You simply can’t compare what you have for 2015 and say that plan is going up $X so… In many cases, in my state, they’re trying to shift people to other plans, not necessarily worse for the consumer. For 2015, eg, I shifted to an HSA because the entire deal was better and the $ actually dropped, plus a lower deductible and max.
I don’t know what hopeful820 means that BC is 11k for single or the HMO is 9k, for a 26 year old. Are you adding something else in? Or that’s how it averages for all employees? If he’s healthy, you don’t weigh the deductible and max the same way as for an ill or older person. You just aren’t going to accrue bills the same, unless there’s an emergency. Is he on prescriptions? Does he anticipate going to the doctor often?
Arabrab is also right to check details. My urgent care is $75, but ER is $200. On other plans, it can be a percent after the ded is met.
$11K is the cost to the company, per employee, for the Blue Cross Blue Shield policy? And every employee who opts for this plan has to pay 25% of the premiums? Wow, younger employees on this group plan are subsidizing older employees much more than young individual insurance buyers are subsidizing older ones. Essentially, the youngest employees are paying their entire insurance cost, and the oldest employees are paying a teeny tiny bit of their insurance cost.
@arabrab, per the medical plan price charts, copay for HMO primary doctor and specialist is $20, ER is $125, it does not list Urgent Care copay but we can call to find out. I checked, hospitals and urgent care centers that are close to us are all in network. He has no current health issues, I have been pushing him to have a physical, not listening. His last visit to the doctor was 3 years ago! Picking the HMO plan will save $500 in premium, though he will be paying $10 more in copay each time he visits a doctor.
@lookingforward, I mentioned that the premium of all the 9 plans include prescriptions. BC for single is around $930 per month, HMO is $750 per month, BC for family is $2,375 per month while HMO is $1,870. These are actual premiums, not averages.
HMO has the least expensive premium, there is no In-Network deductible, the negative is the referral process to see specialist and the slightly higher copay. I went through the analysis, just want to make sure I didn’t miss anything important for consideration.
Hopeful820, maybe I missed this, but why does he have to get a plan from work? Will they give him money to not use their health insurance plan? My oldest son gets about $300 a month from his company to not use their health insurance (and then uses ours for free). Those sound like serious ripoff prices. Why can’t he just buy a plan on his own, whether it’s from the exchange or from a health insurance provider? That is, if they will give him enough money to make it worth his while, to get something on his own. Obviously, if they aren’t going to give him all or part of their share of costs, it may not be worthwhile to do it that way.
busdriver11, he just turned 26, therefore no longer can stay on my plan. Based on available plans, cheapest one is one of the HMOs, his 25% cost will be around $2,300 for 2016, with NO deductibles, only copays.
Buying from the exchange will cost a lot more due to high deductibles.
Health Insurance is expensive, I was paying close to $8,000 for a family plan in 2014 before I retired (my share), my work paid around $29,000, my plan included prescriptions.
“Health Insurance is expensive, I was paying close to $8,000 for a family plan in 2014 before I retired (my share), my work paid around $29,000, my plan included prescriptions”
Wow, $37K for a family plan? What in the world kind of plan was that? I have never heard of any plan so expensive. It almost makes me think the company was lying about the cost, and making you pay the bulk of it!
@busdriver11, I am sorry for not being clear on what I meant, the cost for the family plan is around $29,000 which my employer paid, my “contribution/share” was $8,000 towards the $29,000, so net cost to employer was around $21,000.
The plan included prescription, I worked in employer’s administration department, I got to see the monthly health benefits billing report and cost for each employee.
Hopeful820, when your company billed the employee for the family plan, did every family of the same size pay the same amount, or did it vary by the ages of employee and family?
^^wow, $29k is pretty pricey. Our family medical+Rx+vision plan in SoCal runs about $22,000 for an 80/20 PPO. $500 deductible. We have a small group rate.
Oh that sounds better, Hopeful820. But, I agree with blue bayou, still awfully pricey. When you say it includes prescriptions, is that unusual? Or is it free prescriptions? We pay a low copay with prescriptions.
Yet the largest health insurer United Healthcare said it cannot continue to sustain the losses it is suffering in the individual exchange market. It has cut back its marketing in that area and is likely to drop out entirely in 2017.
First of all, the trajectory is not sustainable. At all.
But also, looking at the median income per household and comparing to the median (or mean) premium cost per family is not necessarily the best comparison. The median household income includes households of one. If we want to look at whether families can afford family insurance coverage, we should look at the median income for families, and not include single childless people, whose household income is lower but whose premiums are also lower.
What family of three has to pay $20K for health care premiums? No US citizens; a family of three with a $50K income has to pay a maximum of about $4200/year to buy the reference Silver plan. If that family lived in an area with $20K/year insurance premiums, they’d be eligible for huge subsidies.
If you ever had to pay COBRA before ACA, you’d realize that $29K per year for family coverage was possible. Granted, healthcare costs can vary by region, but I totally can relate to that.
It can, ucb. But remember, we’re talking cadillacs and employers picking up a chunk. (Or hanging on to that cadillac on Cobra, by paying full price.) We weren’t talking about the exchange pricing, which can be radically lower and is designed for those without employer coverage and large incomes.
And as ever, let’s not declare United out until there’s more info. This may be a set up for concessions. In my state, they whine every spring, make sweeping statements as a lead in to asking for big hikes. Then the state says, no way.
Regardless of whether someone is full pay or the cost is subsidized by an employer or the government, $20,000 per year for a family’s medical costs is something that people should really be concerned about (though most are probably blissfully unaware of such costs).
Of course, ACA has little or nothing to do with the cost increases over the years.