- Joined
- May 27, 2009
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 18
- Location
- Sarasota, FL
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
Come back when you can tell us your actual out of pocket cost. Til then you're ranting for nothing. If you make enough to not receive a subsidy, then you should have proper insurance and extra cost should be less than a drop in the bucket. So find out what your subsidy is, then compare out of pocket, not premium cost.A couple of days ago I finally received the long-dreaded policy cancellation letter from Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida. My previous monthly premium for my grandfathered policy was $174 / mo ($2,088 / yr). The cheapest Obamacare-compliant policy available from BCBSFL is $412 / mo ($4,944 / yr).Almost $3k more per year for health insurance if I stay with BCBSFL! To put it mildly, I am not pleased. :censored
So, is my grandfathered policy "junk"? Absolutely not. It has a much higher deductible (now illegal under Obamacare), but I was fine with that. It also excluded coverage for my pre-existing condition (a hernia). I decided that I was willing to risk having to pay for the hernia repair myself in exchange for a lower monthly premium (I've had the hernia for many years, the condition has never changed, and it causes me no pain or discomfort). This kind of mental calculation is forbidden under Obamacare.
Despite Obamacare's rhetoric of helping the middle class, I have a middle-class income as a self-employed manager, do not qualify for subsidies, and am getting slammed with higher premiums for the privilege of being force-fed a health insurance policy I do not want.
I did some searching online, and found a website that claims that the average premium for a 50 year old male (I'm 52) in my county is $325 / mo. I found another insurance company online who quoted a bronze policy around that number. I tried to register on healthcare.gov, but the website malfunctioned with an "unexpected error".
Entirely by coincidence, a couple of weeks ago I deregistered as a Democrat (I've long considered myself an Independent who votes with the Dems). Well, now I'm an Independent who is severely disgusted with both political parties.
I have a few months to arrange for new health insurance. I will post an update as the situation evolves. Thanks for letting me rant. :2wave:
A couple of days ago I finally received the long-dreaded policy cancellation letter from Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida. My previous monthly premium for my grandfathered policy was $174 / mo ($2,088 / yr). The cheapest Obamacare-compliant policy available from BCBSFL is $412 / mo ($4,944 / yr).Almost $3k more per year for health insurance if I stay with BCBSFL! To put it mildly, I am not pleased. :censored
So, is my grandfathered policy "junk"? Absolutely not. It has a much higher deductible (now illegal under Obamacare), but I was fine with that. It also excluded coverage for my pre-existing condition (a hernia). I decided that I was willing to risk having to pay for the hernia repair myself in exchange for a lower monthly premium (I've had the hernia for many years, the condition has never changed, and it causes me no pain or discomfort). This kind of mental calculation is forbidden under Obamacare.
Despite Obamacare's rhetoric of helping the middle class, I have a middle-class income as a self-employed manager, do not qualify for subsidies, and am getting slammed with higher premiums for the privilege of being force-fed a health insurance policy I do not want.
I did some searching online, and found a website that claims that the average premium for a 50 year old male (I'm 52) in my county is $325 / mo. I found another insurance company online who quoted a bronze policy around that number. I tried to register on healthcare.gov, but the website malfunctioned with an "unexpected error".
Entirely by coincidence, a couple of weeks ago I deregistered as a Democrat (I've long considered myself an Independent who votes with the Dems). Well, now I'm an Independent who is severely disgusted with both political parties.
I have a few months to arrange for new health insurance. I will post an update as the situation evolves. Thanks for letting me rant. :2wave:
A couple of days ago I finally received the long-dreaded policy cancellation letter from Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida. My previous monthly premium for my grandfathered policy was $174 / mo ($2,088 / yr). The cheapest Obamacare-compliant policy available from BCBSFL is $412 / mo ($4,944 / yr).Almost $3k more per year for health insurance if I stay with BCBSFL! To put it mildly, I am not pleased. :censored
So, is my grandfathered policy "junk"? Absolutely not. It has a much higher deductible (now illegal under Obamacare), but I was fine with that. It also excluded coverage for my pre-existing condition (a hernia). I decided that I was willing to risk having to pay for the hernia repair myself in exchange for a lower monthly premium (I've had the hernia for many years, the condition has never changed, and it causes me no pain or discomfort). This kind of mental calculation is forbidden under Obamacare.
Despite Obamacare's rhetoric of helping the middle class, I have a middle-class income as a self-employed manager, do not qualify for subsidies, and am getting slammed with higher premiums for the privilege of being force-fed a health insurance policy I do not want.
I did some searching online, and found a website that claims that the average premium for a 50 year old male (I'm 52) in my county is $325 / mo. I found another insurance company online who quoted a bronze policy around that number. I tried to register on healthcare.gov, but the website malfunctioned with an "unexpected error".
Entirely by coincidence, a couple of weeks ago I deregistered as a Democrat (I've long considered myself an Independent who votes with the Dems). Well, now I'm an Independent who is severely disgusted with both political parties.
I have a few months to arrange for new health insurance. I will post an update as the situation evolves. Thanks for letting me rant. :2wave:
Regardless of how one feels about the efficacy of Obamacare and its overall impact, it is a bummer that it impacted you negatively the way it did. In almost every piece of legislation, there are those who are going to get the short end of the stick. It sounds like given your specific current circumstances, at this time, that may be the case.
While it may not be any comfort in facing a steep increase in premium payments compared to what you had- I can only offer these Points: both from personal experience and knowledge from others, the kind of individual plan that it sounds like you had, you could have been dropped from that insurance at any time for any reason before ACA. Yes the ACA may have been the reason in this instance, but a lot of people seem to have forgotten how bad it was before. while your prior plan may have worked for you under your current particular circumstance at is time- if anything changed in your health situation, I guarantee you those premiums would have shot up dramatically or you simply would have been dropped if this was 2008.
+ new premium: $318 / month (Aetna)
+ previous premium: $174 / month (Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida)
+ percentage increase: 83% (a disaster)
+ previous policy notes:
out of pocket (OOP) max : $12.5k
no referral required to see a specialist
out-of-network expenses paid at 50%
+ new policy notes:
out of pocket max : $6.3k (maximum allowed under Obamacare)
referral required to see a specialist
out-of-network expenses paid at 0%
Changes to Obamacare I’d like to see:
(1) insurance companies allowed to offer policies with $12.5k, $25k, or even higher OOP max. This should bring down my insurance costs, because I would go for the highest OOP available. I’m really primarily interested in catastrophic care only - I can cover the small stuff myself. For a dirt-poor person, $6.3k might be a lot of money, but the Obamacrats have forgotten that not everyone is dirt-poor.
(2) insurance companies allowed to ask applicants any questions they want in order to properly calculate risk, and adjust premiums accordingly. It’s hilarious that insurance companies are forbidden to ask about weight but are still permitted to ask about tobacco. This is the kind of irrationality we get with socialized medicine.
(3) some other mechanism than insurance needs to be found to pay the expenses associated with pre-existing conditions. Insurance is all about managing risk - pre-existing conditions do not properly fit into this framework.
OK - that’s RANT #2. Thanks for listening. :2wave:
A couple of days ago I finally received the long-dreaded policy cancellation letter from Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida. My previous monthly premium for my grandfathered policy was $174 / mo ($2,088 / yr). The cheapest Obamacare-compliant policy available from BCBSFL is $412 / mo ($4,944 / yr).Almost $3k more per year for health insurance if I stay with BCBSFL! To put it mildly, I am not pleased. :censored
So, is my grandfathered policy "junk"? Absolutely not. It has a much higher deductible (now illegal under Obamacare), but I was fine with that. It also excluded coverage for my pre-existing condition (a hernia). I decided that I was willing to risk having to pay for the hernia repair myself in exchange for a lower monthly premium (I've had the hernia for many years, the condition has never changed, and it causes me no pain or discomfort). This kind of mental calculation is forbidden under Obamacare.
Despite Obamacare's rhetoric of helping the middle class, I have a middle-class income as a self-employed manager, do not qualify for subsidies, and am getting slammed with higher premiums for the privilege of being force-fed a health insurance policy I do not want.
I did some searching online, and found a website that claims that the average premium for a 50 year old male (I'm 52) in my county is $325 / mo. I found another insurance company online who quoted a bronze policy around that number. I tried to register on healthcare.gov, but the website malfunctioned with an "unexpected error".
Entirely by coincidence, a couple of weeks ago I deregistered as a Democrat (I've long considered myself an Independent who votes with the Dems). Well, now I'm an Independent who is severely disgusted with both political parties.
I have a few months to arrange for new health insurance. I will post an update as the situation evolves. Thanks for letting me rant. :2wave:
This is why you weren't supposed to vote for Obama in 2008. To late now.A couple of days ago I finally received the long-dreaded policy cancellation letter from Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida. My previous monthly premium for my grandfathered policy was $174 / mo ($2,088 / yr). The cheapest Obamacare-compliant policy available from BCBSFL is $412 / mo ($4,944 / yr).Almost $3k more per year for health insurance if I stay with BCBSFL! To put it mildly, I am not pleased. :censored
So, is my grandfathered policy "junk"? Absolutely not. It has a much higher deductible (now illegal under Obamacare), but I was fine with that. It also excluded coverage for my pre-existing condition (a hernia). I decided that I was willing to risk having to pay for the hernia repair myself in exchange for a lower monthly premium (I've had the hernia for many years, the condition has never changed, and it causes me no pain or discomfort). This kind of mental calculation is forbidden under Obamacare.
Despite Obamacare's rhetoric of helping the middle class, I have a middle-class income as a self-employed manager, do not qualify for subsidies, and am getting slammed with higher premiums for the privilege of being force-fed a health insurance policy I do not want.
I did some searching online, and found a website that claims that the average premium for a 50 year old male (I'm 52) in my county is $325 / mo. I found another insurance company online who quoted a bronze policy around that number. I tried to register on healthcare.gov, but the website malfunctioned with an "unexpected error".
Entirely by coincidence, a couple of weeks ago I deregistered as a Democrat (I've long considered myself an Independent who votes with the Dems). Well, now I'm an Independent who is severely disgusted with both political parties.
I have a few months to arrange for new health insurance. I will post an update as the situation evolves. Thanks for letting me rant. :2wave:
The odd thing is that the biggest complaint I have heard about the ACA was the HIGH deductibles. The claim was they would go bankrupt before their insurance would kick in. Now you are claiming they are too low. What was your previous deductible? $20,000 or something?
Really? The biggest complaint you say?
How about that it is actually raising prices for everyone?
Im thinking he is saying the deductible is too low because a higher deductible would cut his monthly premium which has shot through the roof.
Hmmm. So all this increased cost goes where?
The government? Nope.
Health care providers and hospitals? No- the cost of health care has actually risen at historically low rates.
Insurance companies? Yay! You're a big free market guy, so they will compete and lower prices!
Obamacare and the free market have nothing in common.
]
There seems to be some confusion over annual out-of-pocket (OOP) max vs. the deductible. My previous policy had a deductible of $10k and then co-insurance that brought my annual OOP max to $12.5k. For personal budgeting purposes, it's the annual OOP max rather than the deductible that is important.
Total Annual Spending on Premiums | Total Annual OOP Spending | Your Total Health Spending | |
Old Plan | $2,088 | $12,500 | $14,588 |
New Plan | $3,816 | $6,300 | $10,116 |
There seems to be some confusion over annual out-of-pocket (OOP) max vs. the deductible. My previous policy had a deductible of $10k and then co-insurance that brought my annual OOP max to $12.5k. For personal budgeting purposes, it's the annual OOP max rather than the deductible that is important.
The guy on the video seems to be confused. The maximum permissible annual OOP max under Obamacare is lower than in the pre-Obamacare days. In my county, the highest annual OOP max (a Bronze plan) is $6.3k. I’m sure that there are plenty of poor people who can’t even scrape together the $6.3k they would need to pay before their insurance begins covering their costs. These folks should select a plan with lower annual OOP max and have Obamacare subsidies cover the higher premium associated with a lower-deductible plan (I’m assuming here that the asset-poor people are also income-poor).
In my case, thanks to years of modest living and aggressive saving (downright un-American!), I’m asset-rich despite a modest self-employment income. This is why the huge increase in my health insurance premium (no subsidies for me) is enraging.
+ new premium: $318 / month (Aetna)
+ previous premium: $174 / month (Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida)
+ percentage increase: 83% (a disaster)
+ previous policy notes:
out of pocket (OOP) max : $12.5k
no referral required to see a specialist
out-of-network expenses paid at 50%
+ new policy notes:
out of pocket max : $6.3k (maximum allowed under Obamacare)
referral required to see a specialist
out-of-network expenses paid at 0%
Typical Obamapologist. :roll:Come back when you can tell us your actual out of pocket cost. Til then you're ranting for nothing. If you make enough to not receive a subsidy, then you should have proper insurance and extra cost should be less than a drop in the bucket. So find out what your subsidy is, then compare out of pocket, not premium cost.
This is your first clue that the dims never really were out to help the little guy? Better late than never I suppose. How could you not see this coming? And, how do you like the Obamapologists telling you what's really best for you?Latest Update:
+ today I received a letter from Aetna offering renewal for 2016 at $398.28 / month. Getting out my trusty calculator, that's a 25% rate increase. So, I get nailed with an 83% increase when I was forced to join Obamacare in July, and now I get hit with another 25% increase if I stay with Aetna for 2016. Where is the "affordable" in the Affordable Care Act? Sure, the low-income folks are tickled pink by the massive subsidies available, but the middle class is getting screwed.
+ When open enrollment starts in November, I will check if there are any other insurers offering a lower premium. I don't have much hope.
+ I enjoy excellent health and am thus a low risk for any health insurer, but Obamacare forbids insurers from asking the kinds of questions that would allow them to properly calculate the risk of offering me health insurance.
+ I have voted Democrat my entire life, but no Democrat is getting my vote as long as the U.S. health care system is so screwed up. It was bad before Obamacare, and now it's even worse.
So let's budget for a major health event, one that maxes out either plan.
Total Annual Spending on Premiums Total Annual OOP Spending Your Total Health SpendingOld Plan $2,088 $12,500 $14,588New Plan $3,816 $6,300 $10,116
In that instance, it becomes abundantly clear you're getting more financial protection at lower cost under your new plan (your costs drop 31% under the new plan relative to the old one if you have a major health event).
Even more so after you factor in that the new plan covers services carved out of your old plan due to pre-existing condition exclusions applied to you.
+ new premium: $318 / month (Aetna)
+ previous premium: $174 / month (Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Florida)
+ percentage increase: 83% (a disaster)
+ previous policy notes:
out of pocket (OOP) max : $12.5k
no referral required to see a specialist
out-of-network expenses paid at 50%
+ new policy notes:
out of pocket max : $6.3k (maximum allowed under Obamacare)
referral required to see a specialist
out-of-network expenses paid at 0%
Changes to Obamacare I’d like to see:
(1) insurance companies allowed to offer policies with $12.5k, $25k, or even higher OOP max. This should bring down my insurance costs, because I would go for the highest OOP available. I’m really primarily interested in catastrophic care only - I can cover the small stuff myself. For a dirt-poor person, $6.3k might be a lot of money, but the Obamacrats have forgotten that not everyone is dirt-poor.
(2) insurance companies allowed to ask applicants any questions they want in order to properly calculate risk, and adjust premiums accordingly. It’s hilarious that insurance companies are forbidden to ask about weight but are still permitted to ask about tobacco. This is the kind of irrationality we get with socialized medicine.
(3) some other mechanism than insurance needs to be found to pay the expenses associated with pre-existing conditions. Insurance is all about managing risk - pre-existing conditions do not properly fit into this framework.
OK - that’s RANT #2. Thanks for listening. :2wave:
Just to point out.. its all BS from the insurance company. Complete BS. Now Obamacare allows it..and encourages it.. but at the end of the day.. did you get dramatically sicker? Nope..
And if the insurance company was making money on you at their previous policy and rate.. they would making money on you NOW... There is no need for a higher rate... its simply that they CAN charge you more and you blame obamacare rather than the insurance companies.
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