<p>I received a letter from Anthem Blue Cross-California which started out saying the company is very concerned about rising health care costs just like their customers. In the next paragraph, the company says premiums are going up 30%.</p>
<p>Private insurance.
Family plan.
My wife and I are in our early 50’s. Two kids on the plan.</p>
<p>Huge deductible.</p>
<p>We’re paying the quoted rate everybody else pays in our area so I guess I won’t be alone in paying the new rate.</p>
<p>I know health care costs are going up but that increase is beyond ridiculous. My guess Is Blue Cross lost money on investments, the company doesn’t make as much money on its cash or the company is gouging. Health care costs are not up 30%.</p>
<p>Doesn’t Blue Cross know we are in a deflationary period? The economy sucks.</p>
<p>I have no idea how Americans pay for private health insurance. </p>
<p>There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal that says when Americans lose their jobs they can’t afford to pay for their health care under Cobra. It costs an additional $10,000 a year to use Cobra.</p>
<p>My health insurance costs have doubled in the last 4 years. If my insurance costs rise in the future by the same percentages as the last 4 years, it is going to cost me more than $84,000 a year for health insurance in 12 years. I’m not going to be the only one paying these rates.</p>
<p>[Aetna</a> - Health, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care insurance benefits.](<a href=“http://www.aetna.com%5DAetna”>http://www.aetna.com)</p>
<p>They offer insurance in California. perhaps there is a better plan for you.
(no I don’t work for them, but my BF has a private policy with Aetna)</p>
<p>Sueinphilly. Thanks. I clicked on the link and I read scanned through Aetna’s rates and it does look cheaper. I’ll have to look more closely.</p>
<p>I don’t think Blue Cross is going to raise their rates and the other insurance companies aren’t, but comparing 2008 rates, Aetna looks 10 to 20% cheaper at first glance.</p>
<p>Insurance is ridiculous and lots of people around here are working solely for the insurance. We own a small company but are able to purchase group insurance through an association we belong to. Dstark, do you belong to any professional or other organizations that might have a group offering?</p>
<ol>
<li>People who have Employer sponsored HI are more likely to be older and have more health issues.</li>
<li>Companies with HI are being forced to have HI by its employees and HI know this</li>
<li>No real incentive to minimize rates because of 1 and 2.</li>
<li>Medical professions are being squeezed with the Doctor being squeezed the most.</li>
<li>Deductible limits will rise in the attempt to keep rates controllable. But the affect to the consumer is to postpone care and ultimately create a greater health problem and associated cost. </li>
<li>Choice to the consumer is a falsehood because all insurers are facing the same issues and because the issuers can increase rates. </li>
<li>The debate will be endless until the BOOMERS force the legislators to act. Pity the R’s because they squeezed themselves into a compacter bag. Are we gonna to miss Senator Frist (R, Tenn. retired), who sold his stock in his family’s HI company prior to the stock tanking. </li>
<li>Companies have the incentive to lower their average employee age to get a better group rate. </li>
</ol>
<p>What reasons do you think the situation become better/worse?</p>
<p>dstark - your post is so timely! My husband’s medical group (of @30 employees) just sent home the budget etc. for next year and I was shocked when I looked at the health care premium line! Actually, shocked doesn’t even come close to what I was feeling!! A few years ago we changed our health care insurance to include a HUGE deductable (as you mention) to lower our premium from @ $900 to in the $700 range. We also started contributing to a health care savings account at that time. Last year the premium was $1020/month and is increasing to a 2009 premium of $1340 a month for THREE people - a 50 year old, a 60 year old and a college student! So, as you say, it has nearly doubled in just about four years! Shocked! Shocked, outraged and dismayed - and we are a medical family - living in the Midwest! I am calling the office manager on Monday to see if we can raise the deductible even higher to bring it down some.</p>
<p>MidwestParent, yep. Looks like a 30%+ increase. Insane. </p>
<p>I called Blue Cross after I saw the new rates, but after waiting on the phone for 45 minutes, I hung up the phone. Nothing was going to change anyway.</p>
<p>Midwestparent, your husband is a doctor? Which specialty?</p>
<p>dstark, I feel your pain! I hope you can work out something.</p>
<p>Our premium through Anthem was $1,336 a month last year, and it was going to increase to over $1,500 a month this year (we’re a mom and pop engineering firm, just the two of us as employees, and we have 3 kids). At least they’re are offering a more reasonable HSA plan that we’re going to use - it’s $987 a month, with a $3,000 OOP for an individual or $6,000 for the family. So even if we hit the $6,000 maximum, it’s cheaper than the premiums would have been for our old plan! Still ridiculous, though. In Maine, there’s very little competition since the state has so many rules for insurers.</p>
<p>We also need professional liability insurance for structural engineering, which is horribly expensive! We paid $10,700 last year, and I told our broker we just can’t afford more this year. She didn’t sound hopeful, so we’re shopping around. In 10 years of business, we’ve never had a SINGLE problem or threat of ligitation, so this is very frustrating. Really does feel like throwing money down the drain.</p>
<p>We are not poor by any means, but we had to go from a decent coverage to ‘catastrophic’ only for a while until we found something better. We are with Blue Cross/Blue Shield now and, though it isn’t cheap, we can handle it…for a while. We are still paying a lot out of pocket for any procedures, tests, etc.</p>
<p>dstark - check with the geezers club, er um, I mean AARP - it may be worth the (relatively) small membership fee to piggyback onto their very large group plan. </p>
<p>I’m a self insured BC member and haven’t been notified of an increase (yet). Last year (as I turned 50) I was increased by 15%.</p>
<p>With increases of 30%, I don’t know how much longer health insurance is going to be affordable. Not too many people are going to make 30% more this year compared to last year. </p>
<p>It’s like health insurance and the rest of the economy are in parallel universes. </p>
<p>I am very glad I don’t have to pay liablilty insurance too. </p>
<p>Midwestparent, I found a nice post you wrote in the “To the Mds out there…” thread, so I guess your husband is a physician. :)</p>
<p>If you want to get anything done politically, Complain to the Party in opposition. Every Senator and Representative wants to keep his seat. Make it uncomfortable.</p>
<p>fwiw: our small company just changed from Aetna to Anthem-BC. Aetna wanted a ~33% increase to continue coverage, but BC came in at half of that for similar coverages.</p>
<p>Long ago, complications surrounding the birth of my son resulted in what was to me unimaginable hospital and medical expenses. Eventually I paid just over 5K while insurance paid the balance. At the time I figured any future health insurance premiums I paid on him wouldn’t even scratch the number that was paid out, and that has been true. My mom, in her 80’s has been provided more health care, in dollars, in just the last decade than she ever paid over a lifetime of premiums. Now, every month when I write the check for my HI bill, I realize where all that money is coming from.</p>
<p>4trees, those are good points. If insurance is so high that it is no longer affordable, yet, insurance isn’t high enough to pay for health care costs, where are we? </p>
<p>In a place we need to escape. The system has to change.</p>