Good news (?) on Health Insurance!

Monthly Premium only went up $89, to $2186.

Annual Deductible only went up $2000+ dollars to $13,300, which now matches total Annual OOP so can plan for that, I guess.

BUT - no more 20% co-insurance. So that is a good thing. Can't budget for 20% of infinity.

Zero co-pay for prescriptions if covered.

Copay for Out of Network was decreased, from 50% to 30% AND some services are also 0% - including ER services if out of network.

To sum up: "only" about $39k out of pocket per year for coverage, or about $3300 per month.

$26k in premiums. $13300 in deductibles. Total $39300 annually. Average $3275 per month.

WMH, ouch! My wife and I are in our 50s, with three teenagers at home. My share of our families very good coverage through work is $565 a month, going to$585 next year. We have. $5,000 deductible, but the employer-paid HRA puts $2,000 into the pot each year. this can roll over and we are fortunate, we haven’t spent anything on healthcare out of pocket since the youngest was born 15 years ago.

That sounds very similar to what my parents pay and around your age as well (early 60s) ~$1,000 each per month and ~$13,000 deductible.

I'd be tempted to buy a catastrophic plan and just pay the O-care tax penalty for a non-qualifying plan. Have you looked into that and priced out the difference?

Use a local walk in clinic for maintenance. Pay docs out of pocket. Only use the insurance if you get hit by a bus...medically metaphorically speaking.

Thank goodness for BCBS-Fed Emp. I don't complain about my health insurance and have never had it refused anywhere. I am 70 y/o and still in good health. Doing my best to keep it that way.

Bill/NC, we are three hours from Richmond VA which is where VCU Medical College is located (and our son too.) So we have been going there for our dental care. If you are lucky enough to get into the Student program, it's dirt cheap and the care is GREAT. And you always have two sets of eyes on you: your student and the dentist that checks their work.

As he said to me once, 'The students don't care about buying a new boat yet. They care about GRADES.'

DH was quoted $20k in Dental Care needed by our local dentist. About $2k so far at VCU.

We've been self-insured since I left my W2 job in 2009 to be a SAHM. (DH, fortunately, has now been insured since 2014 by his current employer.) Ours went up $102 every other month for the remainder of us. I'm now at $364, and the two boys are at $324, up from $306. So we went from $586 to $688 every other month for the three of us at our annual renewal.

When we started in 2009, it was $154 for me, $134 for DH, and $94 for DS1, paid every other month. So when we started, a year of health insurance for me was $924; now I'm at $2184 yearly. And for a kid, it was $564/year; now it's $972/year each.

Just reinforces the need to stay with W2 job for me for another 12 or so years.

Only time I would go to a hospital would be something acute.. I wish they can have the option not to use your insurance for maintenance type of thing.. (gov't being the big brother again to assess penalty for no insurance).

Health Insurance, what a joke! Here in California the illegals will not pay even $50 a month for coverage! Why? Because they can enter any emergency room and get treated for free!!!!!!!

When I had an emergency and had been paying for health insurance with the same HMO for 30 years, they had an armed guard escort me to the cashier to pay my $100 co-payment for emergency care. 48 illegals were in the waiting room and the urgent care had already helped over 200 illegals and the cashier hadn't received even a dime in payments since 6 AM through 1 PM.

We pay for insurance, like $1000 to $3000 a month for us and/or our families but the poor and illegals pay nothing. They use their funds here to buy a new car, no auto insurance and get Section 8 vouchers.......

Lets hope insurance implodes soon. I'm banking on it.

I am a Christian, 62years old and will retiring November 4th (yeah!) I have joined Christian Healthcare Ministries medical cost sharing. I will be paying $200 ish a month for what used to be called "major medical". Rx and office visits are on me. $1000 deductible per occurrence. No coverage for abortion, birth control, or substance abuse. I am a low utilizer of health care services. Friends have recommended this option and have been happy with it. There was a recent article on this option in the Wall Street Journal.

We also have a local practice that is doing direct primary care - for $60 a month, all internal medical office visits and labs are covered.

My wife picked up a job as an assistant teacher some years back. The position is unionized and the health care we have is excellent. Prior to her picking up this job, I was paying over about $ 2000 a month and I believe my deductible was around 5000. This was around 2009. When ACA went in place, my premiums dropped to $ 1500 but coverage was bad particularly on prescriptions. By the time I paid out of pocket, there were no savings. My wife getting that job probably saved at least $ 30,000 in health care premiums as no telling where they'd be now. Premiums were going to grow whether the ACA was implemented or not. A public option is the only thing that will arrest premiums.

Ouch!!!!!

@Rathdrumgal, I had heard a bunch of radio commercials for MediShare and CMF Curo (Samaritan) and some other similar programs. When I started looking into them, it looked like it would be more expensive for the three of us than with my BCBSTX. But as the rates get hiked, the price gets more comparatively attractive... :)

With my medshare plan the annual personal responsibility is essentially the deductible if I’m not mistaken. You pick a plan just like you would with regular insurance with premiums fluctuating with deductibles like regular insurance.

For the hubs & I we are paying $270/month with a $4K deductible. BCBSKS wanted $850/month with a $13K deductible & paid only 50/50.

It is not accurate to say catastrophic plans are not available. From healthcare.gov...

"Who can buy a Catastrophic plan

Only the following people are eligible:

People under 30

People of any age with a hardship exemption or affordability exemption (based on Marketplace or job-based insurance being unaffordable)

If you’re eligible to buy a Catastrophic plan, you’ll see them displayed when you compare plans in the Marketplace."

This would keep some individuals in compliance without the penalty.

It does appear that even those plans sold outside the exchanges are still regulated by the ACA, so most plans are critical illness (i.e. a cancer-only policy) or supplemental. Still, if it were me I'd do some more digging to find out more cost effective ways to manage healthcare vs. rolling over and taking the ACA mandates as the gospel.

I will now stop griping about our $1800 per month premium. I see that we are nowhere near the highest payers here. Two adults in early 60s, one early 20s dependent. No deductible.

Sid we have considered medical tourism. DH was quoted $20k for dental work from local dentist. We looked into Mexico, where oldest son lives, as viable alternative for sure. 12 hours round trip though.

But then found VCU (Virginia Commonwealth U) and their Medical College has a dental program. 3 hour drive, but youngest son lives there, so we can visit them yay two for one.

It sucks, why can't we have good national coverage like the rest of the developed world yet?

Deanna (TX):

This is the first year we've been with them. I have yet to receive anything regarding new premiums for 2018. I've at least got deductibles to shuffle to lower premiums if that's the case & still have better coverage than I had.

And I can always switch companies as well. I think last year our choices in KS were BCBS and maybe Coventry for purchasing on the open market. I think this year there are still only 2 companies available in KS on the open market. There's several medshare companies available.

Cool to hear you've found some alternative WMH.

SID we've done extensive research on our options. Age and income are against us, as is the fact we live in NC, where there is only one company offering insurance on the Exchange: BCBS.

sounds like its time for the rent raises so those that voted for that steaming pile of a law can pay the premiums for you. i raised rents this year for exactly that reason.