My Health Insurance Premium Will Increase 115%
Posted by CircuitGuy 11 years, 1 month ago to Economics
I just received a letter saying my health insurance premium will increase from $385.50/mo to $821.29 b/c of ACA requirements. That's for an $11k deductible and $12,700 MOOP. I talked to my agent about this this back in May, and he said my premium would increase 48%. I could have redone underwriting and stayed on the existing plan for 18 months, but I decided to just start paying the 48% in Jan 2014. I didn't know it would be an extra 114%.
Extra benefits kicked in in 2012, but the price didn't go up. I guess we're paying for it now.
I _knew_ that those mandated benefits would come at a price, but this is more than I imagined. That increase would have been a big deal to me when I earned less money.
I'm going to shop it when I have a chance. My insurer has had financial problems, and maybe they're just seeing how much they can get. I understand it has to go to pay for people with pre-existing conditions. I want to protect our wealth from some unlikely major illness, but $1000 per year is a steep price to pay. At those rates, I'll probably want to self-insure and just pay the penalty if/when our net worth hits the $3M range. We wouldn't blow through $1M dollars between the onset of a major illness and open enrollment. I could see this system collapsing if they don't increase the penalties and strictly enforce them.
Extra benefits kicked in in 2012, but the price didn't go up. I guess we're paying for it now.
I _knew_ that those mandated benefits would come at a price, but this is more than I imagined. That increase would have been a big deal to me when I earned less money.
I'm going to shop it when I have a chance. My insurer has had financial problems, and maybe they're just seeing how much they can get. I understand it has to go to pay for people with pre-existing conditions. I want to protect our wealth from some unlikely major illness, but $1000 per year is a steep price to pay. At those rates, I'll probably want to self-insure and just pay the penalty if/when our net worth hits the $3M range. We wouldn't blow through $1M dollars between the onset of a major illness and open enrollment. I could see this system collapsing if they don't increase the penalties and strictly enforce them.
let me just say this - from what I've learned just this year watching my father in law battle cancer - $1M is very easy to spend. it's been less than six months since diagnosis and bills are $800k and growing. he has insurance, but it honestly frightens me to think people go through this without insurance. I hope you can find something that works for you and your family without having a gap in insurance.
won't the system collapse if young, healthy people don't enroll? where does the money come from, especially an increase in penalty, when the majority have nothing to their name but college debt they're having trouble paying off? I'm not trying to be pointed. I honestly wonder.
Yes, I think everyone agrees the system will fall apart without a mandate that most people comply with.
"where does the money come from, especially an increase in penalty, when the majority have nothing to their name but college debt they're having trouble paying off?"
I think it comes from the tax credit / subsidy, that results in less affluent consumers paying smaller premiums. One problem is "where does that money come from." I'm not knowledgeable as to the answer. Whatever the answer is, if new expensive treatments keep appearing, that subsidy will grow over time faster than GDP. Supporters say the plan somehow contains cost, but I do not believe that will work. We will need either to raise taxes to cover the growing subsidy OR to let the system become a safety net for those who cannot afford to buy care themselves. I don't mind that latter scenario too much b/c previously we had a "system" where the poor would present at the ER, get expensive treatment for things that should have been treated earlier, and paying customers carried them in the form of higher rates. At least now we're trying to make those people pay to the extent they can.
Like everyone here, I am very concerned with this being sold as a way for the gov't to manage the lives of the middle class. What I want it to do is to give me an environment where my fellow citizens go without basic care. Ideally they would all rise to the occasion and provide for themselves, giving them a feeling of accomplishment and their customers/employers all kinds of value. Not everyone will do that, so I appreciate some kind of safety net.
When I was single and under 28, and had a plan with a $5k deductible for $50/mo. Such a plan would be more expensive today b/c it has to cover all these mandated things, but I might have been eligible for a bit of the tax credit.
Now my family plan will be $830, even though we're all healthy! My agent has a way to keep me off an ACA-approved plan for one year, keeping my premiums at $430 through 2014.
Despite all the histrionics, PPACA is a mixed bag.