Health insurance is one of the biggest scams going. It's a lot cheaper to just croak. Americans should all just drop their plans, en masse, and send these insurance companies into bankruptcy (rather than the other way around, for a change). Three and four parties involved now, just to pay an insurance bill! Mine just went up $60/mo. as it does every year and has every year since Romneycare went into effect. The whole point of Romney and Obamacare was that, with more people covered, rates would go down, right? Mass. loves to brag about how 95% of its residents are now covered. Well, ten years after Romneycare's inception, the rates continue to go up as the same rate they did before RomneyObamacare. The only difference I can see is that now people are forced to buy something that is unaffordable or they're penalized. But who isn't penalized? Who walks away with the gold?

Insurance companies. Which now are making even huger profits than they did before, which means they have even more money with which to buy Congress to get it to do their bidding for them…

This country is so broken in so many ways….

broken system; I agree. They did try to make it better. It might be better for a lot of people poorer than me; not so great for me.

Violet, this doesn't diminish the pain of losing your insurance and having to figure out what to do that makes the most sense for you financially and health care wise, but your premiums and copays will be tax deductible (unfortunately, if high enough to meet the % of income test) which may offset some income tax paid on the raise you got.

I swear, the best thing that happened to me healthcare wise was getting old enough to qualify for Medicare AND living in a community with a robust healthcare cooperative where they take new Medicare patients. While working in an agency helping seniors with legal problems, one of the most frequent calls we would get were from people who had Medicare but no local doctors would take new Medicare patients because the reimbursements are so low!

I agree, it's a broken system, esp. for older, poorer citizens, or even younger underemployed or those employed in low wage/low benefit jobs. And the stockholders and owners of pharmaceutical/medical/ins companies just keep raking it in. Ugh, I'm so sorry for you to have to deal with this.

It is so difficult when employers just don't care enough to pay for coverage. But,I pay only $70.00 per month with the government subsidy. I am pretty healthy and i have not even seen a doc for a year. But, I am always afraid to go without coverage. You can get COBRA until the next enrollment starts in Dec... good luck!

I am not poor enough to qualify for a subsidy, unfortunately. And cancellation is an "event" that triggers enrollment, so that's okay.

I'm no expert on health insurance by any means but I think most insurance plans go up each year, not just Obamacare. I am retired and have a group plan through my employer and I think the premiums increased by 7% in January. Like any other industry, the "cost of doing business" goes up and that is passed onto the consumer.

Drop plans and send the insurance companies into bankruptcy? I've had some relatively minor health issues and routine procedures in the last 6 months and I can't imagine if I had to come up with the $ to pay for all the lab work, X-rays, CT scans, outpatient surgeries, etc, which far surpassed my monthly premium. I'd be the one in bankruptcy if that were to ever happen!

Mine goes up 20 - 30% every year. Last year it went up something like 90% because of the ACA, despite being on Romneycare for ten years. "Not just Obamacare" isn't an accurate statement because the whole point here is that DESPITE ObamaRomneycare, the rates of health insurance continue to skyrocket, that despite millions more being enrolled, which was supposed to bring premiums down, they continue to rise at the same rate they did before these programs. Fact is, insurance/pharmaceutical/health-care companies probably should not be allowed to be public. It's when companies become beholden to shareholders that prices go haywire. I'm sure that's only part of the problem, but the fact is, with the ACA and Romneycare, health insurance companies were handed an enormous injunction of income…yet they continue to jack rates at the same pace as before these programs. So it's more 'despite the ACA' rather than 'not just Obamacare', and the problem there is that the thing this is happening "despite of" is also the thing that forces people to buy a product they just cannot afford.

My premiums have barely gone up the past two years--maybe $20 per year, but my deductibles, copays, and out of network have gone up quite a bit. I have a PPO. Right now our only choices are PPO and high deductible, and this is a state plan. The eliminated the HMO for 2015.

If you are left with a high deductible plan, open a Health Savings account which is like a flex account, but it rolls over from year to year. This way you can at least put away the money that would cover the deductible.

We're 32 and 36, do not smoke and never, ever go to the doctor except for my regular annual exam... and our ACA quote was $1250 per month with a $12,500 family deductible. We do not qualify for subsidies. In what world is this affordable, please?

We still have our catastrophic coverage policy (which we would very much like to keep) until 2016. It is $95 / month for the two of us with a family deductible of $10,000.

In 2016, if it has not been fixed so we can keep the policy we like, we will likely be signing up for a Christian Health sharing ministry. For those who meet the guidelines, the costs seem to be much lower than the ACA coverage if you don't get a subsidy so it may be worth looking into for others who do not qualify for subsidies or who are not interested in participating in the ACA.

Violet,

Sorry about the reduction in pay. Always challenging when we aren't involved in the decisions which impact us.

+1 Gsciencechick.

Health Savings Accounts offer a trifecta of savings IF you have a high deductible health plan.

1. Tax Deduction on contributions. You can still make a contribution through April 15 for 2014. For an individual, the limit is $3,300, family is $6,550. Immediate tax deduction on the contribution.

2. Withdrawals for qualified medical/dental expenses are tax free.

3. Many HSAs offer mutual funds to invest the contributions depending upon the balance. Any earnings on the funds are tax deferred.

We don't withdrawal money from the HSA to fund annual medical expenses. We'll use the HSA to fund out-of-pocket Medicare expenses at that time. Maybe this option will help with the budget?

~bgj

Beagles, how,much were you paying before?

HSA! When my husbands company did something like that we got a HSA. The extra salary he got was put in it. Worked great and when he left the company the HSA went with him. We continued to use the money for years without contributing any more money. Thankfully his new company has a great insurance plan.

Maddie we were, and still are, paying $95 / month for the two of us with a family deductible of $10,000. When I go for my annual women's exam, I pay $0 despite the fact that this is a catastrophic care plan (this was true pre-Obamacare and remains true.)

Our plan is not an ACA compliant plan and unless something changes, we will lose it in 2016. We were part of that group who got the extension because of the whole if you like your plan, you can keep your plan debacle; however, from what I understand from the insurer and from news reports, this is only good until 2016.

If nothing changes, we're going on the Christian health sharing ministry. I won't pay $1250 month for terrible coverage, and I am strongly ideologically opposed to ACA so would not support it under any circumstances.

I'm so sorry to read stories like this. If your country could ever band together collectively to offer socialized health care with a single payer you would all benefit greatly, as the system is much cheaper and more efficient with better health outcomes. I think the ACA was probably your first step in getting there, hopefully more progress will be made to cut out the insurance companies more and more.

"if you like your plan, you can keep your plan"-what a joke! My husband and my insurance company canceled us. Neither previous insurance was that great anyway, but much better than what we got through ACA. ACA is much more expensive, especially for self-employed and middle class people. Self-employed in our family is my husband and I. The poor get a premium credit so they can afford it-the rich can either easily afford it or work for a company with good insurance benefits-the middle class gets screwed! We pay the same amount of premium as last year because I tried to find a plan that was about the same monthly amount-but the deductibles are huge and coverage isn't as good at all. Plus, it was the biggest pain AND took HOURS to get all the info trying to find the right plan. I called so many times and the system was down-after being on the phone with them and giving all the information then system would go down. I'm getting mad again just writing all this, and this isn't even the half of it.

I will say they did call me back each time the system went down-but I was stuck at home for a few days getting it all done. And, they were very nice. Although, one reason that took so long was because they didn't know what they were doing and would put me on hold so they could get answers from someone (?) and then get back to me.

beagles, I commend you on not supporting ACA under any circumstances!

In a sane world, Robo, that's what we would have. But in America everyone thinks it is a terrible imposition or a downright crime to wait two weeks for a test or surgery---they want it NOW, and that is why there are MRIs and CTA scanners on every block. With shared costs comes some measure of rationing and people here are not ready for that. Nor will they ever be.

Individual costs for health care in Canada have risen 53% in ten years. Although getting better your country may all have coverage but they do not have a doctor to use their coverage with. The doctor shortage is still a great problem in Newfoundland. Canada also ranks bottom in OECD stats on its wait times. I do not believe Canada is worse than US but I know it is not much better. All countries have health care expenses and problems and for every positive in one system there will be 2 negatives in that same system.

I hope to have universal coverage for all but wish to maintain some freedom of choice too. I am hopeful the ACA will eventually lead to that goal of insuring all citizens while maintaining the great, and almost instant care with extensive screening that is not found in any other country, I am able to receive as a fortunate covered individual.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/canada-ranked-last-among-oecd-countries-in-health-care-wait-times-1.1647061

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/nadeem-esmail/canada-free-health-care_b_3733080.html

Beagles that is amazing that your costs are so low.

Before my Medicare kicked in (December 2014) I was paying over $600.00 a month for a high deductible health policy., not ACA.

This was for me alone because my husband has had Medicare coverage for a few years.

So your 1250.00 a month for 2 people isn't that different then what ours would be if we were younger.

ML

I find this so scary. It makes you see how societies collapse and revolutions start.

daisy chain…it's all about greed. And greed is always about just a few, so what is amazing is how just a few can cause so much pain, grief, collapses….and for what? So they can have pure gold toilets????

Human beings can be so dumb and so selfish.

These are single stories that represent very little of the whole. My family pays 3500 per year in premiums and have a 7000 deductible under a company plan. The average family spends 3500 per year in healthcare not tens of thousands and as of November 70percent are happy with our system. It is not a cause for revolution.http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/607380

Here is the average spent by Americans for all healthcare, insurance averaged 2500 per year less, than we spend on entertainment. Yes this is an average so some pay zero and others pay 12,000.http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm

Insurance costs are equally ridiculous for teachers through the state-our state anyway.

maddielee, we paid $1250.00 before ACA but deductibles were $1500 each-on ACA that same premium amount was $5000.00 month deductible per person at the least, most were $7500.00-so any mri's, xrays, blood tests, etc. you end up paying out of your pocket anyway. My husband and I had two different policies and he received his letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield right before January 2015 stating that his coverage would be ending-he rarely went to the doctor while having that same policy for years. But, BCBS knows they can make much more money on the the ACA plan.

By the time we, as very small, self-employed business owners pay out for General Liability, Worker's Comp, all of our inflated health insurance costs, the poor may make more money than the middle class does, due to the fact they get all the premium credits. And, we have all the headaches of all the audits involved with G/L and W/C audits and paying accountants and taxes in the end. We pay several different contract laborers, so they are in the same boat we are in-and that means there are many, many of us out there. So, for a large population of self-employed-this does not work.

DH and I were paying almost 1500 per month with a 1500 deductible. When the ACA went through our plan was dropped, DH was eligible for Medicare that year so I went with a catastrophic plan. It is a bit under 500 per month with an 8,000 deductible but the good thing is there isn't a limit on what is paid if I do get a catastrophic illness.

Health insurance isn't the only thing that skyrocketed with ACA. I use a prescription cream for a minor condition. In July of 2014 the cream was a touch over $20. In December 2014 when DH picked up the prescription for me it cost $335. I am in good health and at 61 that is the only prescription med I use but I think it's ridiculous that it increased that much. The good news is DD found a coupon on goodrx dot com and I got another tube for less than $37.

Olliesmom, you are so right about small business owners being raked over the coals. I am retiring the end of June and am in negotiations to sell my business. I am sick of the headaches and all the hoops we are expected to jump through.

Rorah we have paid over 17,000 per year for years before DH went on Medicare. I have no idea how they can come up with the ridiculously low figure of 2500 per year. I guess because some people are covered through their employers.

$2500 per year? That would be nice!

My family pays less than $ 1000 per person per year for premiums and about $1500 per person for deductible so that is 2500 per year per person.We do have company contributions and as a group the company has buyer's power so premiums are lower than a self employed or self insured person. Given time the ACA should also have buying power to lower cost for self insured. Things should improve but not over night.

My DH has always been self employed and health insurance has always been one of the 2 largest budget line items throughout our marriage. So in that regard we aren't surprised to be paying over $1200/month. For just the 2 of us. The bitter pill is that isn't premium coverage in any way - high deductible, not even 80/20 but 70/30. Knock on wood, we're both healthy and don't take any meds. Our system was broken long before the ACA.

DH and I (45/48 years old) are paying $680/month premium for an EPO platinum marketplace plan. We don't qualify for a subsidy.

$10 copay ($30 specialist), 10% co-ins after deductible (for stuff like tests, imaging, surgery, emergency), $500 family deductible, $3000 family total out-of-pocket.

We are self-employed and before ACA we were paying $1100/mo w/ a $10k deductible.

Magdalena, I'm not sure I understand the EPO plan and I didn't see that as an option for Oklahoma. That is great if you got that kind of coverage-but I wonder why it's not offered to everyone? I would have taken that in a heartbeat!

All states are not equal under the ACA and that is a shame. The market places all carry different plans and different insurance companies. Hopefully the rates and coverage plans will equalize soon . Olliesmom, my parents worked with an insurance consultant to find the best fit for them it really helped them navigate the new system in our state, which has its own market not the national one.

Olliesmom, EPOs are like HMOs in that only in-network providers can be used. EPO stands for exclusive provider organization. It's different than an HMO in that a primary care physician or referrals are not required. This makes the plan a little less user-friendly because I have to make sure my medical care is coming from a network provider instead of relying on a PCP to keep things in check. My particular network is pretty broad, so I don't have too much trouble finding a provider.

I'm not sure what all the requirements are for some plans to be offered in some regions and not in others. I'm sure it has a lot to do with availability and competition among some other not so obvious factors.

Many people don't realize that states can set their own rates. Ohio is higher than most.
Ages 45/48 is much cheaper than 60/65. You'll see when you arrive. :) Older citizens are paying out huge amounts for premiums and out of pocket expenses. Yet we get excited to hear that 20 something Jeff who works at Burger King is only paying $70 per month.

As roarah says, all states are not equal. I live in a state whose gov. has done everything he could to stymie the ACA & refused to expand Medicaid - leaving many of our citizens w/o access to coverage. Also, our insurance commissioner is reportedly prohibited from regulating the insurance 'providers' - essentially allowing them to gouge consumers.

If it were not for the ACA, I would not have insurance (had none for over 30 years before now) & I've already made good use of it. My individual plan is costing approx. $4400/yr, but I'm paying only about $800 of that w/ the subsidy.

Not to let anybody off the hook, but I think the biggest culprit is medical costs - which continue to balloon out of control, it seems. Insurance providers, & ultimately we, are definitely paying through the nose for services & prescriptions. I was recently in a hospital room for about 6 hours - not even an overnight stay & no meals & the charge for that my ins. co. paid was $23,000!

Has anyone else heard about the new push to require providers to disclose prices? The prediction is that this may result in lower costs - eventually. Right now, the $$ charged for a procedure can vary as much as 70% or more...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/12/276001379/elusive-goal-a-transparent-price-list-for-health-care

Oh & love him or hate him, I recently heard a good 1 from Ralph Nader: isn't it ironic to be calling the folks who gouge everyone on medical costs 'providers'?

Everything on my bill is itemized including time spent in office visit. 38 minutes.

I've had continuous insurance coverage since age 18.

Ohio did expand Medicaid. Medicaid is the best insurance plan ever. Ohio Medicaid is FREE to those who qualify and it covers everything, including transportation to and from appointments. Of course I wouldn't want to qualify for medicaid.