Post up your "NEW" and "AFFORDABLE" health care rate

My friend who's head of HR at a 475 person firm is recommending to the BOD everyone get a raise, they company pays the fine and they go to the exchange for coverage. He gets to trim his HR staff by three employees who's sole job is medical benefits admin in addition to the substantial cost savings.

 

A major problem with the ACA is the fact that it has placed mandatory instructions for we citizens and also forces the insurance companies to cover things that they did not have to cover before. One example is that insurance companies have to accept new clients with preexisting health problems. I can understand that these extra costs cannot very well be absorbed without raising rates so, once again, we citizens that do not have medical problems get the shaft because we have to pay more for our insurance because of the medical problems of someone else.

It generally goes this way when the Government gets involved in some program. Everybody gets the shaft.

 

The irony of pre-ex is that to know one has a pre-ex one must have sought out medical care. In seeking out the care the pre-ex is treated and generally nipped in the bud. Were you to not seek treatment for a pre-ex you wouldn't be flagged as having a pre-ex and be eligible for coverage. And given that you hadn't had treatment you could require much more medical care to resolve the non pre-ex.

Example. I have sleep apnea. I had it diagnosed in my 20s. I use a CPAP for which I pay 100% out of pocket. Treatment now means I have a much lower likely hood of problems down the road. However it's a pre-existing condition which excluded me from being able to get individual health insurance when I took a break after a dotcom run.

Had I not sought treatment I would have an undiagnosed condition and no pre-ex. I would have been eligible for individual coverage. I could have also stressed my ticker so bad as to have a heart attack at a very early age. Cost of heart attack treatment is much higher than the zero cost of me paying for a CPAP every couple of years. But alas, the pre-ex kept me out of the pool. Were I to have a heart attack and be uninsured the costs would have forced bankruptcy and the providers would have lost out on money owed. Catch 22.

Oh, the mandate was put in place by the insurers. Look up adverse selection. That was their response to having to cover people with pre-ex.

But I do agree that some of the mandated coverage for all plans is dumb. I think a minimal plan with just annual health screenings and hospitalization coverage would be a good minimal coverage option for a large chunk of folks. Keep em healthy and insure against catastrophe.

 

I've discussed similar, but we haven't needed to go that route. We actually just moved to self-insured, which allowed to keep our benefit costs flat. But it's also partly the difference with being privately held. My owner still puts the employees first to his own detriment at times. But he also strongly believes that without the 900 of them, he woukdnt have a business. I LOVE my job.

 

Ah Jed, it has nothing to do with my employer. I will not be employed next year and not eligible for Medicare for another 18 months. Before the ACA I had health benefits that would of covered me, for a peanuts co-pay.

Ron

 

I know there are lots of problems leading to runaway healthcare costs, but do you think the supply is creating the demand? Insurance by its very nature is a clever financial product created to protect against catastrophic costs. However, we have become ultra reliant on insurance and use it for everything. It's like whipping out your auto insurance card to get an oil change. Long story short, a huge number of people are pooling their money together and a bunch of people are going after it. Providers, hospitals, equipment mfgs, etc.

I'm not an Obama nut swinger as you call them, but I do think ACA did address some of the uninsured problem. Yes, the rest of the pool foots the bill, but we were already doing that when those same uninsured folks filed bankruptcy anyways. It did not tackle the cost problem.

Most of you folks on here are conservative. I am fiscally conservative and believe in mostly free capital markets, but how do we possibly reel in costs without interfering in free markets (which makes all of us hypocrites)?

My personal opinion.......
I think we need to detach health coverage from the employers. Get that burden off their backs. Hell, maybe we'll even see pay raises again as a result. We've gotta shift the power back to the consumer and providers. My healthcare costs need to be a conversation between me and my doctor.

We are seeing similar issues with education, IMO. There is an endless supply of money at the top in the form of government backed student loans and they are quick to hand them out. The schools, testing companies, publishers, etc all want a piece of it. It's self-fulfilling.

We saw it in housing as well when the government started backing loans to make home ownership possible. Huge pot of guaranteed money at the top.

I don't have an answer, but something has to change. Last December I had the strep, flu, and bronchitis at the same time. I usually try to tough it out, but hadn't been able to eat or drink for 3 days and passed out and slammed my head on the toilet. Went to the hospital and got an IV with fluids and a nebulizer for approx two hours. After insurance, I got a bill for $3200.

So what's the answer?

 

I was under the impression that the Government gave breaks to companies that provide health insurance to allow the company to provide the benefit?

 

That could be the case, not entirely sure. Many companies started offering subsidized healthcare as a benefit to attract employees. Do we now need to unwind those incentives?

Again, I don't have an answer, just discussing.

 

If by "gave breaks" you mean "don't penalize them under the new regs" ... You are correct.

 

Which happened as a reaction to government interference in the market.
It was a way around wage controls.

 

People always pick a start point for their data that helps their argument. If a person bothers to look, almost everything fucked up in this country came to pass because politicians tried to fix something they screwed up thru excessive interference with more interference. They were stupid and rather than letting things reach an equilibrium they thought they knew better and forced it.

 

Here's your explanation.

Obamacare Premiums Are Magical Mystery Tour

 

Had an "emergency" conference call today about of company health care. Long story short, dumped one provider for another bc the new guys were cheapest......

Family Health Plan going from $150 high ( low $125 ) a week to $255 (low $195 ).

Individual health plan going from $60 high ( $45 low ) a week to $ 87 high ( low $65 ).

Dental and vision also went up about 20% on both.

Last year we had modest increases of about 10% or so across the board, but this year..... DAMN !!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought this gov't healthcare thing was supposed to lower rates..........werent they?

 

Who told you that?

 

Silly man. You were told up front we had to pass it to find out what's in there.

 

I think some lying POS said the average family will see a $2500.00 reduction in premiums.

 

Like that narrows down the possibilities in DC

 

Well its obvious the majority of the families are not the average family. Isn't government math great

 

There is one average family. They got the discount. Everyone else is above or below.

 

and yes I know what mean is. Roll with it.