Anyone else see that their medical coverage for 2011 has changed drastically? The cost has jumped the most it ever has, and I am now no longer allowed to cover my spouse without being charged a "penalty". This is just absurd. Most of couples/families like going to the same MD's, but with having to have our own medical plans this may cause us to have to see different doctors.
Also, they now want to charge the smokers extra money and apparently this can be done if it's classified as wellness. Well, I can personally think of other areas that should have "penalties" as well if we want to get into wellness.
Just want some feedback/opinions, please.
P.S. Another problem I'm having is that my open enrollment period ends before my spouse's starts, so I don't even have anything to compare??? Now what do I do??? I have phoned my benefits department, but of course they didn't call me back.
Employers have been doing this long before the new healthcare plan. I may be mistaken, but it is the employers who decide how much of a healthcare plan they are going to pay, how much they pass on to the employee, and what coverage they are going to purchase. Yes, insurance companies influence this by raising rates and and dropping coverage for XYZ.. but look to your employer and raising your rates dramatically... chances are they are trying to save money by reducing your insurance benefits.
My husband doesn't have to pay for his insurance but he does have to pay to have me and the 2 kids on it. We pay roughly 380 a month for this.. and happy to do it since so many can't afford or don't have insurance even offered.
I am errked about the Payflex requiring a prescription for OTC drugs. One of the bonuses of having a flexable spending account is so you have medication money available. It's our f'ing money.. Grrrr... it's a sore spot for sure.
What kind of health care do you have and why does it cost so much?
I had Kaiser, and had to pay the full premium under Cobra after my husband died. It was a group plan as I don't qualify for an individual policy. And it had a $50 copay to see the MD, and a deductible at the pharmacy, plus I had to drive 50 miles one way to the nearest Kaiser facility. Paying for health insurance was never a crisis until he died.
After spending $64,000, I dropped my coverage and now insure my teens and it only costs me $202 a month for them with a $3000 deductible. I didn't have health insurance for a year, but just recently was hired through another school district and they pay the majority of my health insurance with a $2000 deductible. But to add my kids to my current health insurance plan, it would cost me $528 a month. So will they stay on an individual, child only health insurance plan as it is cheaper. But the new tactic by insurance companies now is to cancel all their children only policies, where as I will be in crisis mode again as they won't have health insurance. http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/10/04/bil11004.htm And we make $76 a month too much for my teens to qualify for the SCHIP program.
But I am going to Rocky Point, Mexico this weekend, and plan on going to a pharmacy and stocking up on my meds. Pretty sad when you have to leave the USA to be able to afford your health care and meds! Right now I just can't afford the deductible to be able to see the doctor and fill my RX's here.
Specializes in Psych/CD/Medical/Emp Hlth/Staff ED.
I get the same amount deducted from my paycheck for health insurance that it would cost me to get insurance on my own. I know this because my employer dropped coverage of my newborn daughter because they said they were missing a form, they neglected to tell me this until after the open enrollment period closed for the upcoming year, leaving me with over a year until coverage could kick in under my employer's plan. So I found a plan that's actually better than the one I had, with approx. the same monthly premium as I was paying through my employer for my spouse and child. Either my employer doesn't really contribute that much, if anything, to our insurance plan, or they get a really bad deal.
What I don't understand is why it is called 'Obamacare'. It's not like he single-handedly brought it about. Haven't various members of the democratic party been trying to bring about some form of health-care reform for at least a decade now?
Thank you!!!! Carter and Clinton BOTH tried to push through reform of the healthcare and insurance industry. Its not like Obama came into office magically dreamed up healthcare reform and poof...it happened! And for those that are upset about the high premiums for the high risk groups. That was a compromise that was dreamt up by a Republican Senator from Arizona. I'm not saying this new system is perfect, but at least something is being done...and a lot of the not so great parts that are leading to the outrageous increases in premiums were not what the Dems wanted passed but rather compromises made to get the legislation passed. If people would dive into issues past the blurbs on the news they might be surprised about what they might learn.
What I don't understand is why it is called 'Obamacare'. It's not like he single-handedly brought it about. Haven't various members of the democratic party been trying to bring about some form of health-care reform for at least a decade now?
It's not actually called "Obamacare," you know. That moniker was actually assigned as a derogation by factors against both Obama and health care reform who attempted to indelibly link the debacle that reform would surely bring with the man in office at the time reform was enacted.
Yeah it irks me when I hear people call it "Obamacare". It does however let me know that they really don't know what they're talking about, are Republican and may just be blindly "against" anything they tie to Obama anyway, or and just going to be repeating back snippets of headlines the see or read on the news.
lifelearningrn, BSN, RN
2,622 Posts
Employers have been doing this long before the new healthcare plan. I may be mistaken, but it is the employers who decide how much of a healthcare plan they are going to pay, how much they pass on to the employee, and what coverage they are going to purchase. Yes, insurance companies influence this by raising rates and and dropping coverage for XYZ.. but look to your employer and raising your rates dramatically... chances are they are trying to save money by reducing your insurance benefits.
My husband doesn't have to pay for his insurance but he does have to pay to have me and the 2 kids on it. We pay roughly 380 a month for this.. and happy to do it since so many can't afford or don't have insurance even offered.
I am errked about the Payflex requiring a prescription for OTC drugs. One of the bonuses of having a flexable spending account is so you have medication money available. It's our f'ing money.. Grrrr... it's a sore spot for sure.