Unaffordable Health Care Act
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They = my friend.
jschell wrote:
income receives a subsidy
Yep the IRS will give them a tax credit once a year.
jschell wrote:
this comment has nothing else to do with the rest of your comment
Not directly, however do to being covered for pregnancy now my make my insurance cost a little more. Note that the government web page states that all insurance will cover the same things. The web site does not indicate that a ~60 year old male will not need to purchase pregnancy coverage.
djj55 wrote:
Not directly, however do to being covered for pregnancy now my make my insurance cost a little more.
Which has nothing to do with your original comment about the cost. The cost has been going up for the past 15 years - period.
djj55 wrote:
The web site does not indicate that a ~60 year old male will not need to purchase pregnancy coverage.
Health insurance has never been about specific individual desires. The entire point of health insurance is to take a large group of people and spread the risk of potential illness among the entire group with the goal of minimizing the potential financial impact for the individual. And of course minimums needed to be set because otherwise some people would attempt to circumvent the intent by structuring meaningless insurance policies.
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djj55 wrote:
Not directly, however do to being covered for pregnancy now my make my insurance cost a little more.
Which has nothing to do with your original comment about the cost. The cost has been going up for the past 15 years - period.
djj55 wrote:
The web site does not indicate that a ~60 year old male will not need to purchase pregnancy coverage.
Health insurance has never been about specific individual desires. The entire point of health insurance is to take a large group of people and spread the risk of potential illness among the entire group with the goal of minimizing the potential financial impact for the individual. And of course minimums needed to be set because otherwise some people would attempt to circumvent the intent by structuring meaningless insurance policies.
I agree insurance has been increasing over the last fifteen years but it has not tripled, maybe doubled over the fifteen years, but not at the current rate. It seems to be headed to doubling in a couple of years. If you see a statistic that rates have only gone up on average 4% a year, they neglect to say the coverage is less. I am now paying 20% of my bills where I paid nothing before. I am paying $5K out of pocket before insurance will pay, where many things where paid by the insurance company before. So with all that my premiums only went up 2%, costing me 10% more.
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I agree insurance has been increasing over the last fifteen years but it has not tripled, maybe doubled over the fifteen years, but not at the current rate. It seems to be headed to doubling in a couple of years. If you see a statistic that rates have only gone up on average 4% a year, they neglect to say the coverage is less. I am now paying 20% of my bills where I paid nothing before. I am paying $5K out of pocket before insurance will pay, where many things where paid by the insurance company before. So with all that my premiums only went up 2%, costing me 10% more.
djj55 wrote:
but it has not tripled, maybe doubled over the fifteen years
Wrong. "From 1999 to 2009, Kaiser found that the insurance premiums had climbed 131%" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_costs_in_the_United_States[^]
djj55 wrote:
. I am now paying 20% of my bills where I paid nothing before
Not sure what "nothing" in that context means but if you are referring to your costs as an employee of a company the reason for that is because the cost has gone up so significantly. There are probably additional factors as well such as total coverage and increasing policy differentiation in the market.
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djj55 wrote:
but it has not tripled, maybe doubled over the fifteen years
Wrong. "From 1999 to 2009, Kaiser found that the insurance premiums had climbed 131%" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_costs_in_the_United_States[^]
djj55 wrote:
. I am now paying 20% of my bills where I paid nothing before
Not sure what "nothing" in that context means but if you are referring to your costs as an employee of a company the reason for that is because the cost has gone up so significantly. There are probably additional factors as well such as total coverage and increasing policy differentiation in the market.
jschell wrote:
Not sure what "nothing
Out of pocket beyond premium payment. All my numbers take into account the cost to the company. Places I work tend to let you know just how much they are spending for your benefit.
jschell wrote:
climbed 131%"
So it did increase more the 100% but that is over ten years not two or three.
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jschell wrote:
Not sure what "nothing
Out of pocket beyond premium payment. All my numbers take into account the cost to the company. Places I work tend to let you know just how much they are spending for your benefit.
jschell wrote:
climbed 131%"
So it did increase more the 100% but that is over ten years not two or three.
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djj55 wrote:
So it did increase more the 100% but that is over ten years not two or three.
Re-reading it I see what you are saying. But I doubt that health care costs will come even close to doubling in three years.
We will wait and see.
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djj55 wrote:
Been looking into the getting insurance for a friend ... They make around $15,000 ... $4,000 per year. So for 26% of their income they can be insured. Real affordability.
Isn't clear what "they" means in that statement. However a single adult making that income receives a subsidy. Two adults don't. I suspect however that two adults can submit themselves as 1 adult each.
djj55 wrote:
I hope my insurance does not climb to two or three times what it is currently
Insurance costs have been going up for 15 years, exceeding inflation substantially. So of course this comment has nothing else to do with the rest of your comment.
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Isn't clear what "they" means in that statement.
Watch out!! Grammar police in the building. :) If you don't speak English natively, then yes it could be difficult to understand. Even though grammatically it has issues the context makes it very clear.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Quote:
Isn't clear what "they" means in that statement.
Watch out!! Grammar police in the building. :) If you don't speak English natively, then yes it could be difficult to understand. Even though grammatically it has issues the context makes it very clear.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Thanks! I thought the comment a bit odd but tried to explain it anyway. I have two things against me, I speak American English and do not always know how to spell a word I want to use.
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Thanks! I thought the comment a bit odd but tried to explain it anyway. I have two things against me, I speak American English and do not always know how to spell a word I want to use.
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Been looking into the getting insurance for a friend through the Affordable Health Care Act website. They make around $15,000 per year, so on HealthCare.gov, because the state does not support this income level with Medicaid (yet), their insurance would be about $4,000 per year. So for 26% of their income they can be insured. Real affordability. My suggestion was to pay the penalty, but they are afraid that would cause problems for them. Note, they do not currently have insurance. I hope my insurance does not climb to two or three times what it is currently, as the company will only pay so much and I have to pay the rest. Example company pays $200 per month I pay $100 if insurance doubles then company pays $200 and I pay $400. These are not real values but a demonstration of what I mean.
I just went through open enrollment with my employer. I used to have pretty good PPO coverage for my wife and myself that cost me 225/month, with my employer kicking in another 350/month. The deductible was 2500/5000 but there were copays for doctor visits, prescriptions, etc. that effectively kept us from spending a lot on health care unless we had a major event.
Those days are gone. My only choice this year was a High Deductible Health Plan coupled with a Health Savings Account. My portion of the premium did decrease to 150/month but I basically have to pay for everything out of pocket up to the 2500/5000 deductible per year. That means I have to pay the doctor the FULL price for an office visit, the pharmacy for the FULL price for a prescription, etc. until I have laid out 2500/5000 for the year. Then the insurance will actually kick in and pay something, typically 90% in network. At least the Health Savings Account allows me to plan for that and the contributions are pre-tax. Unlike a Flexible Spending Account, unused money in the HSA is not forfeited at the end of the year and I get to take it with me if I change emplyers (not likely, I've been with this company 29+ years).
Such a deal.
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I just went through open enrollment with my employer. I used to have pretty good PPO coverage for my wife and myself that cost me 225/month, with my employer kicking in another 350/month. The deductible was 2500/5000 but there were copays for doctor visits, prescriptions, etc. that effectively kept us from spending a lot on health care unless we had a major event.
Those days are gone. My only choice this year was a High Deductible Health Plan coupled with a Health Savings Account. My portion of the premium did decrease to 150/month but I basically have to pay for everything out of pocket up to the 2500/5000 deductible per year. That means I have to pay the doctor the FULL price for an office visit, the pharmacy for the FULL price for a prescription, etc. until I have laid out 2500/5000 for the year. Then the insurance will actually kick in and pay something, typically 90% in network. At least the Health Savings Account allows me to plan for that and the contributions are pre-tax. Unlike a Flexible Spending Account, unused money in the HSA is not forfeited at the end of the year and I get to take it with me if I change emplyers (not likely, I've been with this company 29+ years).
Such a deal.
Times they are a changing. (If you have been working 29 years you should know the reference.)