[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Health Insurance Rates Increasing (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 5/7/2010 10:19:45 AM EDT
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I just got notice from my company's HR person that health insurance premiums will be increased effective July 2010. And since premiums are paid a month in advance, I get less than a month's notice.
Health care reform my ass. If obama walked into my office right now, I'd literally punch him in his big mouth. He and his cronies pelosi, reid, etc. knew the crap bill they deemed and passed was horseshit. I seriously support legislation that would help lower health insurance costs. My wife is a juvenile diabetic, so I admit I have a horse in the race. But the democrats' new law is a fucking farce. My family lives very modestly. We don't have big TV, new cars or cable/satellite TV. Things were already very tight for us. This certainly isn't going to help. I'm seriously considering joining the National Guard to help my family out. I have a daughter that is less than a year old, and it would seriously be very hard to be away from her for an extended period of time, but somethings got to give. Our fucking elected "representatives" care more about supporting some fat single mother of eight and her bastard children than about passing laws that make families who has never drawn unemployment or welfare be able to make it on their own. Fuck those assholes. I hope they burn in hell. I apologize for cursing. I typically refrain from doing so, but I extremely ticked off at the moment. 
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I just got notice from my company's HR person that health insurance premiums will be increased effective July 2010. And since premiums are paid a month in advance, I get less than a month's notice. Open enrollment at my company was last February - before the reform bill passed. BCBS raised premiums by 29% and stated outright that the increase was due to provisions in the bills. Other companies (Aetna, Kaiser) had even higher quotes than BCBS. |
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I hate to break up this rage-fest, but health insurance costs have been rising well before Obama got his grubby hands on them. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm The health care "reform" is idiocy, but I can't bear to allow unchecked Obama Derangement Syndrome continue. The health "reform" might have some small impact, or it might not, but your rates would be going up either way. |
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Quoted: I hate to break up this rage-fest, but health insurance costs have been rising well before Obama got his grubby hands on them. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm The health care "reform" is idiocy, but I can't bear to allow unchecked Obama Derangement Syndrome continue. The health "reform" might have some small impact, or it might not, but your rates would be going up either way. Now , if they'd just go back further, and tie the chart to healthcare regulation, you MIGHT just see a link between the two :) |
| Isn't it nice that you and I are going to be paying lots of money (because we are generally healthy) for people who UNHEALTHY lives? This is just even more incentive for people to fucking smoke and eat the geasist shit. Why should they worry when they are on healthcare? This who thing is counter-productive. I knew people who ate healthy cause they DIDN'T have healthcare, thus they didn't eat like shit cause they knew they couldn't afford going to the hopital cause of their bad habits. Now premiums are going to increase. |
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Quoted: I hate to break up this rage-fest, but health insurance costs have been rising well before Obama got his grubby hands on them. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm The health care "reform" is idiocy, but I can't bear to allow unchecked Obama Derangement Syndrome continue. The health "reform" might have some small impact, or it might not, but your rates would be going up either way. We will see when the numbers start coming out over the next couple years. |
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haha. you think it's bad now, just wait. the rate increase you just got most likley had nothing to account for health care reform built into it. the reason for that is that no one knows what the fucking rules are yet. most of the insurers are waiting for the obama admin to fill in all the details of this stinking pile of shit bill so they know the specifics of what they're dealing with. "pass it so we can find out what's in it" the cunt says. more true than you know. what the insurers do know is that costs are going to go up up up because of this, and largley premiums = costs. so bend over. you haven't seen anything yet. |
this reform is going to drive insurance prices sky high. and eventually the "other hand" will be revealed when the put the public option into the exchanges to "keep the insurers honest" (because reform is going to make private insurance too expensive for anyone to afford). boom. single payer. as was planned from the beginning. anyone who thinks it's going to go down in any other way is a dipshit.| Oh, and it gets better.... Starting this year, the cost of your healthcare insurance through your employer will now be counted as taxable income to you. So, if you have family coverage that costs your employer $1000/month you will be required to claim $12,000.00 in additional taxable income. The FUDDS want your rates to go up because it now funds their circus. Fuck them all. |
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Quoted: Starting this year, the cost of your healthcare insurance through your employer will now be counted as taxable income to you. So, if you have family coverage that costs your employer $1000/month you will be required to claim $12,000.00 in additional taxable income. I don't think that is true. Do you have documentation? |
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I hate to break up this rage-fest, but health insurance costs have been rising well before Obama got his grubby hands on them. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm The health care "reform" is idiocy, but I can't bear to allow unchecked Obama Derangement Syndrome continue. The health "reform" might have some small impact, or it might not, but your rates would be going up either way. 
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Quoted: Quoted: I hate to break up this rage-fest, but health insurance costs have been rising well before Obama got his grubby hands on them. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm The health care "reform" is idiocy, but I can't bear to allow unchecked Obama Derangement Syndrome continue. The health "reform" might have some small impact, or it might not, but your rates would be going up either way. the left's "demonize insurance" crew never wants to talk about what role health care costs play in setting insurance premiums. http://www.americanhealthsolution.org/ahip-statement-on-rising-health-care-costs/  |
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Ummmmm,,,the whole purpose of the HCR bill was to bankrupt the private insurers or to get private employers to drop employer-provided health care and force you onto the gubmint program.
Why do you think the penalties for not providing coverage are so small? That's right, to make it cheaper for a company to drop your coverage since the fine is less than the cost of a policy on you. |
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Oh, and it gets better.... Starting this year, the cost of your healthcare insurance through your employer will now be counted as taxable income to you. So, if you have family coverage that costs your employer $1000/month you will be required to claim $12,000.00 in additional taxable income. The FUDDS want your rates to go up because it now funds their circus. Fuck them all. I thought this didn't kick in till 2018? |
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all part of the plan folks. These people knew damn well this reform will raise rates and eventually destroy private insurance for all but the uber rich. Lets hope America isn't so fucking stupid this time around and recognize GOVERNMENT caused the problem and not the insurance companies. They are counting on being able to blame the insurance companies and to create a full signle payer system with your support. Democrats rcreate crisises to increase their communist hold. |
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health care costs go up regardless of what you do as long as theres some way to get it paid for.
health care costs increases are due to medical infrastructure buildouts (hospitals adding new ultra-mega-modern facilities) and drug manufactures continually coming up with patentable medicines that are priced at ridiculous costs.. the insurers do nothing but sit in between the 'product' and the 'consumer' (you). and dont make much profit (at least up until now). the insurers controlled costs to a certain extent by excluding where possible and legal, ill folks who fell out of a group or were unable to get into a group. pre-existing so to speak. what the democrats and obama have done is to force the insurance industry to accept those folks. this is an obvious cost increase to the industry. guess who pays? you the middle class guess who benefits? the medical industry, hospitals conglomerates and drug manufacturers (the medical-industrial complex). because now you will be required to contribute more through your job or pay a penalty if you dont have insurance. the government just figured out another way to pillage the middle class. the medical industry will make more money. the the disadvantaged will get treated just like they always have. they just transferred your wealth from you to the medical-industrial complex all the while making you think it was to help the urban-outdoorsman who lives in a cardboard box down in the holler.... do you think this was the act of a socialist? follow the money |
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Haven't had the official word, but I read an article in the paper that BCBS had announced a tentative $700+ increase for families in the plan my wife has.
It's cheaper to have two single coverages, but the policy at my job is major suckage. Everyone who can bail has (UNH). Actually, I'd like to see healthcare premiums quintuple. You know how you don't agonize about ever affording a Ferarri? Just get it over with. 
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Quoted: Quoted: I hate to break up this rage-fest, but health insurance costs have been rising well before Obama got his grubby hands on them. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm The health care "reform" is idiocy, but I can't bear to allow unchecked Obama Derangement Syndrome continue. The health "reform" might have some small impact, or it might not, but your rates would be going up either way. We will see when the numbers start coming out over the next couple years. Indeed. They could go up, but remember "supposedly" the "you must insure anyone" clause is offset by the fact that now _everyone_ must get insurance. In the words of dipshit McGee, "make no mistake", I firmly believe this will ruin our healthcare system, I just don't think every little price hike right now is because of the bill. |
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Quoted: Oh, and it gets better.... Starting this year, the cost of your healthcare insurance through your employer will now be counted as taxable income to you. So, if you have family coverage that costs your employer $1000/month you will be required to claim $12,000.00 in additional taxable income. The FUDDS want your rates to go up because it now funds their circus. Fuck them all. Uhh, citation please? I don't believe this is the case. |
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How can something like this happen? I thought insurance was free now. That's not taking effect for awhile. I think the patient Bill of Rights will be implemented first. Besides, with all the opposition, I think this may need to see its day in court first. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I hate to break up this rage-fest, but health insurance costs have been rising well before Obama got his grubby hands on them. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm The health care "reform" is idiocy, but I can't bear to allow unchecked Obama Derangement Syndrome continue. The health "reform" might have some small impact, or it might not, but your rates would be going up either way. the left's "demonize insurance" crew never wants to talk about what role health care costs play in setting insurance premiums. http://www.americanhealthsolution.org/ahip-statement-on-rising-health-care-costs/ http://www.americanhealthsolution.org/assets/_resampled/ResizedImage400280-admin-costs.JPG I'm not demonizing anything, I think sometimes certain types of people can't really think of good replies when they argue, so they find it easier to either just drag their knuckles across the keyboard and put in a troll icon, or they erect a stout strawman. I fully believe the health care reform will fuck our health care system. I also don't think the insurance companies are the problem at all - their profit margins are pretty slim. I hated Dubya, but I didn't buy into the ridiculous shit the far left made up, like that he either _created_ Katrina (lol) or didn't do anything about it because he "hates poor/black people". It's silly. I hate Obama, but I don't think he's a "mongrel Kenyan" (how deliciously racist) or a "muh-sleem". Nor do I feel the need to lay every mishap at his feet immediately. I can look at the long term and see what's happening in Greece (and what will happen in the EU) and know that he's fucking the country without subscribing to Obama Derangement Syndrome. |
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http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/05/news/companies/dropping_benefits.fortune/
The great mystery surrounding the historic health care bill is how the corporations that provide coverage for most Americans –– coverage they know and prize –– will react to the new law's radically different regime of subsidies, penalties, and taxes. Now, we're getting a remarkable inside look at the options AT&T, Deere, and other big companies are weighing to deal with the new legislation. Internal documents recently reviewed by Fortune, originally requested by Congress, show what the bill's critics predicted, and what its champions dreaded: many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government. Facebook Digg Twitter Buzz Up! Email Print Comment on this story That would dismantle the employer-based system that has reigned since World War II. It would also seem to contradict President Obama's statements that Americans who like their current plans could keep them. And as we'll see, it would hugely magnify the projected costs for the bill, which controls deficits only by assuming that America's employers would remain the backbone of the nation's health care system. Hence, health-care reform risks becoming a victim of unintended consequences. Amazingly, the corporate documents that prove this point became public because of a different set of unintended consequences: they told a story far different than the one the politicians who demanded them expected. Why the write-downs happened but the hearings didn't In the days after President Obama signed the bill on March 24, a number of companies announced big write downs due to some fiscal changes it ushered in. The legislation eliminated a company's right to deduct the federal retiree drug-benefit subsidy from their corporate taxes. That reduced projected revenue. As a result, AT&T (T, Fortune 500) and Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) took well-publicized charges of around $1 billion. The announcements greatly annoyed Representative Henry Waxman, who accused the companies of using the big numbers to exaggerate health care reform's burden on employers. Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, demanded that they turn over their confidential memos, and summoned their top executives for hearings. But Waxman didn't simply request documents related to the write down issue. He wanted every document the companies created that discussed what the bill would do to their most uncontrollable expense: healthcare costs. The request yielded 1,100 pages of documents from four major employers: AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar and Deere (DE, Fortune 500). No sooner did the Democrats on the Energy Committee read them than they abruptly cancelled the hearings. On April 14, the Committee's majority staff issued a memo stating that the write downs were "proper and in accordance with SEC rules." The committee also stated that the memos took a generally sunny view of the new legislation. The documents, said the Democrats' memo, show that "the overall impact of health reform on large employers could be beneficial." Nowhere in the five-page report did the majority staff mention that not one, but all four companies, were weighing the costs and benefits of dropping their coverage. 0:00 /2:46Bayer CEO on health care reform AT&T produced a PowerPoint slide entitled "Medical Cost Versus No Coverage Penalty." A document prepared for Verizon by consulting firm Hewitt Resources stated, "Even though the proposed assessments [on companies that do not provide health care] are material, they are modest when compared to the average cost of health care," and that to avoid costs and regulations, "employers may consider exiting the health care market and send employees to the Exchanges." (Under the new bill, employees who lose their coverage will purchase health care through state-run exchanges.) Kenneth Huhn, vice president of labor relations at Deere, said in an internal email that his company should look at the alternatives to providing health benefits, which "would amount to denying coverage and just paying the penalty," and that he felt he already had the ability to make this change under his company's labor agreement. Caterpillar felt it would have to give "serious consideration" to the penalty option. It's these analyses –– which show it's a lot cheaper to "pay" than to "play" –– that threaten to overthrow the traditional architecture of health care. The cost side Indeed, companies are far more likely to cease providing coverage if they predict the bill will lift rather than flatten the cost curve. Deere, for example said, "We do expect double digit health care increases as most Americans will now have insurance and providers try to absorb the 15% uninsured into a practice." Both Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) and Verizon believe the requirement to allow dependents to remain on their parents' policies until age 26 will prove costly. Caterpillar puts the added expense at $20 million a year. How two new taxes and the employer penalty change the health care calculus First, there is the "Cadillac Tax" on expensive plans. This is a 40% excise tax on policies that cost over $8,500 for an individual or $23,000 for a family. Verizon's document predicts the tax will cost its employees $255 million a year when it starts in 2018, and rise sharply from there. Hewitt also isn't sure that Verizon can pass on the full tax to its employees; so it could impose a heavy weight on the company as well. "Many [have] characterized this tax as a pass-through to the consumer," says the Verizon document. "However, there will be significant legal and bargaining risks to overcome for this to be the case for Verizon." In a statement to Fortune, Verizon said it is not, "considering or even contemplating" the plans laid out in the report, though records show the company did send the report to its board shortly after the reform plan was passed by Congress. Second, the bill imposes new taxes on drug manufacturers, medical device-makers, and health insurance providers. Hewitt leaves little doubt Verizon will be paying for them: "These provisions are fees or excise taxes that will be shifted to employers through increased fees and rates." Caterpillar and AT&T actually spell out the cost differences: Caterpillar did its estimate in November, when the most likely legislation would have imposed an 8% payroll tax on companies that do not provide coverage. Even with that immense penalty, Caterpillar stated that it could shave $25 million a year, or almost 10% from its bill. Now, because the $2,000 is far lower than 8%, it could reduce its bill by over 70%, by Fortune's estimate. Caterpillar did not respond to a request for comment. AT&T revealed that it spends $2.4 billion a year on coverage for its almost 300,000 active employees, a number that would fall to $600 million if AT&T stopped providing health care coverage and paid the penalty option instead. AT&T declined comment. So what happens to the employees who get dropped? And why didn't these big employers drop employee coverage a long time ago? The Congressional Budget Office, in its crucial cost estimates of the bill, projected that company plans will cover more employees ten years from now than today. The reason the bill doesn't add to the deficit, the CBO states, is that fewer than 25 million Americans will be collecting the subsidies the bill mandates in 2020. Those subsidies are indeed big: families of four earning between $22,000 and $88,000 would pay between 2% and 9.5% of their incomes on premiums; the federal government would pay the rest. So policies for a family making $66,000 would cost them just $5,300 a year with the government picking up the difference: more than $10,000 by most estimates. As bean counters know, that's not a bad deal for a company's rank-and-file, and it's a great deal for the companies themselves. In a competitive labor market, the employers that shed their plans will need to give their employees a big raise, and those raises could be higher, even after taxes, than the premiums the employees will pay in the exchanges. What does it mean for health care reform if the employer-sponsored regime collapses? By Fortune's reckoning, each person who's dropped would cost the government an average of around $2,100 after deducting the extra taxes collected on their additional pay. So if 50% of people covered by company plans get dumped, federal health care costs will rise by $160 billion a year in 2016, in addition to the $93 billion in subsidies already forecast by the CBO. Of course, as we've seen throughout the health care reform process, it's impossible to know for certain what the unintended consequences of these actions will be |
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This is why the health insurance companies gave so much money to B.O. in the campaign (more than Republicans IIRC). Many people didn't know what to make about that at the time. It was simple... pay off Obungo and get a Tobacco industry type deal where you pass on the cost to the insured... or go out of business with Hillary care.
Ain't legalized corruption wonderful? And when you complain that you are now out of pocket and can't afford a 40% increase in the premium they call you a racist for protesting! Don't you know that no one making < $250k/year got a tax increase? HA HA |
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Indeed. They could go up, but remember "supposedly" the "you must insure anyone" clause is offset by the fact that now _everyone_ must get insurance. But that's not really true, and that's the problem. I can choose not to get insurance and just pay the fine. It's much cheaper to do so. If I do get sick, then I buy insurance. Can't deny pre-existing conditions and all that. After I'm better, I drop the insurance. Watch and wait. This will be widescale. |
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we got emailed around the 26th or so. dear valued employee..... blah blah we wont cover spouses etc. employee have to cover that 100%..thank you for helping is save money..here is some lube and please fill out the new forms with in 24 hours. my rates would have went from 500$ a month for 3 to 1000$+ a month. My solo rate for the month on the new company plan would put me at around 60$ a month. So on to get a plan for the wife and kid. Found a good deal, same company ( no need to switch kids doctor) and would save 300$ a month. Got a letter yesterday that they will not cover my daughter becuase of her hieght/weight vs her age. She is to "high risk" to cover  .But will cover the wife.So off to try and get her covered. |
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Quoted: The only way we'll get health insurance costs down is by single payer. That said the bill as is a step in the right direction. Yeah, if we increase the demand for health services and the supply stays static (or decreases, do to lower pay) costs will _totally_ go down. Oh, wait. What I just said makes less than zero sense and it's actually the complete opposite of reality. Single payer will result in exactly four* things: 1) Poorer service for the middle class 2) Better health care for the poor 3) No change for the wealthy, who can just buy the best doctors either way 4) Increased costs overall (now everyone can just waltz into the doctor when they get a little sniffle). After all, it's "free". Single payer is laughably stupid, and it'll be amusing to see the EU crumble because of this and other unsustainable social policies. What we actually need is an end to buffet style health care. You should pay your own healthcare up to, say, $5k a year, then after that high deductible insurance kicks in. *ETA: On reflection, 4 things - not 2 ;) |
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The only way we'll get health insurance costs down is by single payer. That said the bill as is a step in the right direction. Yeah, if we increase the demand for health services and the supply stays static (or decreases, do to lower pay) costs will _totally_ go down. Oh, wait. What I just said makes less than zero sense and it's actually the complete opposite of reality. Single payer will result in exactly four* things: 1) Poorer service for the middle class 2) Better health care for the poor 3) No change for the wealthy, who can just buy the best doctors either way 4) Increased costs overall (now everyone can just waltz into the doctor when they get a little sniffle). After all, it's "free". Single payer is laughably stupid, and it'll be amusing to see the EU crumble because of this and other unsustainable social policies. What we actually need is an end to buffet style health care. You should pay your own healthcare up to, say, $5k a year, then after that high deductible insurance kicks in. *ETA: On reflection, 4 things - not 2 ;) If there is a demand for more services, won't the market create more supply? Your theory plays out only if supply is artificially limited. |
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yea but the good news is that some crack ho popping out babies in Detroit will get free healthcare...Dont you understand how this works? Illegals can cross the borders, have their babies and take them back...Isnt that worth the 550 dollars a month you are paying? |
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Quoted: +25% Boy am I glad I'm not a family plan. They'll be taking it up the shorts. the people who are going to get hit the worst of the next couple of years are young healthy males making above a couple times the poverty limit (so like 30k a year or so) and who buy their own insurance. they could see their prices triple or more. |