Thanks A Lot, Mr. President! My Health Premium Is Up 114%

forbes ^ | 9/27/2013 | George Anders

[tobyhill]

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. My health insurer, Kaiser Permanente, has finally calculated what our family’s new health insurance rates will be under the grotesquely misnamed Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare.) The upshot: my premiums are about to rise by 114.6%. My wife’s rates? Up 109%. Our kids? Don’t ask.

Yes, it’s time to say goodbye to my current plan, with its $232-a-month premium. That plan is being discontinued, I’m told, because it “does not meet the requirements of the ACA.” It was a nice plan, with low premiums, free physical exams, a high deductible and eligibility for a Health Savings account. We got access to Kaiser’s lower in-plan rates for minor medical care, and we had the peace of mind of substantial coverage if anything catastrophic ever happened.

[machogirl]

Next there will a regulation than any Dr. that accepts Obamacare will NOT be able to take a “cash only” patient, and perhaps a regulation that the Dr. be required to TURN IN the cash paying patient.

[thesearethetimes...]

Nods. Just what Dingy Harry and 0 want. Oh! Annnnd the RepubElite.

: /
Give us strength Lord,
Tatt

[Mark17]

Thanks A Lot, Mr. President! My Health Premium Is Up 114%

Don't you just hate the SOBs that caused this?

[patriotsoul]

>I think that equally important is how much your deductible/out-of-pocket increased as well.<
Bingo!!!

Obama’s shamWOW show depends on tricking the masses into thinking that their low, affordable premium is great! They FINALLY get INSURANCE!!!! :-)
Oops.... the deductible is $25,000.00?????????

[hosepipe]

[peeps36]

The silver plan costs $438 a month in Connecticut. That's the mid level plan between gold and bronze. There's going to be a lot of pissed off people when they have to shell out all that money for obamacare. The democrats will pay for their arrogance.

[Responsibility2nd]

And if you do refuse to participate - have you considered if the IRS penalties will be less than or greater than the Obamcare premiums?

[I want the USA back]

This is gonna be good. The next few weeks will be fun to watch. This is the result of colossal stupidity on the part of the electorate.
It’s unfair to the normal people who voted against the marxist. When your neighbors complain, just say that you didn’t vote for the marxist.

[riri]

I dunno be careful.

Sometimes, it's an emergency. A friend just had an emergency gall bladder surgery. 70k so far -- the bills say. They have a HD plan and their exposure is limited. I would imagine you can negotiate the numbers down but I have no idea how much or how much time that would take.

I am ready for a small island in the South Pacific somewhere.

[CitizenUSA]

Quit your whining, George. Democrats voted. It’s the law of the land.

[workerbee]

Mark Steyn touched on that very issue when filling in for Rush a few days ago. It really isn’t farfetched at all to believe “they” will make cash for care illegal; after all, how will “they” be able to protect you if “they” aren’t in control?

[riri]

And it's still shitty coverage, correct? You still have to pay something like 30%?

So my friend with the gall bladder surgery is still on the hook for 30% of 70K on top of the increased premiums?

Gonna be a lotta bankrupt families.

[Deo volente]

Yes, it’s time to say goodbye to my current plan, with its $232-a-month premium. That plan is being discontinued, I’m told, because it “does not meet the requirements of the ACA.” It was a nice plan, with low premiums, free physical exams, a high deductible and eligibility for a Health Savings account. We got access to Kaiser’s lower in-plan rates for minor medical care, and we had the peace of mind of substantial coverage if anything catastrophic ever happened.

That's the crux of the matter right there. The 'benevolent' federal government has decided what kind of benefits Americans should have, regardless of people's individual wants and needs, and has imposed a top-down regime with mandated benefits.
Insurance companies, in order to remain solvent and cover millions of uninsured, must raise premiums to cover their increased costs of providing these government mandated services.

Central planning doesn't work in economics, and it doesn't work in health care. Freedom works.

[Lazamataz]

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Just vote for Obama again (if he ignores the Constitution/BOR and runs anyways), or Hillary Clinton (if he doesn't). That'll fix EVERYthing.

[CitizenUSA]

That’s an appropriate picture of Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf. We’ve got people just like him in the USA. They work for NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times,...

[CitizenUSA]

Yeah, but people with pre-existing conditions and people who take no effort to earn $ to pay for their own care will be covered (at your brother’s expense of course). It’s called wealth redistribution, aka theft, but it’s the law of the land. They voted don’t you know.

[CitizenUSA]

All of this so that some people can get free or heavily subsidized coverage. 90% of responsible Americans get to pick up the tab for the other 10%.

[TangledUpInBlue]

“So my friend with the gall bladder surgery is still on the hook for 30% of 70K on top of the increased premiums?”

Not really right? I mean, he should only have to pay 30% of the CONTRACTED amount. I just had an MRI that was billed to my insurance company at $2,610. The contracted amount was $500. Insurance paid 80% of that, and I was left with a bill of $100.

The amounts they bill are ludicrous.

[riri]

I don't know. We were looking at the bill and it looked like the contractual amounts.

Now, this involved a three night stay and an ER initial visit with quite a few tests because they did not know what was causing the acute pain he was in.

He later had some complications where he couldn't urinate die to the anesthesia and they had to catheterize him. (Which caused the third day)

Realistically, though, this could be ANYONE's midnight heart attack scare, gall bladder attack --etc. Once you are there, you are there and pretty much at their mercy. And every step of the way, they are racking up charges. Every charge was itemized. Also, he went in at 2am on a Monday night and the surgeon could not perform the surgery until 9 pm the next next. Meanwhile, he's waiting in the hospital and they are racking up the charges. You are pretty powerless at that point. I guess you can rip the IV and walk out...or endure some unknown pain.

I don't know what you do at this point, honestly.

[Bon of Babble]

I have private insurance through my employer and have been “assured” that nothing is going to change — yeah right!! We’ve already been informed that DH’s insurance no longer covers me and mine no longer covers him.

I expect a HUGE increase soon or a massive deduction.

Damn you Judge Roberts!!