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Health Insurance


DieChecker

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So, it is time to pick my healthcare plan for next year. Intel has like 8 options and many are very good. Not sure if they are Cadilac or not in scope, but I did notice that each and every plan has increased in yearly price by about 5 to 7% over what it was this last year.

When is Obamacare supposed to start lowering these costs again?

Found this....

http://washingtonexaminer.com/obamacare-isnt-reducing-health-care-costs/article/2509026

When he ran for president in 2008, Obama promised he would lower health insurance premiums for families by $2,500 in his first term. But earlier this month, the Kaiser Family Foundation released its annual Employer Health Benefits Survey showing that average family health insurance premiums have gone up by more than $2,500 ($2,730 to be exact), not down. Then, this week, the Health Care Cost Institute released its annual Health Care Cost and Utilization Report showing that, after briefly slowing down due to the recession in 2009 and 2010, overall health care spending rose 4.6 percent last year, far outpacing both inflation and wages.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/521/cut-cost-typical-familys-health-insurance-premium-/

I guess maybe it is just not going to happen. Maybe costs on the supplier end or the provider end will go down, but that will only make those people richer, as they're not going to be doing me any favors and dropping my premium prices. Maybe that is cynical, or maybe it is realistic??

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So, it is time to pick my healthcare plan for next year. Intel has like 8 options and many are very good. Not sure if they are Cadilac or not in scope, but I did notice that each and every plan has increased in yearly price by about 5 to 7% over what it was this last year.

When is Obamacare supposed to start lowering these costs again?

Found this....

http://washingtonexa...article/2509026

http://www.politifac...rance-premium-/

I guess maybe it is just not going to happen. Maybe costs on the supplier end or the provider end will go down, but that will only make those people richer, as they're not going to be doing me any favors and dropping my premium prices. Maybe that is cynical, or maybe it is realistic??

Well first off - Obama said what he had to say to get elected. Politicians don't actually intend to make good on their promises. Costs for health insurance have gone up because its the world's biggest legal pyramid scheme. Its totally effing crooked! They jack the prices for 2 reasons and two reasons only. 1) They sell a product that everybody or at least most prudent, steadily employed people consider a "need". 2) They are greedy b******* and know that they can charge whatever they damn well feel like, because people are afraid to be without health insurance.

Its a racket.

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When is Obamacare supposed to start lowering these costs again?

sometime after it actually starts with the exchanges. in 2014.

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Well first off - Obama said what he had to say to get elected. Politicians don't actually intend to make good on their promises. Costs for health insurance have gone up because its the world's biggest legal pyramid scheme. Its totally effing crooked! They jack the prices for 2 reasons and two reasons only. 1) They sell a product that everybody or at least most prudent, steadily employed people consider a "need". 2) They are greedy b******* and know that they can charge whatever they damn well feel like, because people are afraid to be without health insurance.

Its a racket.

Amen!

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For those costs to truly be reduced significantly the whole industry would need to change dramatically. Everything from medicines to the cost of new technologies to the labor costs of the employees - ALL the employees - would need to be reduced. Even then the insurance companies would have to be reigned in. So what are the odds that any politician will knowingly, willingly offend that many constituencies? Obamacare is designed to crash the current system leaving no choice but single payer in it's wake. Being an M.D. will have about the same appeal as being a teacher in a public school does today..... long hours for little pay and no recognition and all this AFTER spending (hopefully) about 8 years minimum of becoming educated. If you find enough altruistic people it could work. Let's just say I'm not hopeful.

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My insurance was raised 3 times since 0bama care was passed. Its nearly unafordable.

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For those costs to truly be reduced significantly the whole industry would need to change dramatically. Everything from medicines to the cost of new technologies to the labor costs of the employees - ALL the employees - would need to be reduced. Even then the insurance companies would have to be reigned in. So what are the odds that any politician will knowingly, willingly offend that many constituencies? Obamacare is designed to crash the current system leaving no choice but single payer in it's wake. Being an M.D. will have about the same appeal as being a teacher in a public school does today..... long hours for little pay and no recognition and all this AFTER spending (hopefully) about 8 years minimum of becoming educated. If you find enough altruistic people it could work. Let's just say I'm not hopeful.

Exactly. There is nothing whatsoever about anything in our current political system that gives me anything but abject despair when considering the future of our country. Every issue we face has only become progressively worse since the 80s because of short sighted political leadership that is only concerned with doing enough to grab power for the current election cycle - that goes for Democrats and Republicans alike - all are equally culpable, though maybe for slightly different reasons. Health insurance is no exception.

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sometime after it actually starts with the exchanges. in 2014.

Cool. Thanks Ninja.... can't wait to see if it works. It would be nice to see something reduce in cost for a change.

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My insurance was raised 3 times since 0bama care was passed. Its nearly unafordable.

Nearly unaffordable? We had to let our $2000 a month policy drop after so many raises on the two of us. With my heart, I hope I live long enough to take advantage of it.

I got a $500 check back from my cardiologist because I was charged insurance rates instead of self pay. That should tell people something about what is going on.

Edited by Michelle
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I got a $500 check back from my cardiologist because I was charged insurance rates instead of self pay. That should tell people something about what is going on.

I don't pretend to know exactly what is going on, but there are plenty of examples just like this. Something is rotten in that system. It HAS to be overhauled.

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My insurance was raised 3 times since 0bama care was passed. Its nearly unafordable.

And you should blame the insurance companies for that.

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I can summarize Obamacare ....

Your health care before:

86ED4773-28A4-4883-233A-8D6D146CCBD8.jpg

and after:

mYnB-a3cAAAd-e3tibR8BHH9kZQ__.jpg

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Never ever accept help from your government on health care until you are of the age to have advocacy groups aiding with your interests!

You lose so much fredom of choices and medical assistance if you do.

I am thinking of my friend, battling cancer, who went on disability and now the government has cut off her regular health insurance without her consent and despite her routine adequate payments. This will effect whether she lives or dies.

I am not a fan of Obama. Not at all.

Edited by regeneratia
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I can summarize Obamacare ....

Your health care before:

and after:

So your solution is what....keep it the way it is or....what?

I don't want insurance companies dictating what doctor I can see, or what medications I can have prescribed to me. I don't want insurance companies to deny me healthcare because I have a preexisting medical condition. The bottom line with the insurers is their bottom line!

People's healthcare should not be profited from!

I'm not saying that doctor's and other medical staff shouldn't be paid for their services, but the insurers take a huge amount of money from people and then deny certain people's claims or just drop their insurance because of pure greed!

Why are there 2.2 people in billing for every doctor in the US?

I would much rather have the private insurance companies go away and have non-profit government run healthcare plans where I can choose my doctor and all decisions are made between me and my doctor......not with private, for profit insurance companies that put out commercials claiming how great they are when in reality profits are their main goal. Does anyone actually love their insurance company?

We really should have a single payer system for healthcare but the Republicans squashed that idea because they want everything to be privatized so that profits can be made. Sometimes I think that if they could control the air, they would charge you a monthly access fee for it and if you didn't pay......oh well.....

Keeping the system as it was degrades people's healthcare and/or kills people that the insurers consider a risk.....

Healthcare should be a right, regardless of income!

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  • 2 months later...

So your solution is what....keep it the way it is or....what?

I don't want insurance companies dictating what doctor I can see, or what medications I can have prescribed to me. I don't want insurance companies to deny me healthcare because I have a preexisting medical condition. The bottom line with the insurers is their bottom line!

People's healthcare should not be profited from!

I'm not saying that doctor's and other medical staff shouldn't be paid for their services, but the insurers take a huge amount of money from people and then deny certain people's claims or just drop their insurance because of pure greed!

Why are there 2.2 people in billing for every doctor in the US?

I would much rather have the private insurance companies go away and have non-profit government run healthcare plans where I can choose my doctor and all decisions are made between me and my doctor......not with private, for profit insurance companies that put out commercials claiming how great they are when in reality profits are their main goal. Does anyone actually love their insurance company?

We really should have a single payer system for healthcare but the Republicans squashed that idea because they want everything to be privatized so that profits can be made. Sometimes I think that if they could control the air, they would charge you a monthly access fee for it and if you didn't pay......oh well.....

Keeping the system as it was degrades people's healthcare and/or kills people that the insurers consider a risk.....

Healthcare should be a right, regardless of income!

Your points are well taken but I wonder how we get from here to there. We have created a system of excellent outcomes for those that can pay and we are in process of changing that system so that everyone gets care without regard to paying. I also believe this is the just way of caring for our citizens but making this new system work is going to be nearly impossible short term. For one, the total numbers of patients under single payer will skyrocket. The truth is that a single payer system will create a two tier reality for patients. Those with money will receive care in private hospitals, everyone else will wait in longer lines and take their chances with over worked and under paid nurses, technicians and doctors. The system was built around a profit motive. Changing that effectively is going to be a tremendous challenge and, frankly, it goes against human nature. I think an equitable, sound system could be contrived with the right leadership in place but we are woefully lacking ANY leadership these days.
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Your points are well taken but I wonder how we get from here to there. We have created a system of excellent outcomes for those that can pay and we are in process of changing that system so that everyone gets care without regard to paying. I also believe this is the just way of caring for our citizens but making this new system work is going to be nearly impossible short term. For one, the total numbers of patients under single payer will skyrocket. The truth is that a single payer system will create a two tier reality for patients. Those with money will receive care in private hospitals, everyone else will wait in longer lines and take their chances with over worked and under paid nurses, technicians and doctors. The system was built around a profit motive. Changing that effectively is going to be a tremendous challenge and, frankly, it goes against human nature. I think an equitable, sound system could be contrived with the right leadership in place but we are woefully lacking ANY leadership these days.

Why must our leadership contrive a system? They have no expertise. Let the market do that; it's where the expertise is. Also I'm not sure what single payer and profit motive have to do with each other. Profit motive doesn't cause price inflation, the problem we're addressing here. Profit might be immoral to some, but the greater immorality is the rampant inflation when medical care becomes literally too unaffordable to live.

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Why must our leadership contrive a system? They have no expertise. Let the market do that; it's where the expertise is.

Because the market has failed miserably utterly and completely.

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Because the market has failed miserably utterly and completely.

You haven't established this claim so it's baseless. The market always auto-corrects. You just can't handle the stiff medicine that it corrects with. You'd rather throw the rule of law out the window and save all those banksters from the bankruptcy they deserved, and that's pathetic. That's not a failure of the markets that's the denial of the markets and the prevention of letting the markets work. Pathetic.

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Want another cause to rising health care... attorneys. (feel free to insert any lawyer joke here) Those greedy, evil insurance companies sure love those guys. They just help those premiums rise right through the roof.

Hmmm, who is regulated and who is not?

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Looked at my Yearly Income from last year and the value of my Health Insureance plan. At what range does a health insurance plan count as a Cadallac level plan. Mine is almost 20,000 per year in value. That seems like a lot to me, but.... It is a basic Blue Cross/Blue Shield High Deductable plan.

What does the Obamacare legislation consider to be Cadallac level?

Edit:

Huh??? it looks like I am close but not into the Cadallac level yet... (Family of 4 saves my bacon.)

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) imposes an annual excise tax on plans with premiums exceeding $10,200 for individuals or $27,500 for a family (not including vision and dental benefits) starting in 2018.[4]

http://en.wikipedia...._insurance_plan

But then that goes to Price and not Need. I have a family of 4, but a family of 8 would be well into cadallac territory. Maybe the forced coverage of "kids" up to age 26(?) will force some Americans into cadallac health land.

Edited by DieChecker
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Want another cause to rising health care... attorneys.

no it's really not. The tort cases amount to less than one percent of what we spend on healthcare.

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I just got my first bill for medical services in over 25 years. I don't even understand the bill! I'm not stupid, but I can tell you these bills make NO sense.

One month I have to pay for 60% of a procedure... then one month later insurance paid all of it for the same exact procedure? *head scatcher*

With the VERY expensive surgery that I wll have next month, I'm really pretty nervous that I'm going to wind up in a financial hole so deep I won't be able to recover from it for years. I haven't even gone under the knife yet and I already owe a grand. Yea. *sigh* Sure hope I recover from the surgery extra fast so I can work to pay it off. HA! Or I can go back to work too early, screw up the recovery and get some more hospital bills.

I've been visiting an international forum for other people who have teh same condition I do... i'm pretty damn convinced those with socialize care are getting way better care without comprimising their financial health too.

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Consider that in this country the medical system has nothing to do with care or health. You are not a patient. It is a business and you are just a customer.

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I work in the industry and sit in 2 hour meetings twice a week mainly concerning laws, regs, and different aspects of the ACA. The people that run these meetings have been in the business for decades and much of it is above thier heads and they are struggling with it. To believe that an intelligent, informed discussion can be had here on this forum with a bunch of people who, honestly know little or nothing about how insurance undewriters come up with your pemiums or the content of the ACA, is completely laughable. I don't involve myself with these discussions much anymore because over the last few months I've come to realize just how complicated this is all becoming.

I must agree with a statenment made earlier on this thread by 'and then'. The ACA is designed to crash the insurance industry to pave the way to a single payer system.

Edited to add this link from an email I just received:

http://r20.rs6.net/t...qUrVx9cR_yIzA==

It's a 10 page newsletter concerning health care reform. And yes, the ACA is going to put huge pressures on our job market. I anticipate many small businesses will go under.

Edited by OverSword
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I'm wondering why a family of 4 or 5, even with BC/BS (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), which is not super good/expensive, is going to fall into the Cadallac catagory? And thus the more kids you have the greater your Health Insurance Tax is going to be.

That seems totally.... not fair.

I'm also wondering why my wife goes in for a dental cleaning/checkup and we have to pay $25, and then I go in 4 weeks later and I end up paying $50 for the same service? This was back last summer. It is like they almost randomly come up with some number to charge you, or maybe that they scrimp and fudge every glove, tool used and minute into their bill.

Edited by DieChecker
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