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Does Your Insurance Premium Go Up 10%+ A Year??

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Posted 10/1/2013 3:45 AM (GMT 0)
I am self employed, so I have to buy my health insurance policy myself. I've had this policy since I was on my parents' policy about 8 years ago or so. It goes up between 10-12% per year it seems. It is a high deductible policy, so the price is still decent because I am young. But the compounding effect of this never-ending increase scares me. My parents' policy goes up every year by somewhere around a hundred dollars a month. How is this sustainable? Will this new healthcare law change any of this?

I'm assuming the law won't change a lot considering I just today got my letter in the mail telling me how my policy is going up x-amount more this year. Yay...

Thoughts?
Posted 10/1/2013 4:38 AM (GMT 0)
With the new healthcare law your insurance is going up. It's more then the 10-12% you have paid in the past!!
Posted 10/1/2013 9:35 AM (GMT 0)
Up 10 % +- every year... sounds like many of us
You are self employed, any employees on your plan?
That may or not matter. keep in mind, young healthy people on your plan help off set the cost for all and those people can be super cheap.
I had three of us who needed coverage at my business, I am in RI.
We selected switching to a high deductible plan with a seperate HSA plan to off set the deductibles.
Not sure if a broker can help a single self employed.
This is what your going to do.
Find an independent broker, its free and they put packages together for businesses. They advise you on plans and shop it for you. Our's knew the ropes and all the health care providers.
I was unaware of my current provider.

You can find a broker threw, your local chamber of commerce, maybe a credit union, maybe SBA, institutions that support businesses. Don't think I would select a broker via the net, you want a referral from a neutral party. I never knew about them and found out from the business support section of my credit union.

Post Edited (25yearsw/colitis) : 10/1/2013 5:16:06 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/1/2013 11:48 AM (GMT 0)
http://www.forbes.com/special-report/2013/what-will-obamacare-cost-you-map.html

Here's an interactive map that shows projected increases due to the ACA broken down by state and sex. Yes it's by a libertarian-ish group so if you think it's drivel don't look wink .  You're in NE, right? Looks like not much of an increase for you guys based on the article that linked to the map. NC is one of the worst, unfortunately and we have definitely seen in our business' policy. Under the same plan my VSL and Pentasa have gone from $50 each to $100 each per month. Rowasa and 6mp from $4 to $10. Yay.

Our welder got a new truck this summer that he was very proud of. He told me yesterday he is probably going to have to sell it to be able to pay his 25 pc portion of the monthly cost for his policy and his medications. Pretty sad.

I can't remember the exact numbers but the last change (about a month ago) saw the monthly cost go from mid $300's to $415 per month.

Posted 10/1/2013 5:35 PM (GMT 0)
My premiums have went up every year, regardless of any law. I am part of a group policy through the company I work for.

Drug costs have actually went down for me, but alot of them have went generic. Even if I request the brand name drug, that price still goes down once the generic comes out.

Posted 10/1/2013 6:23 PM (GMT 0)
Our out of pocket expenses for our insurance (group plan through work) doubled this year. This is partly because we switched plans and also because we split the increase with the employer, each taking on 50% of the increase. The policy premium went up 9.5% this year.
Posted 10/1/2013 6:47 PM (GMT 0)
Regardless of Obamacare, my premiums have gone up >10% every year. Last year, after Sandy, it got worse. Premium increased by 12% as expected but added deductible of $4000. Currently, I pay $1300/ 2 members. From Nov, it will be $1550/ 2 members.

The Forbes website linked above, is not really literal information. I have been going through NY health exchanges and there are only 6 providers. It seems so complicated that I feel dizzy now.

Good Luck mate, Washington knows who will benefit most.
Posted 10/1/2013 6:59 PM (GMT 0)
My premium doesn't go up that much, but co-pays for everything go up $5-10 every year.
Posted 10/1/2013 7:11 PM (GMT 0)
I have always been self employed or worked a job without employer coverage. I have always had individual coverage since I finished college in 1983. Yeah that 30 years. The last 30 years it went up 10% or more almost every year. A couple recent years it did not go up much. Why? Per capita medical spending dropped due to a major recession and many people losing or having their coverage reduced. Medical spending growth is completely out of control and medicine is now the largest industry in the country.

Most people with job coverage have been shielded from the pain of every increasing health spending. They got an invisible raise in the form of the same health insurance contribution.

Although I couldn't get onto the market place, I was able to get onto bluecross and a few other insurance providers.They have the details on the market place plans for 2014. The plans are cheaper and better than what I have now EVEN without the tax credit. With the tax credit my yearly insurance cost with be less than 1/3 what it is today and with a out of pocket maximum 1/2 as much. Less than $200/month with a total out of pocket maxim of $3000. Some much for Rush Limbaugh facts. smilewinkgrin


Oh and I talked to an insurance agent in town and she completed the required program to sell market place plans. If you need market place coverage, insurance agents will be happy to help you as they are paid a commission just like a normal plan.
Posted 10/1/2013 7:23 PM (GMT 0)
I now have Oxford Freedom for the NYC area, it is $700 a month. Everything is covered, I can go to any doctor I want without referrals (co-pays $30, specialists $50), medicine is $15 for almost everything. Out of pocket expenses for the calendar year is maxed at $700. It's expensive but very easy to use and I don't have to spend time fighting with the insurance company each month to get things covered.

I previously had BCBS HMO and it was $550 a month but after each month I was probably over $700 on total costs for medicines and co-pays.... plus all the aggravation I had to deal with to get things covered and referrals.

Premiums aren't are only expenses, it is important that we take all our monthly medical expenses when we compare health plans.

Also ***** if you are going through the Health Care Exchanges, make sure that all your doctors are participating in the plan that you choose****
Posted 10/2/2013 3:49 AM (GMT 0)
All of this information was really valuable to me. Thank you!
Posted 10/2/2013 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
Looked at my state health exchange yesterday. Need to break it down to the nuts and bolts in more detail but so far it looks like every single policy offered is going to cost me more than what I'm paying now when you figure in maxing out the deductibles and out of pocket expenses. What happened to Obamacare? Looks like I was right on my prediction regarding premiums would be cheaper, especially after factoring in any subsidies, but the total cost is going to be more, for me anyway. People with bad chronic diseases such as ours have to factor in maxing out the deductibles and out of pocket expenses. This disease is not cheap.
Posted 10/2/2013 2:21 PM (GMT 0)

garylouisville said...
Looked at my state health exchange yesterday. Need to break it down to the nuts and bolts in more detail but so far it looks like every single policy offered is going to cost me more than what I'm paying now when you figure in maxing out the deductibles and out of pocket expenses. What happened to Obamacare? Looks like I was right on my prediction regarding premiums would be cheaper, especially after factoring in any subsidies, but the total cost is going to be more, for me anyway. People with bad chronic diseases such as ours have to factor in maxing out the deductibles and out of pocket expenses. This disease is not cheap.

It doesn't mean that you have to buy a policy from the Health Exchanges, you can buy private health insurance.... by the way, your State approves premiums increases (unless your state doesn't regulate it at all), not the federal government....like NY only lets the insurance companies only raise premiums by x% a year.

The Affordable Care Act is not only about insurance premiums, it is also Health Care Reform, removing pre-existing conditions requirements, no cost preventive screenings & annual check-ups, pay for outcomes & not pay for tests, electronic medical records, making sure that the insurance companies pay at least 80% of their revenue towards medical bills....plus many more changes.
Posted 10/2/2013 3:15 PM (GMT 0)
They are also predicting that Cobra will go away in the 12-24 months and people will be able to covered by Exchanges or other state programs. That will be a huge savings for people who would have needed Cobra.
Posted 10/2/2013 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
I have private insurance now that is good until the end of June. Not sure what is going to happen then but I was hoping the new exchanges would give me a better deal than the private insurance I have now. Guess not.

That doesn't surprise me about COBRA going bye bye. If this all works as intended then COBRA would not really be necessary. Cobra is only as good or as bad as the circumstances surrounding the employer and their particular plan. I worked for a company once that had astoundingly good health insurance but upon leaving the costs for the plan on COBRA were astronomical. With other companies who may have a bad plan which doesn't cost much then COBRA premiums were probably fairly affordable. I'm finding out with Obamacare though that there is a big difference in the cost of the premiums compared to what the total cost of the insurance is going to be to you, after taking into account all of the copays, decuctibles, and out of pocket expenses. Some people may think they are getting a good deal due to cheap policies that may even be subsidized by the government but then when you wind up paying $12000 per year in out of pocket expenses, you are going to find out that the affordable policies aren't so affordable in the big picture.
Posted 10/2/2013 5:20 PM (GMT 0)

garylouisville said...

Some people may think they are getting a good deal due to cheap policies that may even be subsidized by the government but then when you wind up paying $12000 per year in out of pocket expenses, you are going to find out that the affordable policies aren't so affordable in the big picture.

I still think you are missing the main point of the ACA/ObamaCare (Health Care Reform), it is about health care reform and is not only about Premiums. People are getting better coverage, less restrictions and changing the way the health care system works (which is probably for the better) because a lot of was outdated.
Posted 10/2/2013 6:55 PM (GMT 0)
I get that point but they did call it the "Affordable Care Act". I'm not saying the whole thing is bad but the only affordable part is the premiums, not the whole ball of wax and of course there will be a lot of winners. There will also be a lot of losers. A lot of the winners will be people who can now have affordable premiums, as long as they don't use the insurance much, which I read the other day they expect 25% of policyholders will get little to no medical care in a given year. I'm paying approximately $19000 per year between premiums and out of pocket costs for a family policy, not even including dental. That's more than some people earn in a year. I was hoping that Obamacare was going to cut down my costs since everyone else on my plan are female and I have UC but it looks like all of my Obamacare options will cost me even more than the $19000 per year, assuming I max out on out of pocket expenses - which is very easy to do with UC. I guess I'm in the loser category unless I had lost my private insurance and no one would ensure me because of my UC, although my state already had a high risk health insurance pool.
Posted 10/2/2013 7:46 PM (GMT 0)

garylouisville said...
I get that point but they did call it the "Affordable Care Act".

The last administration also had an Act called "No Child Left-behind", there are still 6,000 students a day that drop out of High School in this country....I don't put credence into names, who really cares about the name, its what's in the Act/Law that matters.

garylouisville said...
which I read the other day they expect 25% of policyholders will get little to no medical care in a given year.


People should have preventative screenings and annual checkups each year, it good practice and will save the people's lives, cut down on health care costs and resources if illnesses and conditions are found earlier because they have insurance and preventive care. That is one of the main things Health Care Reform is trying to encourage and keeping people out of the ERs which have the highest costs and typically worse outcomes than doctors offices.

garylouisville said...

I'm paying approximately $19000 per year between premiums and out of pocket costs for a family policy, not even including dental. That's more than some people earn in a year.

IF someone or a family was making $19,000 a year they would get subsides that would make their premiums $100 a month or for free. The issue would be if their State rejected (which the Supreme Court allowed) the Medicaid Expansion Part of the ACA, if their state passed on it then they would not qualify.

"The ACA generally allows premium credits for exchange coverage for individuals with incomes above the poverty line who do not have access to affordable employer coverage or other public coverage. In states that fail to expand coverage, those with incomes at or below 100 percent of the poverty line who would have been “newly eligible” will likely end up without any option for affordable coverage."
www.cbpp.org/status-of-the-aca-medicaid-expansion-after-supreme-court-ruling.pdf...it's a pdf (so it will download automatically if you click on).

Gary,

I think most of your issues with the ACA that you have stated have to deal with the way the individual States deal with ObamaCare, regulate health care in their state and not the Federal Government and the act itself.

There are lots of great benefits to the Act, it is definitely not perfect by any means but it is much better than what we previously had (or didn't have).
Posted 10/2/2013 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
I just found out from the state exchange website that I have been denied a subsidy, which I should still qualify for, because I currently have an individual policy in place until the end of June next year, assuming I pay the bill monthly.
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