Exploding health care premium

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait till you retire or use COBRA it wil be $2400 a month. After paying into Medicare for 40 years each we then get soaked on Part B premiums adjusted by income.

Wow. That's really high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our premium at work is going up by whopping 40%. So we will now pay $980 compared to $700 last year. Of course the salary stays the same.

Anyone in a similar situation?

That sounds cheap to me. I've paid $1400 a month for the cheapest Obamacare for 1 person for years.

That's just healthcare. You still need shelter, food, and save for retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have tricare and it no better. Our premiums, co-pays and deductibles go up, no doctor choice, and they will not pay for expensive medical equiptment I need.

I have Tricare and have no idea what you're talking about. Tricare Select is fantastic and dirt cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are retired and pay about $5350/mo for the 4. Up from $4900 last year but down from a few years ago when it was $5500. PPO and it sucks

Seriously? Well I think it’s completely crazy not to have health care… but there is an inflection point, and you are certainly at it.

[Anonymous]

If it makes you feel any better, I’m in Europe and pay over EUR 1100 per month just for myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are retired and pay about $5350/mo for the 4. Up from $4900 last year but down from a few years ago when it was $5500. PPO and it sucks

Seriously? Well I think it’s completely crazy not to have health care… but there is an inflection point, and you are certainly at it.

Yes seriously. But we knew going into retirement that this was the cost if we wanted a ppo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well someone has to pay for everyone who got glp1s off label.

Yup. Some people have genuine health issues that they are not responsible for. But a 5'6 woman with no diabetes weighting 145 lbs jumping on glp1 is ridiculous and we are all paying for it because she wants to be skinny. She should pay for it out of her own damn pocket.

They are paying for it out of their own pockets.

No they're not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well someone has to pay for everyone who got glp1s off label.

This is the answer. Last time it was obamacare. BCBS is honest they will tell you straight up why it went up they're honest at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are retired and pay about $5350/mo for the 4. Up from $4900 last year but down from a few years ago when it was $5500. PPO and it sucks

Wow. That's our entire monthly budget for a household of 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are retired and pay about $5350/mo for the 4. Up from $4900 last year but down from a few years ago when it was $5500. PPO and it sucks

Seriously? Well I think it’s completely crazy not to have health care… but there is an inflection point, and you are certainly at it.

Yeah, that's about 65K a year in premiums. Do you think your family will rack up medical bills worth of 65K every year? Even if you go out of pocket for specialists and scans/tests it would be a few grand if you start having issues. After the years you paid into it, like 10 years of being relatively healthy you are out of 650k. The only thing that can justify it is some catastrophic situation where your medical bills are in 7 figures. Otherwise, it's not even deserving to be called "insurance".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are retired and pay about $5350/mo for the 4. Up from $4900 last year but down from a few years ago when it was $5500. PPO and it sucks

Wow. That's our entire monthly budget for a household of 4.

I'd expect some supreme concierge care for this level of pay, but it's just a regular PPO? These plans also have deductibles, so this premium is essentially catastrophic care coverage where most other routine care of scans is out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

Ours went from $0 to $800+ a month last year. At the same time, coverage went down and deductibles and copays/coinsurance went up. While I know most people weren’t so fortunate to have a $0 premium, it was a surprise to us when it happened. It was essentially a pay cut. On top of it, there have been no raises or bonuses in many years. I never used to lie awake worrying about a health crisis but now I do. And, yet we are probably among the most fortunate Americans in terms of healthcare with that premium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cancelled my health insurance and am just using meditation to keep me healthy.

I am certain that meditation will protect you from being hit by a car, from developing an infection, or needing cancer treatments. 🙄

Actually, it probably would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cancelled my health insurance and am just using meditation to keep me healthy.

I am certain that meditation will protect you from being hit by a car, from developing an infection, or needing cancer treatments. 🙄

No, I get it. I wonder, do I want cancer treatments? Or do I just want to die not knowing I had cancer? In some respects, maybe I'd rather do the latter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have tricare and it no better. Our premiums, co-pays and deductibles go up, no doctor choice, and they will not pay for expensive medical equiptment I need.

I have Tricare and have no idea what you're talking about. Tricare Select is fantastic and dirt cheap.

We have Prime, and its not fantastic. Our co-pays are $60, so if you see multiple people in a day, it's a few hundred as they bill for each person as a separate visit. Durable medical supplies are an 80-20 copay so what I need is $15K, but the company started charging me $300 a month for the device after telling me it would be 1/6 that price co-pay and they couldn't tell me when it would end, nor would they sell me the device saying Tricare will not authorize it so I'm going without what I need. Its great if you don't have serious medical issues or can get your needs met on base but my base doctors are incompetent and refuse to recognize what's going on and help. The outside care has been much better, but at a huge price.