I don't know if they have this everywhere else in the world, but right now in the US (at least where I work), we are in a timeframe called "Open Enrollment". This window lasts a few weeks and it is a time when individuals can enroll or change their health plans. I'll be honest and admit to you that for the better part of my life, this has pretty much been a non-issue for me.
It's something I take for granted, and with the exception of a short time back in the early 2000's or so that I was laid off and had no health insurance, it's not something I paid too much attention to.
According to the Internet, open enrollment typically runs from November 1st to January 15th or so, but different states in the US can have different date windows. They typically try to do it in the
Fall so that things can be in place for the next calendar year.
I think part of the reason I have paid so little attention in the past is because @mrsbozz carries the health insurance for our family of two. Since she gets health insurance, I have the option to take a "cash in lieu" one time payment each year. It's a lump sum that we generally dump into our health savings account to earn interest or invest in other things within the HSA.
I just got an email yesterday from our business office letting us know it was time once again for open enrollment and we had to pick our plans.
Plan 1 (1700/3400) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life
Cost Per Pay: Single $148 / Two Person $399 / Full Family $446
Plan 2 (new offering) (2500/5000) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life
Cost Per Pay: Single $56 / Two Person $191 / Full Family $187
Plan 3 PPO (500/1000/3-Tier RX) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life
Cost Per Pay: Single $232 / Two Person $587 / Full Family $681
Plan 4 (500/1000/5-Tier RX/10% Co Insurance) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life
Cost Per Pay: Single $143 / Two Person $388 / Full Family $433
Cash In Lieu of Medical Coverage w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life ** MUST provide proof of coverage **
No Medical Coverage during the Calendar Year, still eligible for dental, vision & life coverage.
DVL Cost Per Pay: Single $7 / Two Person $10 / Full Family $18
So those are the plans for the current year. The numbers in parenthesis are the deductible amounts. So it's either $1700 each year for each individual, or $3400 for the family. This year for example, I had some physical therapy appointments as well as some other tests that easily pushed us to our deductible. That's part of the reason why I had that procedure done on my foot last month because it was basically free with our deductible met.
Here's the really scary part... these are the numbers from last year:
So basically, for the same plan we are currently on, the deductible went up from $1600 to $1700 for an individual, and the family deductible increased from $3200 to $3400, but even worse, the premium went from $163 for two people to $399 per pay.
That's an almost 250% increase!
It's not too hard to believe that the two largest sectors for political lobby spending are Big Pharm and insurance based on information from Investopedia.
Oddly enough, even the new plan with a higher deductible still has a higher premium than the other plan from last year. If we stayed with our current plan we would be looking at about $10,000 per year in health care premiums, plus whatever we have to pay towards our deductible.
There is a good chance we will move down to the new higher deductible plan, because even with the higher premium and the higher deductible we would still be saving money versus sticking with our current plan.
Oddly enough, if you look at the numbers, the jump between two person and family is pretty insignificant and in some cases it's actually cheaper if you have a family. Nice to know we are being punished for being childless!
As I was mulling over the plans and the increase in premiums, I was suddenly struck with a pretty powerful realization. @mrsbozz and I both have good jobs. This sucks, but it's not a huge deal for us. We should be able to cover the cost of whichever plan we choose with minor impact on our finances. The same probably can't be said for many of our hourly workers.
I found myself thinking about some of the people I see at work every day and how I know they are barely scraping by as it is. With a 2.5x cost increase to their health insurance, they are likely going to have to make some tough choices. Sure, they can move up to the higher deductible, but these same people often have more medical issues due to socio-economic factors. While $1800 per year might not seem like much for a deductible increase, for these folks it may as well be $18,000.
I still need to gather some data and make sure the plan we might move to is an apples to apples comparison of the plan we currently have. If not, we will likely have to pay the higher premium to stick with our current plan. The sad part is, the raises @mrsbozz and I got this year don't even come close to covering the difference.
The other annoying part of all this is that we get very little say in the decisions that are made about health insurance. It is all determined by the unions that they negotiate with. Since neither of us are in a union, we get zero say and are just along for the ride. We can hope the large collective bargaining groups have everyone's best interests at heart, but I think we all know that is seldom the case.
It's pretty clear that health costs are out of control, and it's a sad world when people have to worry about spending their money on staying healthy vs. staying housed.
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Yeah man this shit sucks. I’ve been under the weather so I haven’t gotten to take a real big dive into the plans but they are ridiculous in costs and you get jack shit in coverage.
what’s worse is “universal healthcare” is even worse - look at canada recommending people just medically suicide instead of doing things.
Some really nasty shit messing with peoples health!
I think there are some places that do universal care where it actually works. We just hear the horror stories because they are more exciting and sensational. I'd like to see a more hybrid approach.
Yeah for sure, I think the challenge becomes really large populations like we have in America. Some of the countries in Europe where they have it, it works well but they have far less people.
We do need hybrid models though! True hybrids, not "the rich get this good one, the poor get this shit one".
Maybe they need to just roll it out at a state level to keep the populations more manageable. I don't know. I just know the cost is going up and it will probably never come back down.
Yeah.. that's the really insidious nature of "inflation". It's the ratchet effect where it only goes one way, UP, and never back down. Famous examples of the cost of movie tickets 40, 50 years ago compared to today are astronomical differences.
I think state level strategies are likely going to be the best and most important way to handle it. I just hope we don't start with states like California, with as many bad policies and challenges as they've already got lol I don't want them to be the model!
demo
I know my sisters in law have some bloody crazy deductibles on their health insurance. That hike in cost is a right bastard. Our health service has been destroyed and more and more people get things done privately.
Yeah, it's crazy. I wouldn't mind getting some kind of base level and then being able to pay more for private stuff. It still keeps certain things out of reach for the poorer folks, but they at least get something.
Then the medicine prices are just next level over there. Absolutely disgusting.
Yes, they are. We have pretty decent co-pays on our plan, but not all of them are like that.
I know my mother in law who is now in her 80s has a fair few bits and bobs to get and it seems although they all seem to be covered, some of them she has to pay upfront before getting the money back.
Back in the early 2000s, I don't remember health care costs and insurance costs being such a big deal. I'm not sure exactly what's changed. I know that part of it is related to the misnamed "Affordable Care Act". While that act may indeed have helped people without insurance get it in some cases, it also caused prices to skyrocket for most of those that are paying for it, whether subsidized by their employer or not. I believe that after the ACA there was a pretty large consolidation with regards to insurance companies. I suspect the reduced competition is part of the problem.
Part of it also comes down to how big of a percentage of the insurance bill your employer covers. With my former employer, I was paying over $800/month for family coverage. My wife recently got a job and while her salary is significantly less than what mine was, benefits are better as coverage only costs us about $200/month. I think that the employer based insurance system we have is part of the problem as well. You essentially have no choice in who your insurance provider is in many cases as only one is offered.
At the end of the day, insurance costs so much in large part because health care costs so high. I don't really understand all the reasons why. I get that competent care by skilled doctors and pharmaceuticals that cost millions or billions to develop are going to not be cheap but costs now are just absurd. Root causes have to be determined and addressed. It doesn't seem like it should be an insurmountable problem but only those of us suffering because of it are motivated. Politicians and execs in the medical industry certainly don't seem to be.
I totally blame the lobby that I talked about in my post. Politicians could step in and put a stop to all of this. Come up with a reasonable compromise and ensure that businesses aren't taking advantage of it, but they are too busy lining their pockets. The amount of money keeping the status quo is staggering.
You know that is not as bad as our changes. Two years ago all of our health, dental, vision and life insurance were all free to all employees, last year they phased out PPO and HMOs were free but PPO you had to pay for. This year all plans you have to pay for, HMO now $60 per month and PPO increases from $50 to $70 per month. These are small the devil is in the details the out of pocket coverage:
That is a double basically! And everything is out of network so effectively you have to pay the first $4,500 before you start getting anything covered...
That would be the same case for us except our deductible is now going to be up to $5000. I work in the public sector, so I know it is probably much worse in the private sector, but the salaries also scale differently, so the hit likely isn't as hard. Like I said, I'm not really complaining for myself, we will be fine. It's the workers who are hourly and are barely getting by that I worry about. I was talking to the business director and he said that in some cases the people will end up owing the district money if they decide to take health insurance. It shouldn't be like that.
I am also in the public sector. Our salaries are better that your area, but still about one third of private sector in our area...
It's shocking how much healthcare costs are increasing. Our monthly premiums are jumping from $560 to $2,100 per month beginning Jan 1! As you said, deductibles are also rising. I don't know how our politicians can expect Americans to pay these prices. This is going to force many Americans into bankruptcy. We so drastically need an overhaul of our healthcare system here in the US!
Wow, that's completely nuts! Like I said, we will be okay this cycle, but I can't imagine what will happen moving forward. I like the idea of universal healthcare and then if you want you can pay extra for private care. That at least gives you something.
Yeah, it's almost the equivalent of a mortgage payment. Universal healthcare is really the only way forward, almost every other major nation already has it. People who aren't paying attention to this are going to have a rude awakening next year.
Sad for sure. It's crazy that people are still opposed to it.
I think they've bundled a lot of other provisions into that bill. I don't think these kinds of omnibus bills should be allowed. For issues as important as healthcare each individual issue should be voted on separately. Otherwise, it all becomes political leverage and games—seeing how many things they can add in and get passed.
Yes, they have been doing that for years now though. Then they use it as political fodder pointing fingers at each other.
Thanks, Obama.