We are a healthy family and have had insurance through my husband's work. We have never met a deductible for medical care so in the past we've just put money aside in a flex-fund (pre-tax) account for medical expenses we do incur, including eye glasses and dental.
It is time to enroll in my husband's insurance again. In the past, the flex-fund account had a cap of $5000. Now they are limiting that to $2500. This means if we are really sick and already burdened by medical bills, we have to pay taxes on money that goes to pay bills over $2500. Sounds like a tax on the middle class to me.
For the same PPO coverage we would have a +125% increase in premiums. (More than DOUBLE!) Also, for the same cost as last year, we can choose a plan with a $5000 deductible before ANYTHING is paid. OUCH! We will have to look into paying even MORE in premiums if we choose a smaller deductible.
My husband's company had a walk-through video answering frequently asked questions. In several instances, the increases in price were attributed to the new health-care legislation. Nothing is free. Someone always pays the bill and I guess it's people like us.
Facts are facts and I am really disappointed by these outcomes, though not surprised. I told my husband to skip covering me. If I get sick I can be like Grandma and just say, put me in a bed, cover me up and let God take care of it. Apparently, that is not an option.
Not sure how we will handle this right now but we will figure something out. In the mean-time, however, I groan at political figures who pushed this plan through while in the same breath say they are for the middle class. BAH!
Post-script: I shared this on a personal level, rather
than political. I should have known, though, that some would take it down a combative path.
I had a comment from a 'new profile with no blog' that was just created to comment on this post. (I was the first viewer of
their profile.) I consider this an anonymous comment, which I don't
allow, and I chose not to publish it because of it's tone.
I'll never understand why people think they need to troll other's blogs and facebook and yet, they do.
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19 comments:
I hope that there is a solution for this mess, I really do!
It is totally ridiculous. My mother is 62 and on Social Security because she's a widow but you can't start Medicare until 65 so she's insuranceless. Obamacare won't cover her strangely enough. And she's afraid that when she's on Medicare in 3 years that if something happens, they will just let her die.
My kids are on Medicaid at the moment. We can't use our pediatrician because they don't take Medicaid. Can't use our dentist either. My husband and I aren't covered so I guess if we get sick, we'll just die. I thought Obamacare meant I would be covered if I got laid off. Sorry, Mr. President, I can't afford $1300/month for COBRA on unemployment. Before I lost my job, my bi-weekly cost was over $80. When I started work 3 years before that, it was $50 bi weekly. And the copays went up (although well care was covered).
All they are causing is rate hikes just like what happened when car insurance became mandatory. The government should be regulating health care costs but keep it privatized. And Obama seriously needs to not get elected. So sick of him. Four years ago, I had a job before he was elected. Now, I'm one of the people on food stamps. Don't want a handout. I want a job. Can I find one? Nope.
I am struggling with our health care options. Last year my company decided that... to save the COMPANY money... they would no longer cover us until we've already paid the deductible in full. So if my deductible is 5000, I have to pay 5000 out of my own pocket BEFORE health insurance will pick up the tab for anything further than that. A year. That really hurts. But supposedly, to put a bandaid on our wounds, the company also offered to put $200 in our Flex accounts, if we would sign up for health insurance anyway. So I thought why not. Free $200. Would help cover my initial medical expenses.
Wrong. ADP, the flex pass company we use... has refused to pay what I've sent them. SO I still have $200 in that account, which we will lose at the end of the year. It doesn't roll over. This makes NO sense. So now I am wondering what I am going to have to sign up for next year.
It does seem like it's always the middle class that suffers from changes in legislation - I hope your family finds something that works right for you!
Agree!
Sam
I hope things work out for you. Very worrisome.
AMEN! .....sigh......
Hopefully the next four years won't be like the last four.
I wish more people dealing with Obamacare would share this information...people need to know the truth! Of course, our liberal media will NEVER let the truth be told!!
I want to know why the Federal Government covers its employees(of which I am one) with one plan, but forces its citizens to deal with this crap...and if it is so good for the public, why did they make themselves exempt from having to use it as well?? Why didn't they open our benefits program to the public sector...or one like it. Makes one think, doesn't it??
Oh we can't really comment as we have the national health here which is not always brilliant but free as paid by us through a tax already. Lord knows how people manage over there. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
Best wishes Molly
I'm with you - BAH!
:-)
I can understand how you feel, but the picture is bigger than what we see. The insurance companies are no different than any business out there...they want a profit at any cost to the customer. The increases are a result of them wanting to make a profit regardless. They refuse treatments, change coverage on medications, and increase deductibles. These things were happening way before Obamacare. Personally, I don't understand why our culture has to be soo money hungry that we cannot take care of our citizens...other countries do it. We have soldiers coming back injured physically and mentally and have no health coverage. We treat our elderly horrible and limit their health coverage because of age. I have seen sooo much within the past 3 years due to my FIL and my father. My FIL passed away from cancer, but you have no idea the battles I went through with insurance companies. I see my mother going through it weekly in order to care for my father, who is a stroke victim and she "hopefully" is a breast cancer survivor and both are almost 80. I watched as my sister's health declined the past 2 years after being laid off. She is diabetic and of course needed medication. Hmmm...not old enough for medicare and not poor enough for medicaid. Regardless how we feel politically, if all of the politicians would come together and think with their hearts and not their pockets, this country would be sooo much better. Sorry to be long winded.
We are in the tightest financial situation we have ever been in,in our twenty years of marriage. We have had to go on medicaid insurance. I have been waiting 2 months to get my broken molar repaired. We may no longer go to our dentist.
Praying that something can be done about this mess our country is in. Praying for your situation.
good grief ... I certainly couldn't afford to live over your side with my condition ... wish some one would wise up and see the problems that it is going to cause ...
and how brave of them to leave a comment like that .... NOT ... love mouse xxx
I stand with you...my grandma would let me by with the things coming out of my mouth in this instance and leave the soap lie. Can't be helping the "people" if the insurance companies and doctors are not being put into check too.
BAH!
It is a terrible situation with insurance coverage these days and it will only get worse not better if our present president gets reelected. Hubby and me, since we had worked full time for separate companies, always covered ourselves only on our employer's insurance benefits. When hubby quit his job for us to move closer to his parents, we looked into putting him on my health insurance which was a terrible policy to begin with, with a high deductible, etc., but covering him and me would have been close to $400 a month which seemed so astronomical so he went without insurance until this past year when by the grace of God, my company has been really trying to boost employee morale and one key issues was the poor insurance coverage. They revamped everything and we got better coverage, lower deductible for half the price so it became more feasible to cover him. At our age, with him being 59 and me in my mid 50s, we could be walking time bombs so to speak for a health crisis and catastrophe. It is just a terrible thing to have to decide who gets covered or not or how it will be paid for.
betty
So very ceazy.
Parsley,
We lost our DSL connection last night so I was not able to comment.
First off, I'm sure the majority of your readers feel the same way you do about the present administration. If 'anonymous' wants to make this a political campaign for O-BLAH BLAH BLAH-MA let them use their own blog/face book page.
NOTHING is FREE. You will pay for it even if indirectly. The Government has no business in healthcare. I spent my professional life in legal, securities and insurance. They are all big business. The problem is Drug Companies and Health Care Providers don't see YOU as the client, but rather the insurance companies. There is no greater proof of how inflated costs are than to compare vet bills (which are paid out of pocket) to our own health care costs. If the government wants to help lower healthcare costs they should stick with tort reform.
I will stop there before I end up writing a post on YOUR blog.
Your Friend,
Deborah
FairfieldHouseNJ.com
Perhaps we could also remind the 'troll' that the Government has no resources to pay for these things on its own. It takes from some and gives it back out to others. NOTHING is free. We are paying.
And for those that think we are being greedy by not wanting the government to redistribute our resources, a quote:
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.” Thomas Sowell (economist)
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