<p>IMO, projections for the most part are meaningless especially in health care spending. </p>
<p>What were the predictions for 10-13? I doubt any of them showed only a 4% increase/year.</p>
<p>You’re right, ccdaddio. Sorry.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>meh. Population growth in the US is just around 0.7% so not a big impact.</p>
<p>Romani, if the insurance premium you paid is for a policy that is allowed by law to continue after Jan 1, then this is going to work out for you, whether or not it is resolved today. You can document the premium payment – that’s all that matters.</p>
<p>I currently am on hold with BS in my state because they sent me two insurance cards for two different policies, and I thought I would do them the favor of letting them know that I am discontinuing one. This is because I got one of those letters in September saying that they were discontinuing my old policy but would automatically enroll me in a new one (Policy X) if I did nothing. Then in November I signed up for Policy Y, same company, via the exchange. Policy X happens to be the exact same plan as Policy Y, but I will pay less (at least for now) on the exchange with a subsidy. But BS didn’t have any record of Policy Y until December, and never billed me: I paid for Policy Y over the phone. I thought they’d recognize that I am the same person (same social, same dob, same phone number) - but apparently not.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter because I am not paying for Policy X – only Policy Y – so if they don’t let give me a way to officially notify them that I am not buying Policy X, it will just disappear when I don’t pay the premium… but it is irksome that it is so hard to get in touch with them. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think things are just a mess right now and you will probably be able to straighten things out in a few days.</p>
<p>@cardinal fang</p>
<p>sorry to be snippy.</p>
<p>I know that, objectively, calmom. It’s just that after being uninsured for so long (and hating it) this is getting me really anxious.
I know it will work out, but I’m an anxious person in general. </p>
<p>Thank you for the support though. I really do appreciate it :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>True, some people thought premiums would go down by $2,500 per year from 2009-2012.</p>
<p>They are not meaningless if it is based on data and analysis instead of wishful thinking.</p>
<p>People did project lower health care spending growth due to the high unemployment and high underemployment. You can see the same patterns during past periods of high unemployment.</p>
<p>@romanigypsyeyes</p>
<p>If you have your cancelled checks and some other documentation you will be fine. You may have a pain in the neck getting everything eventually resolved but it will be okay.</p>
<p>I have had too much experience with administrative mess ups…but it always worked out at the end. There are people at the other end of the phone (or internet) and when they see your proof, they just have to run through their administrative mazes to get things done.</p>
<p>ccdaddio, The CMS study from the article you linked is behind a paywall. Can you read it? Why do they think growth will jump up to 6.1-6.2% and stay there? The improving economy?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[National</a> Health Expenditure Projections, 2012?22: Slow Growth Until Coverage Expands And Economy Improves](<a href=“http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2013/09/13/hlthaff.2013.0721]National”>http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2013/09/13/hlthaff.2013.0721)</p>
<p>Since they have 41 employees and are not subject to the mandate, they dropped insurance and are paying each employee $2400 to find individual insurance.</p>
<p>"Most of the workers are now facing hugely increased premiums and deductibles. A handful qualify for subsidies and come out ahead. Four younger workers are not getting health insurance at all.</p>
<p>The insurance broker quoted states that in his experience the overwhelming majority of his customers are facing higher premiums with higher deductibles."</p>
<p>Is the $2400 only supposed to purchase insurance just for the employee or the employee and their families? If it’s the later then the employer is not giving them enough money. If it is just for coverage of the employee, I find it difficult to believe that they cannot find insurance on the exchange for $400 a month. I saw many bronze plans of the NY exchange for less than $400/month.</p>
<p>For many people premiums did drop. Mine didnt, but I never expected my premiums to drop. </p>
<p>My premiums were going up double digits every year and the deductiblea were rising too. My projections are my premiums are going to rise 7.5 percent a year give or take once Obamacare settles down. </p>
<p>There are people that are benefitting by ACA and I am happy for them.
I am very happy to get rid of the pre-existing nonsense.</p>
<p>Here are a few stories…</p>
<p>[It’s</a> about time - I signed up for Obamacare insurance! - CNNMoney](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/economy/2013/12/29/obamacare-insurance/]It’s”>It's about time - I signed up for Obamacare insurance! - CNNMoney)</p>
<p>"I’m uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions: osteoporosis, high-blood pressure, which I’ve had for 30 years, and asthma.</p>
<p>My husband is self-employed and I work for him. We were uninsured for quite a long time. We had insurance people in our house giving us quotes, but as soon as I started going down the list of what the problems were, they said “oh…oh…no.”</p>
<p>Emilybee: The article indicates that those with families were getting insurance to cover the families. Actually, the employer is being generous because the dealership doesn’t have to cover anything at all. It could be that that’s what they had been paying per employee. </p>
<p>Are there more losers (ie. those who lost plans they liked, lost group coverage, are paying more in premiums and deductibles) than winners (those paying less or who now able to get insurance)?</p>
<p>It would be interesting to know.</p>
<p>There are probably not more losers if we factor in the enormous Medicaid numbers. But the losers are losing something they worked for. It’s sad.</p>
<p>Here is a shocker: We haven’t received a bill yet from BCBSNC for our new ACA health plan.</p>
<p>dstark, did you read the comment section? Oy vey.</p>
<p>First off, what kind of coverage were families receiving for 2400 a year?
Were the employees paying part of the coverage?</p>
<p>NJRES I got my Anthem bill for our ACA health plan last week on 12-23. But it was dated 12-10 (?!?)</p>
<p>Emilybee, I didnt read the comment section but Oy vey doesnt sound good.</p>
<p>I guess I will read the comments until I get annoyed.</p>
<p>I don’t think the numbers add up now to more people being insured, even with Medicaid, than lost policies due to ACA restrictions.</p>
<p>If you read the comments from the employees of the Michigan car dealership, they were NOT happy with the change. One has to assume that they were happy with the coverage that they lost.</p>