insurance, our doctor charges $35 but if you have insurance it $70. In our case it's really cheaper for us not to have insurance. I looked up our current crap plan and they want us to pay over $300 a month with subsidy. We could save that $3,600 and have all of our medical, and vision needs met and some of our dental (I need extensive dental work)

[poppy]

It is really terrible and I see no light on the horizon. I think it will get worse with the new cabinet .

[JessReplanted]

We signed up for a terrible plan. The nearest doctor is 30 minutes away. But we will pay $101/month with a deductible of 1200. If one of us ends up in the hospital it will hopefully help.