Posted on 06/27/2012 4:14:31 AM PDT by REPANDPROUDOFIT
While Democrats campaigned for their vaunted health care plan, Obama repeatedly said "If you like the plan you have now, you will be able to keep that plan". Every time he said it, I couldn't help but notice that he NEVER mentioned what would happen to the price of that plan. He stopped short of saying, "Oh, you can keep it all right, but you'll have to pay a lot more for it". The accompanying link tries to convince us that the rise isn't real ("don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain, just listen to what we tell you"). It insists that Republicans are just evil naysayers; that the real reason premiums were rising was the increase in health care costs. Not! Did anyone really believe them when they said their benevolent legislation “could save families $2,500 in the coming years”?
Two months after passage of the "Affordable Care Act", we were notified that our premiums would go up 35%. We got a letter from BCBS explaining the increase and what a good thing this was. Now my 26 year old dependent child could stay on my plan. Additionally, there was now no coverage ceiling. Neither of those are things I would have sought on my own dime. I don't agree with FORCING the companies to provide these to everyone! A choice would be fine, but not a mandate!
A year later, May 2011, BCBS notified us that there would be another 33% increase in our monthly premium. That equates to an 80% increase in two years. The employees voted to abandon the BC plan and chose to go with a lesser company with a lesser plan. We still pay about 40% more than we did before Obamacare and we have a less-generous policy.
It drives me nuts when I hear opponents of the health care bill argue that it has caused health insurance premiums to rise "7 to 9%". Could our company possibly be the only one that has experienced such a large increase? (see link) Another thing that drives me nuts - why do they continually allow Dems to call it the "Health Care" Bill? It's really a "health insurance" bill. Dems and the liberal press love to say, "15 million Americans have no health care" - they lie! Maybe 15 million Americans have no HEALTH INSURANCE, but they all have health care. No one in America has to do without care! They also love to drag out some poor guy who lost his job in the down economy, saying along with his job, he also lost his "health care"! Again, NOT! He may have lost his health insurance, but he still has access to health care.
Has anyone else out there experienced a rise in premiums like this?
http://factcheck.org/2011/10/factchecking-health-insurance-premiums/
Of course, when Democrats calculate the “cost” of the legislation, they don’t include any of the added expenses they caused to come out of the average family’s budget.
What has happened to your employer plan since Obamacare passed? Are we the exception?
Yes they did. Am I surprised, no.
How much have they gone up? I would’ve accepted 1% to 3% as a normal increase. But, not 80%!
I’m not surprised - I’m outraged!
I didn’t wait for the seas to go down either.
I bill insurance companies every day, and not only have my personal premiums gone up, but insurance companies in general started going berserk in March of 2010. I used to be able to tell you, to the day, when you would receive your EOB’s from Blue Cross or Cigna. Now, processing times are double or more and it’s a crap shoot how much, if any, they will pay.
Am I the only one who has seen premiums rise every year for the last several years, even before Obama Care? I actually think it started with Hillarycare dramatically,then several years un- noticeably.. dramatically again a few years ago and noticeably rising for the last four or five. May be just me, I would need to look at the actual costs. What really makes a difference is now, I must be on the base plan, which has a lot of co- pays. O well.
The cost of her prescriptions fully DOUBLED beginning in January 2012.
ALL my diagnostics and copays increased (nearly doubling as well) in January 2012 along with considerable increases in premium payments.
-premium increases that come directly out of the pockets of the individual or employer
-increased co-pays on drugs and doctor visits
-increased costs to doctors. My doctor's nurse said they are almost finished implementing the required medical-record electronic filing programs. She said it has cost them well over $100,000 and would be a continued additional monthly expense forever! (By the way, you know who produces and sells the program - GE!) Doctors must provide a translator upon request. Who do you think pays for that? It sure ain't Obama!
Our premiums have also gone up about 80 % since 2010. I knew it would happen but I didn’t know it would happen this fast. We are self insured so we pay all of the premiums as well as a huge deductible. I can’t wait to confront my congressman who promised the premiums would go down. Do you think there will be townhall meetings this summer?
Increase in deductibles from last year: 150%
Co-Pay increases: 200%
Pay increase from last year: 1.5%.
Since the passage of Omamacare, my family premiums went up 128%. ER costs, outpatient procedures and generic drugs doubled.
The Insurance company (rhymes with FETNA) also severely narrowed their list of preferred medications. Some newer meds copay went from $35 to $65.
We also began getting additional bills for $25 here and $50 there for “fees above customary levels”, as well as letters questioning every claim. EX: was this an auto accident-did this happen on someone else’s property (Is there someone we can sue and get to pay this).
Other than that, it’s been peachy.
Absolutely NOTHING about this ‘health care reform’ is equitable.
The whole mess is just a further opportunity for “O” to make political capital at the expense of hard-working and tax-paying Americans.
He and his supporters in DC are pandering to a whole class of indolent and spoiled losers (an increasing element in American society) just to buy their ‘vote’.
Never mind that these government give-away’s will reach a saturation point and bring down everything in the process!
No matter WHAT your politics… basic logic tells you that no working class on earth can forever provide wholesale, increasing and permanent subsidies to ever larger groups of able-bodied idlers, without (at the very LEAST) compromising the social stability of their country!
Social instability is the Pandora’s Box of every evil known to civilized man.
At some point, the whole scheme breaks down. If you only approach the matter pragmatically and regard just the facts-wholly apart from any emotional and political considerations, you CANNOT believe this kind of coercion of the working people of America will work for even a short time, much less exist efficiently over time!
Mine has almost tripled from $330 per month for a family of four to $910 a month for the same coverage.
ALL my diagnostics and copays increased (nearly doubling as well) in January 2012 along with considerable increases in premium payments.
but, but, haven’t you heard those commercials that boast that since the new health care act, there are no co-pays or fees tests just for staying healthy. /s
My premiums have doubled since Soetorocare was passed.
Mine now costs just slightly below what I pay for my mortgage. Also the copays have gone up dramatically and the percentage coverage by the insurance company has gone down.
When asked why they no longer offer the higher percentage coverage plans, our rep told us that the insurance companies were starting to get things set up and in line for the new health care act.
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