I'm sitting here astounded at the premiums some people are paying. I had no idea. When I lived in LA in 2006-2007, I think my healthcare premium was $60 a paycheck? That was for the hmo option not the other one ( PPo or something). I thought it was amazing because for that price the healthcare was away better than I ever got in the UK.
People who are paying $650 etc, is it because your company doesn't pay anything? Or you have a super duper fancy plan?
We now pay $4-- something I'm not sure what per month. The insurance isn't that great (and it's through DH's work, a hospital). We are not allowed to see our pediatrician so we pay OOP for that since we love the doctor.
We pay $632 a month. Only option. Employer chips in. Good plan in terms of coverage etc. No deductible. I actually wish we had a lower cost, less coverage/higher deductible option for care outside of routine and rX.
Post by penguingrrl on Jul 2, 2015 13:36:31 GMT -5
We pay $550 a month after Hs employer's contribution. We have a $4K deductible and $13,500 OOP max for the year with 80% coverage after the deductible. So far this year we've paid over a thousand in addition to our premiums, which is really hurting us financially. Our plan really would only significantly help us if we had a huge healthcare expense, but for day to day things it's basically throwing $6K a year out the window just in case.
We just got COBRA notices. It's like $2400/mo for the 3 of us. I felt the benefits we received through this plan while he was employed were really good given DD had an out of network NICU stay. My husband was working at a company with like 5000 employees? Maybe less? While he was employed, he paid a few hundred per month for his portion, maybe $400? It wasn't bad. The OOP max was $2500 and that was really if you went to out-of-network providers.
As an employer with 1 employee, I could not afford $2400/mo for my employee and myself right now, hopefully I can as my business grows. She has insurance through the exchange and I think pays very little in premiums with subsidies and what not. It's a version of Medicaid. It's not super great but I don't have to feel bad that she has nothing.
The irony is that the NICU group was in network with Medicaid and out of network with everyone else. It's how the NICU office has to play the system to make up for the likely low reimbursement Medicaid pays. Medicaid probably paid like $200/night and that's probably a generous estimate, while our insurance company paid something like $688 a night for the same service. It was literally like a hotel in there, each baby paying something different for the same exact care and services.
Healthcare is a huge racket and sometimes as a healthcare provider, I feel like I am on the wrong side of the equation. Remember, one of the laws that were written in was that health insurance companies must spend 80% of collected premiums on claims or else issue rebates. I bet there are a million exceptions and loopholes so that only like 5 people in America actually get a rebate.
Our total monthly premium is $1350 but we pay $135. We have no deductible and $20 office visit copays, $100 ER, $250 inpatient and low prescription costs. It is just something the company has always done. The copays used to be less.
It's becoming more common in the US for the employer to pay little to nothing for coverage for spouse & children. And in general, if you want to feel great about the state of things ...
This year, 80 percent of all covered workers face a general annual deductible, with the average deductible reaching $1,217. Workers typically must pay this deductible before most services are covered by their health plan. Since 2009, the average deductible has risen 47 percent from $826.
This year, 41 percent of all covered workers face an annual deductible of at least $1,000, including 18 percent who face a deductible of at least $2,000. Covered workers at small firms (three to 199 employees) are even more likely to face large deductibles, with 61 percent facing at least $1,000 deductibles and a third (34 percent) facing at least $2,000 deductibles.
When discussing why Americans don't want to adopt universal healthcare, lots of people talk about how they don't want their taxes to go up, Canada has such higher taxes, etc.
Well, if someone has a $650/month plan, that's $7800/year, plus all these copays and deductibles.
I just did a little googling and discovered that for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, 11% of my income tax went to healthcare. I have an income of $55,000, with about $10,500 in income tax. So about $1000 of my money each year goes to health care.
I know that there is a lot of variation in how much people are paying each month, but in most cases, wouldn't universal health care funded through income tax still be a lot cheaper for most people?
I mean the short answer is "what @cookiemonster03 said"
The long answer is because historical distrust in the federal government, general antitax bias, political economy, veto points, generous employer sponsored plans and path dependence, racism, blah blah blah.
Post by longtimenopost on Jul 2, 2015 13:52:51 GMT -5
We used to have a great deal, but I just got notice that our OPM is going from $2,000 like it's been for the last 5 years to $6,500!! And they are increasing our monthly premium. What?! It's out of control.
Remember, one of the laws that were written in was that health insurance companies must spend 80% of collected premiums on claims or else issue rebates. I bet there are a million exceptions and loopholes so that only like 5 people in America actually get a rebate.
DH actually got one of these rebates from BCBS a couple of years ago. The next week, we got a letter that his premium was increasing 40%. It was crazy! The previous year, they couldn't meet the 80% but now they need more $$?
I mean the short answer is "what @cookiemonster03 said"
The long answer is because historical distrust in the federal government, general antitax bias, political economy, veto points, generous employer sponsored plans and path dependence, racism, blah blah blah.
See, I feel like the true answer is that Canadians are inherently lazier than Americans.
You guys are all having to research different plans, calculate costs, call up insurance agencies to battle over payments, and all that crap.
Dear god, no. Every time I call my insurer or "Patient Financial Services" (this is a real department that any large hospital has) I just want to scream "IF WE WERE IN DENMARK WE COULD ALL BE DOING BETTER THINGS WITH OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW!"
When discussing why Americans don't want to adopt universal healthcare, lots of people talk about how they don't want their taxes to go up, Canada has such higher taxes, etc.
Well, if someone has a $650/month plan, that's $7800/year, plus all these copays and deductibles.
I just did a little googling and discovered that for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, 11% of my income tax went to healthcare. I have an income of $55,000, with about $10,500 in income tax. So about $1000 of my money each year goes to health care.
I know that there is a lot of variation in how much people are paying each month, but in most cases, wouldn't universal health care funded through income tax still be a lot cheaper for most people?
Yeah, and honestly we don't have it bad, but it's the variability that kills me. When I lived in Denmark, I paid 40% tax but it still felt better because I didn't have to budget for healthcare, I made what I made and it was MINE regardless of what happened to my health.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Jul 2, 2015 14:02:18 GMT -5
I pay $250 for dd and I to be covered via my em'or. At my previous firm she had her own policy (as did then h) bc to insure them through my em'or was $1100/month !! The firm covered me at 100% but any dependents and you had to pay the full premium price
It depends so heavily on what the company can afford/do...at my last job I paid 30/pay period (biweekly) with a 750 deductible. I'm paying twice that now for a 500 deductible but if I get a physical they write me a check for $300 so that offsets some. Both the boys will be only insurance so total it will be about 95/pay period.
DH is the lucky one among the two of us, his employer pays 100% of his premium and it's only a 1500 deductible. It's a small company so I'm surprised that he is able to afford it but he said it is one of the things that is important to him.
Meanwhile we have a friend who works for a professional sports team in the marketing dept and he pays 675 a month and they just told them their deductible is going up from 7500 to 10000. He is going to look on the marketplace because that's insane.
When discussing why Americans don't want to adopt universal healthcare, lots of people talk about how they don't want their taxes to go up, Canada has such higher taxes, etc.
Well, if someone has a $650/month plan, that's $7800/year, plus all these copays and deductibles.
I just did a little googling and discovered that for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, 11% of my income tax went to healthcare. I have an income of $55,000, with about $10,500 in income tax. So about $1000 of my money each year goes to health care.
I know that there is a lot of variation in how much people are paying each month, but in most cases, wouldn't universal health care funded through income tax still be a lot cheaper for most people?
The only answer I have ever been provided to the question (other than it isn't my job to pay for other people's 'stuff'), is that the population of the U.S. is 10x that of Canada AND not as high a percentage of Americans actually even pay any taxes compared to Canadians. So apparently it wouldn't ever work.
I pay $125/month in premiums and my deductible is $2,750pp and $5,500 for the family (it's a HDHP) and I consider myself very fortunate. If we used a plan through H's employer we would pay over $1200/month and have 30% coinsurance. When I was unemployed we had no other option for DD because they wouldn't insure her because of her FTT.
Post by shellbear09 on Jul 2, 2015 15:53:57 GMT -5
I pay $88 biweekly for medical, dental, vision, life. The deductible is 350pp OOP max is 1600pp. This is local govt. A big reason I keep this job is for the benefits.
Post by whitemerlot on Jul 2, 2015 15:57:39 GMT -5
We pay $450 a month for our family of 4 on a high deductible health plan. We have preventative coverage. We have no coverage on anything else, including prescriptions, other than birth control pills, until we spend $3000 per person or $6000 for the family.
DH's company recently raised our premiums $200/month AND started offering a crappier plan. We are on the lowest deductible option ($1750/person in network) too
Yeah, Americans are idiots who vote against our own best interests could summarize. Another huge factor is that although most MMM know all these details about their health insurance costs many people don't. They forget about it, because it just comes out of their paychecks. Or they don't have insurance at all. Or when they get a medical bill they just let it go to collections and ignore it assuming the provider will write it off. Or they're on Medicaid or Medicare and truly don't understand that that means they have insurance provided by the government. So TAXES and COMMUNISM sound like really scary changes.