Just had a shock, re. health insurance premiums

**moasmom** · 11-18-2011, 02:09 PM

I just found out our health insurance is going to cost us $5000 in 2012, more than double what it was this year.

It's really good coverage, and I know we are lucky to have it available to us, but still....I didn't know it was going to cost that much more.

I don't need any advice since there's nothing we can do about this. I just need to vent a little I guess. I'm really upset. My heart is pounding and my stomach feels all upset.

I will have to do some serious work on this budget this weekend and find some ways to cut back ever further in order to make ends meet. *Sigh*

Happy Friday. Blah.

Kara

**Laney** · 11-18-2011, 02:12 PM

health insurance is definitely a necessary evil in our house. our premiums went up this year too. it sucks, but you do the best you can with what you've got

**Russ** · 11-18-2011, 02:40 PM

Same here, but considering a lot of people have to pay all of their insurance or worse, have none at all, I feel lucky to have it.

**Telephus44** · 11-18-2011, 02:46 PM

We pay $3250 per year - but I know that the portion my employer picks up costs them about $10,000 a year - pretty glad that they cover that much!

**pinetree** · 11-18-2011, 02:51 PM

We got lucky this year, it stayed the same but we have to pay $9132 a year. It just kills us to pay it but figure we have no choice.

**Ponderer** · 11-18-2011, 03:04 PM

I feel very fortunate that I have really good insurance and other than the $75 I pay every 2 weeks my employer pays the bulk of the bill. It is really a blessing!

**SwirlyThing** · 11-18-2011, 03:09 PM

My insurance premiums are going up in January as well. I'll be paying about $4700 next year for medical insurance for the family. The increase is about $250 from this year.

It sucks that the increase is so dramatic for you... makes it hard to deal with.

**forHISglory** · 11-18-2011, 03:33 PM

We pay $12,000 a year just for the premiums (about 1/3 of our income). Then on top of that are the deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, and the out of network fees because we can't find health care facilities/personnel in our area which are on our policy.

People have told us: Just change policies. Easier said than done. We are part of a group policy (which actually holds the costs down a bit), and also which will insure us despite our previous health problems. Our problem is that we moved out of state, so the providers where we are now located are considered out of network. We tallied up the costs of staying with the plan we are now on, and changing, and it's safer to stay with the current plan.

All that to say that we are blessed to be as healthy as we are, and that insurance drives us crazy.

**stinkbug** · 11-18-2011, 04:59 PM

We have very good, reasonable insurance (I think) We just did our yearly health assessment (provided free by the company) and got 900.00 off our insurance because we both *passed*. I am extremely thankful to have good insurance!! Our cost is about 122.00 per month and we also put 200.00 into HSA.

**moasmom** · 11-18-2011, 05:08 PM

We definitely cannot shop around due to DH's kidney transplant and my kidney donation. Can we say, "preexisting conditions"??

So, yeah, we are stuck, and yeah, we are thankful to have insurance (thanks to my job; if I were to get laid off, we would definitely have to sell our house just to pay for COBRA).

But hey, at least we get our money's worth out of our insurance. Not everyone can say that. When DH was on dialysis, it was $30,000 a month (all covered). That's why transplants are actually a bargain for insurance.

Kara

**Beejay** · 11-18-2011, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by moasmom

I just found out our health insurance is going to cost us $5000 in 2012, more than double what it was this year.

It's really good coverage, and I know we are lucky to have it available to us, but still....I didn't know it was going to cost that much more.

I don't need any advice since there's nothing we can do about this. I just need to vent a little I guess. I'm really upset. My heart is pounding and my stomach feels all upset.

I will have to do some serious work on this budget this weekend and find some ways to cut back ever further in order to make ends meet. *Sigh*

Happy Friday. Blah.

Kara

Is there a lower level or lower tier of health coverage that you can elect within your plan? You may have to opt for a higher deductable, copay, etc. or opt to have benefits for some things dropped. My daughter's premium was going to increase $200 per month. She decided to go with a lower level of coverage (still covering important benefits) with an increase of only about $20.00 per month. You might check out other options. Good luck !

**lisaflex** · 11-18-2011, 07:22 PM

we pay close to 24K/yr.....and premiums are not going to go down....

sad...but, gotta have it!

**moasmom** · 11-18-2011, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Beejay

Is there a lower level or lower tier of health coverage that you can elect within your plan? You may have to opt for a higher deductable, copay, etc. or opt to have benefits for some things dropped. My daughter's premium was going to increase $200 per month. She decided to go with a lower level of coverage (still covering important benefits) with an increase of only about $20.00 per month. You might check out other options. Good luck !

Nope, no other options.

Thanks,
Kara

**many houseapes** · 11-18-2011, 09:37 PM

Ours went up too

Before dh started working for this company, we couldn't afford health insurance at all...we've always been in excellent health & didn't worry about it. Fast forward to this year....I was diagnosed w/ stage 3 Papillary Carcinoma (thyroid cancer)...we were so thankful that we had insurance otherwise, we would be facing a $50,000 bill. Now we can not be without it.....& like everyone else, we just have to try & cut back on other things to pay for it. But I have to ask myself.....what happens when there is nowhere else to cut back??