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Just had a shock, re. health insurance premiums

6K views 48 replies 35 participants last post by  dancemommy 
#1 ·
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
 
#36 ·
Wow - I thought ours were bad at $7728 a year (at least until Oct when they raise us again because they always do.) We have a $2500 deductible and if you need a name brand RX it is $125 / mo. ($30 / mo. for generic) and we have needed quite a few name brands. In 2010 all four of us were in the hospital at one point or another and I had a lot of testing done on top of that. We spent $22,000 on health care that year and that is one of the reasons we are losing our house to short sale and filing bankruptcy. When the job losses happened we had just about depleted our savings paying for medical bills in 2010.
 
#6 ·
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!
 
#8 ·
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.
 
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#9 ·
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.
 
#10 ·
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
 
#11 ·
Health premium increase



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 !
 
#13 ·
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
 
#14 ·
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??
 
#29 ·
...But I have to ask myself.....what happens when there is nowhere else to cut back??
We just had to drop ours. The premiums for DH and I were going up to $22,000 a year plus deductibles..... Dh is out of work and gray hair isn't viewed favorably in the job market. We talked with our agent to see if another company or a large deductible would work but just couldn't make it work.

piney
 
#16 ·
I feel your pain we pay 110.00 a week for me and ds has a hospital only plan for 182.00 a month dh is covered by his employer hate paying but what can you do?
 
#17 ·
I just found that the insurance I signed for 2 years ago would have cost me 55% more this year. It is a high deductible health plan. But still, it seems it is more difficult to get a high deductible health plan these days, and maximal deductibles are lower?

I looked everywhere, e.g. highdeductiblehealthplan.org High Deductible Health Plan site, and I couldn't even find anything higher than $7,500...

Health Insurance companies reducing options? I wonder why?
 
#18 ·
I think we are going to be seeing more and more increases in insurance prices. A sign of the times?

This year we were told we had to take an online health assessment (employee + spouse) and if you didn't take it you had to pay a $50 a month fee.

Our has changed over the past few years and now we have to pay a % of the billed cost. It's so confusing!
 
#19 ·
sheko - the reasoon they are reducing options has alot to do with what is going in washington right now....and, the ins companies can no longer afford to give that many options...and, the truth of the matter is that insurance comanies are not in the business of paying claims....sad, but true....

what happens is that each company lowers rates every quarter or so (for new enrollees only) and then the insureds move to another comapny and the previous company needs to recoup their losses if there were alot of "sickies"...again sad, but it is true...if you have a personal broker, ask them..they will sadly tell you this same thing.

insurance is no longer what it was....
 
#20 ·
Hugs to you, that's a dramatic increase and you'll deal with it but it does surely suck during the adjustment.... We pay $5000/yr. and have a $3000 ded. per person, max 2, plus co-pays, etc. But one diagnosis and treatment plan.... and voila! it's better than the alternative of paying the entire cost of treatments on your own. Insurance covered over $100,000 for us this year so paying 8.5% ($5000 premiums + $3500 co-pays etc.) definitely was better. I can't imagine going uninsured.
 
#22 ·
It does come out of my paycheck pre-tax, so that's a good thing. That means a small income tax savings.

I definitely agree with those who have mentioned that no matter how much we pay each month in insurance, it sure beats having to pay for even a percentage of hospitalization or expensive procedures.

Because of my husband's kidney transplant, rehospitalization and even dialysis are a very real possibility for us. So, I am truly grateful to *only* have to pay $5,000 per year (plus copays). I know many people pay much more. I just need to keep looking on the bright side.

Kara
 
#23 ·
changed policies with same company bcbs, in 2 months copay went up 5 dollars and premium went up 26 dollars a month. I swear they pay for very little and charge us out the yang. What a racket. very seriously considered dropping them and starting a health savings acct.
 
#28 ·
I'm so very thankful that we will have affordable insurance for the rest of our lives. My DH was military. I was appalled recently reading that they were considering charging former military for their insurance. That is just unbelievable. They should definitely provide them with free health care for the rest of their lives. My DH is now over 40. I don't think it would be right to start charging him now.
 
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