Why Did My Insurance Premium Go Up?
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I am 70 years old and I am a full time employee. Since I have Medicare my insurance at work was approx $300.00 per month. Medicare is my primary. My insurance rate went to $800.00 per month and I was told this was due to the Obamacare plan. Rates are now based on age even if you have Medicare and it is your primary. This seems insane to me. What is the reasoning behind this?
John
I’m 60 year old..retired in July 2018 and began paying for my health care coverage…at that time I had a $640 dollars per month payment to BCBS for my HMO… now with the same plan and the same income..my premium after the Obamacare tax credit is now $890 dollars…Why does my premium go up but my tax credit go down ???
ObamaCareFacts.com
If your premium goes up and credit goes down, but your income stays the same, it means the cost of the second-lowest-cost silver plan in your state has changed and impact the value of the tax credit and the premium of the plan has changed (most likely). Assistance is based on the second-lowest-cost silver plan, so the premium of this change can impact tax credits and total costs each year. With that said, the best way to understand specifically would be to call the marketplace and have them explain it since they would have all of your specific information in front of them.
Dominique Seyler
Being unemployed for 2 years and no job in sight, I am on Obamacare for $100/month with $400 deductible (based on retirement income of $2,000 per month – or $24k a year). My personal savings account is almost down to nothing and I need to pull about $20k from the retirement account. However, this will be seen as “Reportable Income” and will automatically put me in a higher premium health plan (= $350/month with $2,500 deductible). This is absolutely insane! This is MY money I am trying to access, yet i will be penalized for using it by a higher insurance plan and insane deductible! What the hell is going on with this FIASCO of a healthcare plan structure??
james main
WILL I PAY FOR MY DRUGS HOW MUCH
ObamaCareFacts.com
How much you pay for drugs is determined by the plan you have. If you want to understand more about cost sharing and drug coverage, call the plan provider (your insurer). You can also check your summary of benefits and coverage documents as well https://obamacarefacts.com/summary-benefits-coverage/
David Allen
Funny how those that administer Obamacare have no idea why the rates are going up. This is the problem with Death panels. You don’t understand them until it is your life that is affected!
ObamaCareFacts.com
Counterpoint: There are no death panels, we don’t administer Obamacare (we are an independent informational site), and the answer above explains why premiums went up well enough… that is, mostly as a response to expanding coverage (although factors like uncertainty caused by politicians on both sides, but especially by obstruction from opponents, and one could argue the system of subsidization without stricter price controls, likely also had an impact).
melony
Obamacare is cost prohibitive because we’re (including Medicare beneficiaries who paid into the system for decades) are paying for Obama’s Medicaid expansion that includes able bodied freeloaders.
ObamaCareFacts.com
That isn’t really true, although there are some good points on both sides of the argument.
First off, Medicaid wasn’t expanded in many states, costs rose in states that did and didn’t expand Medicaid. In states that did expand Medicaid, costs actually rose slower on average (although one should note Medicaid isn’t the only difference between states that embraced or didn’t embrace expansion).
Further, Medicaid expansion actually has helped to drive down the amount of uncompensated care (which healthcare providers eat).
Further, Medicaid is not covered by insurers, it is covered by states, federal government, and providers essentially, and thus it takes a burden off of insurers and they only feel the brunt if costs are passed along to them.
Lastly, we all pay taxes for Medicare and Medicaid, Medicare helps us when we are old, Medicaid when we fall on hard times. Funding both programs and both programs using funds are valid. That said, Medicare funding is not used for Medicaid. Furthermore, many seniors on Medicare depend on Medicaid to fund their long term care.
Below are some resources for further exploration.
I would suggest you read up and try to take a more nuanced look at the issue. Also, I strongly suggest you check your sources, as the way you framed your comment to me feels a lot like the misinformation version of the truth (the one aimed at getting people to fight to defund the social safety net… which includes Medicare by the way).
https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/the-effects-of-medicaid-expansion-under-the-aca-updated-findings-from-a-literature-review-march-2018/
https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/uncompensated-care-costs-fell-in-nearly-every-state-as-acas-major-coverage
https://www.alec.org/article/taxpayers-in-every-state-bearing-costs-of-medicaid-expansion/
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/usc-brookings-schaeffer-on-health-policy/2018/03/26/do-states-regret-expanding-medicaid/
Ruby johnson
I am 71 years old and my previous monthly ck was $1.380 and $1.271 after a $109 insurance deduction.
Sense the 2 percent increase I get &1.407. With the insurance premium gone up to $134 that leaves me with $1.273. That is 2 dollars more than last year. What can I do with 2 bucks
Barry
First you are at the retirement age i.e. 65 or above 65 year old and Medicare is your primary health care insurance. Obama Care is not for the Medicare eligible population. The insurance you are questioning is the supplement Medicare policy which helps you to cover out of pocket part of the Medicare i.e. 20%. If your smart but greedy employer have decided to contribute nothing and offer you new policy (by blame to Obama Care) then just be smart and ask questions to your employer and investigate.
Today there are thousands of different Health Care policies offered by the US Insurance companies. It is very hard to compare these policies when we have such varieties. Majority educated intellectual Americans do not know what their health care policy covers until he/she gets a bill from the hospital and doctors and there after they surprize!!!!
Rocky
As if “half the price” is “affordable”. That’s more than some people pay in rent. If the government would get the hell out of the insurance business, we could afford healthcare again. Why let a government, that will spend $1000 on s toilet seat and $700 on a hammer, mandate my insurance?
Ron Hurst
My sister in law is sixty four years old. She had a massive heart attack two weeks ago. Thanks to Obama care, she is still alive today and getting good care. It was the only insurance that she good get. She would either be dead or in financial ruins if it had not been for Obama. I’m tired of listening to those insensitive rants about Obama Care which is in reality the Affordable Care Act. The real reason that Republicans and Right-Wingers hate it is because it is labelled Obama Care. It is the name Obama that they despise and not the act itself. It is really a racial issue to Right-Wingers. Crony capitalism is what has made medical car unaffordable to too many Americans.
PT
The problem with the ACA was that private insurers had to be included. Until you remove these greedy crooks you will never get anything affordable. Good luck, it will not happen any time soon.
Tumahole Grace
I need to know y my policy is going up from R239 to R298 plz give me a call I need answers
Kiffiny Wittstrom
My parents, small business owners their whole lives, private insurance shot up to $4000. Simply unaffordable. They were forced on Obamacare. Only $400 a month. Wow. Too bad my mother can’t find a doctor anywhere that will accept her. The one doctor who does take ACA is so overwhelmed they won’t return our calls. From the entire Middle Class, thank goodness this horrible plan will be gone.
Ross
Why did my health insurance premium GO from $108 to $1550 per month?
ObamaCareFacts.com
So $1550 a month is so insane and abnormal I don’t know what to say. Either you are quoting costs for a large family, and had dirt cheap coverage before, or something else is up.
Market-system = if someone offers you a bad deal, shop somewhere else. Non one has to take an comically expensive health plan, although it can feel that way sometimes. Not trying to be dismissive though, give me more details and i’ll give a better response.
Lanny Sells
A friend states that while she is disabled and on Medicaid in Oklahoma, her husband’s premium on the ACA went from $93.00 per mo. in 2016 to over $1,200 per mo. in 2017.
How could this be, their income is very limited.
Tommy
Did insurance co
Charge more to dentist because of Obama care
Erin
No, insurance companies did not typically cover dental (before or after the ACA), but the ACA did require dental coverage be included as an essential benefit for health insurance covering children.
Jb
Whoever wrote the answer is full of shizz we are paying for the deadbeats who milk the system that ducking idiot in office did this
ObamaCareFacts.com
You are right, literally, Obama single handedly did all this. Thank you detective, case closed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXCaHq-F0m4
Steve Thomas
I totally agree with the answer because a good Medigap supplement to Medicare is way cheaper than $800 a month, maybe like under $200.
Nancy Severy
Isn’t even half the cost ($400) extremely high for a premium which is secondary to Medicare?
Are the costs of supplemental medicare plans affected or regulated in any way by Obamacare?
ObamaCareFacts.com
$400 is expensive but pretty average for a Part C plan (I think this is what you are referring to). All insurance is connected to the base cost of healthcare, and some spikes are an advent of the new patient protections on Medicare plans, so supplemental Medicare is affected by the ACA in these ways.
See: https://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-medicare/ for more on what did or didn’t change. By extension all changes have a direct or indirect effect on all health plans, some positive, some negative.
L. Sacher
My company offers health insurance, but the premium is 825.00 a month for my spouse and I. I make 35K a year. If I still had minor children, the premium would be over 1,000 a month. The plan has a 6500 deductible. This is disgraceful. Did I mention I work for a multi-million dollar corporation and not some “Mom and Pop” company?
Erin
The price of employer sponsored coverage is a lot higher than most people expect especially when you add the cost of covering dependents. If you did have to cover minor dependents at that income level however, your children would have likely qualified for CHIP enrollment at little or no cost (this varies by state, but is a higher income threshold then for non-disabled adult coverage). Under the law employer sponsored coverage was considered “affordable” if the coverage was less than 9.5% (now 9.66%) of income for the employees coverage only. This Family Affordability Glitch means that many aren’t offered affordable coverage by their employers for themselves and/or their dependents. They are also not required to cover your spouse under the ACA, but most employer coverage does. Unlike, Marketplace cost assistance, Medicaid and CHIP eligibility is not limited by any price employer sponsored coverage though many are unaware that their children may qualify for CHIP coverage.
Shirley Blackburn
My Husband had Humanna Health care with his medicare now he is being dropped from Humanna because of obama care draining medicare why cant the goverment ever tell the truth people are being lied to about the real reasons behind there skyrocketing rates its highway robbery by the insurance companys also
Leon Aiossa
My work provided insurance for family is now 744$ every two weeks! Used to be 330$.
Please throw the progressives and democrats out of office immediately so the insurance can go back to normal, hopefully Trump will help, otherwise looking to elect the next maniac in 2020, gonna keep doing that until my health insurance goes down.
Robert
My employer doesn’t offer insurance due to Obama Care, so they take the penalty instead, which leaves us on our own for insurance. Our current plan is $679 per month with a $5,000 deductible 30% HSA. It’s going to $845 (25% increase) in 2017. Since we began Obama Care coverage, our premiums have gone up almost 50% from 2014.
Here’s how it works. If you’re low income, the rest of us are paying for it. I know folks who could work full-time, but choose not to so they can get health care for virtually nothing. Same age as me, no deductible, no copay and minimal costs.
lee marriott
Dr Emmanuel is and insane dumbass why would anyone make him an architect of ocare ,,,I’ve seen him on a number of shows trying to explain ,,,how inept,,I try not to attack the person but attack the policy but making an except in this case ,,,How much does he pay in premiums I understand he got paid a bunch to create this Frankenstein ,,,My Premium went from an insane $1300 to $2200 ,HELL I’d like to Eat too
Alex
That is such BS my insurance went from $668 to $1108 and this was for an HMO, this almost double my mortgage,
I seriously thought it was an error, but sadly it was not!!!!!
We need help, with a government that can control the insurance companies.
They are robbing us.
Alex
That is such BS my insurance went from $668 to $1108 and this was for an HMO, this almost double my mortgage,
I seriously thought it was an error, but sadly it was not!!!!!
We need help, with a government that can control the insurance companies.
They are robbing us.
Frustrated
So let me get this right, I used to pay around $700 per month for a really nice plan before the ACA. That jumped to $900 ish then to 1,200 ish now my premium for 2017 is scheduled to go up to $2,200 per month with a $7,000 deductible. Increase of 90%
Karrie
I just received a notice yesterday that my healthcare premium is increasing from $37 per month to $181. I the proud parent of my grandson and unmarried. I already work two jobs and cannot afford this. BUT, if I don’t get health insurance then I get penalized $60 per month and receive nothing. I live humbly, on very little, Obamacare is going to get my hard earned money one way or another; and we could very well end up on the streets. How does the government explain this one? I seriously cannot afford this without getting a 3rd job, wages are just to low, and I am a bookkeeper!
Joanne
I vote we cut out the middle man ” the insurance companies ” they do not insure anything, and we pay the doctors , hospitals and pharmacy directly.
Gary Kaplin
I know two people now, one in Georgia, one in Oklahoma, both have had their rates doubled. What I don’t understand is why this isn’t in the headlines or much of a factor in the current election? My brother in Oklahoma now has to pay $1400 a month now, for his wife, because she isn’t on Medicare yet, used to be $720. This will DESTROY America. Just don’t understand why more American’s aren’t getting any press on this issue
AC
Fl – healthy family of 3 – 2016 premiums of $1300/month with $12,000 family deductible. 2017 – $1950/month and $14,400 deductible….yea Obamacare! Freaking insane!
Kathy
Our health insurance, with a $13000 deductible, went from $900 a month to $1597 a month with a $ 14000 deductible. My husband is 60, I am 57, there is no way we can afford this.
James Mesch
Boycott is in order! And a repeal for the ACA
Trent jones
So it’s the employers fault the affordable insurance he had last year increased by 166% because of Obamacare legislation? Blame everyone and everything else except for poor planning and execution of consistent affordable healthcare.
A. Russell
That is a bad answer. This is simple economics. My health care insurance premiums are being raised 30 % annually for less coverage because Obamacare interferes with the marketplace. It forces Insurers to accept people who they normally wouldn’t have. I do my best to eat healthy and workout so yeah, my health insurance should cost a lot less than someone who smokes and eats McDonald’s five times a week. The saddest part is that it is the small business who has a small number of people on their plan who are hurting the most. I’m sad to admit it but the inevitable conclusion is that premiums will continue to rise until we are all forced onto a universal plan. Just ask Canada about quality of care, accessibility in rural areas, and unrealistic wait times. The small engineering firm I work for is currently searching for something that won’t bankrupt our business and having a hard time.
Carol
That is not a good answer. All of this leads down to that the government wants to control and manipulate the entire healthcare system. People can’t afford that kind of insurance.
Get Educated
Government is not controlling healthcare. If they were, then costs would be stable. That is what government control does. It stabilizes. I am paying a lot more that I did five years ago. Fact is my health care has been going up for years. My coverage has been going down and my prescriptions have cost more and more.
Being a United States citizen means that I care for those who have less than I do. I give to the state and federal government every pay check to support those on welfare and Medicaid. Should those go away? I am ok to help my fellow man.
The funny thing about insurance is, it is there to help us when we need it. Yet, Americans were ok to let the insurance companies drop people who were very ill and let those suffer on their own.
How about the American people put blame on the insurance companies that make money on the money we pay then raise what our rates when the insurance is forced to do what is right…take care of people’s health? We can change the fact that pharmaceutical companies charge Americans 30 x (in one example and there are many) is charged a Brazilian or 10x what is charged a Canadian. This is not due to Obama. Who do you think is the responsible one? You. Me. We allow it. This is capitalism.
.
Cold but healthy
Yup. I’m Canadian and if we spent the same as you guys do per person we’d have the best healthcare in the world by a country mile. Instead we spend about half and get roughly the same results for the average person. We all think you guys are crazy to keep trusting private insurance companies to have your back, they obviously are working with the healthcare providers to screw you. You guys and your obsession with free markets is going to be your downfall…
Get Educated
Government is not controlling healthcare. If they were, then costs would be stable. That is what government control does. It stabilizes. I am paying a lot more that I did five years ago. Fact is my health care has been going up for years. My coverage has been going down and my prescriptions have cost more and more.
Being a United States citizen means that I care for those who have less than I do. I give to the state and federal government every pay check to support those on welfare and Medicaid. Should those go away? I am ok to help my fellow man.
The funny thing about insurance is, it is there to help us when we need it. Yet, Americans were ok to let the insurance companies drop people who were very ill and let those suffer on their own.
How about the American people put blame on the insurance companies that make money on the money we pay then raise what our rates when the insurance is forced to do what is right…take care of people’s health? We can change the fact that pharmaceutical companies charge Americans 30 x (in one example and there are many) is charged a Brazilian or 10x what is charged a Canadian. This is not due to Obama. Who do you think is the responsible one? You. Me. We allow it. This is capitalism.
.
Mary Ann Donahue
This is such BS and you know it! Tell the truth!! Obama NOT Care is the reason for this man’s premium going up. Let’s do something about it rather than lie.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Actually blaming Obama for the entire current health system is something I don’t agree with at all. The law does affect costs, specifically the preexisting conditions clause. But generally it is the cost of care and actually having to provide coverage that is causing rate increases, meanwhile cost assistance keeps costs down for many and makes it affordable for the first time for many as well.
A. Russell
That is a bad answer. This is simple economics. My health care insurance premiums are being raised 30 % annually for less coverage because Obamacare interferes with the marketplace. It forces Insurers to accept people who they normally wouldn’t have. I do my best to eat healthy and workout so yeah, my health insurance should cost a lot less than someone who smokes and eats McDonald’s five times a week. The saddest part is that it is the small business who has a small number of people on their plan who are hurting the most. I’m sad to admit it but the inevitable conclusion is that premiums will continue to rise until we are all forced onto a universal plan. Just ask Canada about quality of care, accessibility in rural areas, and unrealistic wait times. The small engineering firm I work for is currently searching for something that won’t bankrupt our business and having a hard time.
Damajah
The tired canard, that Obamacare caused everyone’s insurance premiums to go up, completely ignores the reality of capitalism. President Obama was being naïve when he expected the insurance companies, who were already making record profits, wouldn’t try to gouge their customers for a benefit they were required to have. I don’t hear a single one of you protesting to your political representatives about rising premium rates…you angrily accepted the GOP finger-pointing “the black guy did it,” and that was all you needed. Every government benefit program in the history of this country had growing pains. The Republicans opposed Social Security when it was first started, fighting it tooth and nail. Now has developed into the third rail of politics, when few people daring to propose the improvements needed to save it. More to my point…it is in the interest of our government, our economy, and the health of our people, to develop an affordable healthcare system. After seeing what happens to healthcare when it is turned over to vulture capitalists, who by the way, MAKE MONEY when they deny you healthcare, why would anyone tolerate such a system? Health insurance companies DO NOT PROVIDE HEALTHCARE. They squeeze you because you’ve been convinced that you need to have it, and they will continue to squeeze you until you just stop paying. I sincerely doubt if many of the people whining about their higher premiums are actually paying them, and I also doubt if it would be in the interest of the insurance companies to kill the goose that’s laying the golden eggs every month, by raising their premiums more than the increase in the cost of living. My final point…those of you who were terrified of “socialized medicine,” well…this is what you get instead…predatory insurance companies who have politicians in their pockets and are in cahoots with Big Pharma, and the actual healthcare providers. Single payer now, and tell the insurance companies to get bent. Otherwise, when the current POTUS shoves what’s left of the ACA over the cliff, none of you will like the cash and carry our medical system will devolve into.
Paula Capriola
Great Advise! I work fulltimse and got off the insurance, high dedictible, and high monthly premuims to move to medicare and took out a supplemental insurance called Plan G —- I paid $105 a month for Medicare and $87 a month for Plan G supplemental insurance plus a nominal monthly drug program Part D. …. Find an independent insurance broker who works with and understands supplemental insurance – mention Plan F or Plan G … you won’t be sorry!
B.Schank
I would like to say THANK YOU for all the hard work that was put into HCR. As a former health care worker, and HCR saved my husbands life. Until a person sees HOW THIS HELPS THEM, they will most likely not understand. STOP listening to propaganda, look up real hard facts, from proper sources. Thank You again!!!
Christian Zagarskas
What I think we need to do here is simple. The companies and larger corporations have clearly teamed up against the citizens of America and have tilted the scales in their favor. In order to balance power we must now make a shift and organize into collective groups to bargain (much like a union, utility co-op, or credit union) and make demands as follows, in force of numbers “We [this 1 or 2 million customers] refuse to pay our bills unless you [the insurance company] lower the rates, as such, rather than increase our rates we demand you negotiate with the medical product manufacturers to lower prices, or, force your executives to take pay cuts, otherwise, we QUIT” essentially a “MEDICAL BILL PAY STRIKE”. This is the only way I see our best interests being represented.
Dwight
….and then you won’t have any health insurance when you need it. Really smart. Just saying.
Barbara
I’m on Medicare with a full Plan F Supplement from AARP-United. I’ll be 70 next year. Medicare is my primary, and the supplement which covers everything else, is only $175 a month. Why doesn’t this man get a Plan F Supplement instead of using his work insurance? BTW, I am SO grateful for Medicare and Plan F.
Sally Burnell
I am a non-Medicare retiree through the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System (OPERS) and my health insurance premium will rise from $32.64/month to $118/month next year with less coverage than what I have now. Insurance is the ONLY consumer product where you pay MORE to get LESS of a product, and it makes NO sense whatsoever.
So why are MY premiums jumping up so high? My pension will not increase one penny to compensate me for this huge premium jump, so what’s a gal to do, return to full time work and hope to find a job with decent health benefits until I am Medicare eligible? Is THIS the motive of retirement plans, to make premiums so damn high for us that we have to go back to work again? Unfortunately, since I am a non-Medicare retiree, we have no choice but the one plan that OPERS provides for us, and it’s becoming unreasonbly expensive and provides less coverage, higher co-pays, higher co-insurance and higher deductibles than I had at the outset. How is someone like me, a single gal who will make $1000 less next year than I make this year supposed to absorb these kinds of price increases? From the sound of it, OPERS intends to continue slashing benefits for its retirees in the coming years and lowering our pension check by an average of $1000/year. At that rate, I will be forced into poverty in the not so distant future. If my pension will be lowered by a thousand dollars per year, by the time I am Medicare eligible, I will only be making about $15,000/year, hardly enough to live on when you are single. Hard enough to live on $21,000 a year now, but as my pay goes down with each year and my medical coverage is reduced and my premiums soar, it’s just going to get to where my only choice will be full time employment with benefits until I die.
NOT the kind of retirement that I had planned. >:-<
Frank Coleman
Great explanation! Thank-you
Lee
That is nuts. I am 65 will be 66 this year and was employed full-time. I did not take my employers insurance because I have Medicare and part D .
Austin
It’s about time we stop proposing a healthcare system that simply does not work for most middle class Americans. Let’s introduce a single payer system like Canada, Norway, and Sweden did decades ago and for the better!
Kim Bensel
I agree 100% the United States is the only western country that doesn’t provide healthcare as a right for all of its citizens.
Megan
My FL Blue premium was 81.00. Now every month I get an increase. Now my premium is 450.00. No person who was budgeting 80 can afford 450! This is insanity. I have 3 kids and a husband. That premium is for me!
ObamaCareFacts.com
That is insanity, did you look into cost assistance options?
Anastasia H.
I have looked into cost assistance- but…. I make too much money to get a subsidy/assistance. I worked for a Medicare MAC- and at one point was able to opt out b/c I had coverage through my husband- but in order to be compliant we were forced to get coverage through our employer, even though I had coverage elsewhere. I ended up having a premium more than i could afford and looked at the exchange- because I have a blended family 7 kids total- our premium was over 700.00 a month and a 6000.00 per person deductible- or a max deductible of 15,000.00- that my dear was NOT affordable.
ObamaCareFacts.com
That certainly doesn’t sound affordable. At 7 kids plus 2 adults the 400% poverty level is very high compared to what an average family makes, but it doesn’t take much math to show how ever at that high income providing coverage for a family of that size isn’t easy. Look into HSA’s and other deductions to bring down total costs, also keep in mind that the way the fee is capped paying the full amount of the fee is more economical in this situation than it is in others. That isn’t much of a solution, as i’m sure you would rather provide coverage to your family, but perhaps one of these suggestions will help you move forward in a sensible way. Good luck!
Barbara K
My husband owns his own business and paid 350 a month before obamacare. Afterwards his premium was 900 a month. We got married and I carried our inexpensive premium through a company plan. Now that I’m pregnant we realize that I will have to continue working forever just to provide us with insurance because it would be too expensive for three of us to be covered independently by insurance. There is no available insurance on this site based on our income. We don’t make a ton but we are not at poverty level, its just that we live in an expensive area so you HAVE to make lots of money to live here. Whats our option? To move to another part of the state just because we can’t afford the insurance? Its craziness.
Mitchell
Did you think having 7 children would be inexpensive? Wow
Mike Daniel
Healtcare insurance rates going up as much as between 18% and 60% – Obamacare big failure – http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3114af81d68645f4818f135bcb49b404/obamacare-worries-largest-texas-insurer-asks-big-price-hike #healthcare
ObamaCareFacts.com
Actually the article issued a correction, it was BS data. Increases are 8%.
Aimee
Clearly you are a Obama fan. Let me tell you the article is 100% correct.
I had Obama care with my health insurance at 280 a month and now is 340 a month. That’s a 20% increase. My co workers had a similar increase and we all are of varying ages. It has to keep going up to balance out the subsidies as my neighbor is only paying $20 a month. You know what I can’t believe that no matter what this pres done he can do no wrong. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes. Life is not perfect. Can you not admit the plan is a failure for the middle class. Yes it is working for the lower class cause they qualify for subsidies and have coverage. Well guess what, most of the middle class live pay check to pay check and if rates keep rising, there will be no middle class anymore. But thank goodness I am covering my neighbors payment whom sits all day at home at 35 and does not work. No disabilities. Makes me think… Why am I working?
Thank you Obama Care.
You are perfect and never done one thing wrong. Just like your followers.
Aimee
Ann
Thank you Ammie. I am disabled and this year my insurance for myself and husband is $733.00/month! Rate increase $150.00. What is Obamacare doing for me? Or any hard WORKING Americans who have families to support? HELP.
Ann
Thank you Ammie. I am disabled and this year my insurance for myself and husband is $733.00/month! Rate increase $150.00. What is Obamacare doing for me? Or any hard WORKING Americans who have families to support? HELP.
Sean Sinha
Can you not read the citation on top of the article? It says that they were wrong about the increases.
Erin
The cost didn’t go up to “balance out the subsidies.” The subsidies are paid through the various taxes of the ACA. The premiums are rising for a multitude of reasons: insurers can’t drop people when they get sick, they can’t cap annual or lifetime benefits, they must offer specific coverage (minimal essential benefits), and they must cover certain preventative care before deductible at no cost, they can’t charge more for or deny people coverage for pre-existing conditions, and they must provide specific information to potential enrollees. All of these things cost the insurers a little more in order to provide it.
It’s a common misconception that some are being charged more in order for others to pay less. Insurers actually can only vary the premiums based on age (capped at 3x the youngest enrollee), region, and whether they are a smoker or not. However, tax funded cost assistance is provided based on a persons income and the average cost of Silver plans in their region to those who are eligible.
Aaron Engel
Actually, it’s NOT BS. I paid $1183/month. Got a letter this past Friday that, for the same coverage, I’ll be paying $1800/month. We are mid 30s. No health issues. So don’t tell me the young aren’t seeing the hike. That’s a house payment. All that considering that before this beloved AFA took affect, for the same coverage, I was paying $500/month. So from $500 for my family of four, to now $1800…I believe a crook is the nicest way to describe what’s happening because of the AFA. Affordable my A$$.
ObamaCareFacts.com
I won’t sit around a defend $1,183 or $1,800 a month for a family of four. Those are very high rates, and that isn’t even factoring in your cost sharing (which unless it is very low is yet another cost). The affordable part is denoting specific things: it denotes subsidies, it denotes being affordable for those previously priced out of coverage, it denotes new limits on maximums and cost sharing, and it denotes exemptions. It is possible that a family making over 400% of the poverty level (which for you, as a family of four, $97,200 for 2016 coverage) would have these sorts of costs in a very expensive region… but this is not normal costs, this is high costs on average.
I would suggest shopping around for plans, because it seems like your specific plan is seeing a rate hike. There may well be nothing you can do in your position, and that is unfair. But, there are lots of considerations here.
Benny G.
There are NO options and considerations in many cases!
For example, AFA restricts our family choices to one insurance company, BCBS, the cost of our PPO plan went from 234.00 to 737.00 a month, with enourmous deductible. We only see a doctor once a year for physical. Now we are forced to go to an HMO plan ($475 or $575 a month) with a $14000 deductible, and change doctors as well. Where is the freedom of choice, where is affordable health insurance they promised? Do we live under socialism now?!
Frustrated
It’s clear from the responses here on this site that the ACA is severely flawed. I’m hearing of many people now electing to go without insurance. Who ever gets in office will have a ton of work to do.
Nola Koch
My healthcare insurance went from $277 a month to $585 a month. I was told it is because of Obama care. My coverage has decreased. I take one daily medication, it is no longer covered. I had thyroid surgery because of my age I have Medicare A my hospital stay was not covered.
My long term care went from $150 a month to $180. With these HUGE cost increases and coverage decreases I will NEVER be able to retire. I felt we were promised an increase in coverage and/or a cost decrease What is going on?
Nola Koch
I work for the State Are you telling me the State of Washington is offering an over priced product?
Tony
Were you being facetious with your question? My wife and I just had a huge Blow out Fight this morning. She woke up and was alerted that our account was overdrawn. Looks like the medical insurance payment was withdrawn. I went online to take a look. I lost my mind. $730/ month on Health insurance. How is it possible that this man could sit infant of a Nation and tell us that we will all be given health insurance at a much cheaper cost. Before Obama Care, when I researched insurance for myself, it was priced at $600.
now I pay $730 with a $5000 deductible no vision, no dental. If I don’t pay that then I get a fine. Do I think WA is overpriced? I think you are all crooks.
Leslie Green
Jesus Christ. Wtf makes you think you are entitled to cheap healthcare? Do you plan on nvr becoming catastrophically ill? How about dying? You know how much that costs!? Entitled assholes spending $700/mo on leases for their new BMWs but how DARE they be required to pay for their medical care. Oh, you had cheaper insurance before ACA and it was shit. Put on your big boy panties and pay up like everyone else. This is what insurance costs.
Chloe Masonholder
Absolutely
Barb S.
The answer is easy, those who do not see a doctor, basically young and healthy, their premiums are supposed to help pay the cost of those of us who do go to seek medical treatment and take medications. It is a business.
Ronald P Stark
Why are major insurance companies still allowed to make huge annual profits? I believe that Blue Cross of IL made about 1.5 billion in profit for 2015. Forcing consumers to pay high monthly premiums to build huge annual profits seems like extortion. US health insurance started with non for profit status in the beginning. This is unbelievable!
Angela
The truth is everyone had affordable insurance then we got a Republican congress and they refused to subsidize Obamacare. When people were on it originally they were so happy they were getting great insurance at a great price. Then Republicans kept cutting the budget. Kind of like schools losing PE. Now you pay for sports. If the Republicans had wanted to help people they would have continued to allow Obamacare to be funded therefore keeping premiums low for everyone.
David Greene
I am 57 years old. This year (ending in December) I have insurance through my wife’s employer at a cost to me of $434.81 per month. The deductible is $3000, and since I have maintained coverage all my adult life, pre-existing conditions are not an issue. As of December, my wife’s employer will be compelled to comply with ACA rules. I was offered a “silver” plan with a $3500 deductible and a premium of $771.04 per month. My wife’s company deliberately renewed the old policy in December of 2014 to delay the price increase to their employees as long as possible. In my case, a dramatic increase in cost and a reduction in benefits was the direct result of ACA compliance. I am currently looking for private (non-compliant) insurance that I can actually afford.
Mike
The answer didn’t mean YOUR pre-existing conditions. It meant that the new protection added numerous people with pre-existing conditions, which raised premiums to compensate, even if you yourself are perfectly healthy.
Mary Ann Donahue
Let’s give thanks that Obama is finally out! Vote! Let’s take our country back.
Stuart Hill
Take our country back from who? I am a middle aged white male and it is so annoying to hear or read about the comment you made. This was never our country to begin with, we stole it from native Americans by force, so stop saying that statement! Don’t worry, our privileged position is secure for the next 50 years and by then you will be too old for it to matter! When this country falls, it will be from within, no outside help needed.
Sarah Ambrosio
Exactly my thoughts!
Christina
Every country was conquered at one point, so shut up dude. This argument is so weak. I am so sick of people using this. I’m Italian so in that case half of Europe “stole our land” The Roman Empire was ENORMOUS. Doesnt that sound stupid? of course it does.
Michelle
Bravo Stuart! My thoughts exactly!!
Gary
Tell me when we did this. We didn’t do anything. I’m not sorry for thing that happened a couple hundred years before I was born
Vee
I agree with every word David Greene said. Such a racist slogan…but then again so is our new “president”.
Joey
You have got to be joking Vee. A racist comment because he used the words ” I’m a white male.” It’s called a true statement. He is actually a ” White Male “. I see ” BLACK ” lives matter all over the media on a daily basis, and I guess that’s ok with you. It is to me because the people it represents are actually ” BLACK”. There again, not racist just a true statement. If you wanna act like you’re an activist for pro black or anti racist then go for it, I support you 100 %, but don’t discount someone’s character for using true statements that are about ” THEMSELVES. The only thing racist about his post was your response.
Mase
dude you took the ball and ran the other way…such an idiot.
Ines Esteva
You’re an idiot!!
Joline Martin
Take our country back? Then you are a dreamer and believe in lies if you are referring to Trump. He lied and he exaggerated constantly. I cannot believe anyone fell for that! We had no good choice but at least we knew what we were getting with Hillary.
TY
News flash, both presidential candidates lied and exaggerated thru their teeth.. All the great minds in America and we were stuck choosing between two idiots.
Sookie
Where did your Country go? Everyone knows that means “the good old boys day”. Don’t like the way things are going? Leave. Maybe you’ll find that White utopia you’re looking for. .
Isabelle jalapeño Gomez Gonzalez Rodriguez Diaz
Obama is great and would have won again if he could have run. You must be part of the broke uneducated white people blaming everyone but yourself for your dire situation. And by the way who are we taking it back from? Ignorance is bliss I guess
Barry
Take country back by switching from ACA to AHCA!!! Did you see the preliminary AHCA offerings? Actually wait few more weeks and see how much your current coverage will cost under AHCA. Even lawyers have hard time to understand the health care policy. Most of the people face the reality when they see the hospital, doctors and pharmacy bills.
J.L.
David not saying the ACA doesn’t have it’s problems, but a pre-existing condition could be something like Autism which is something that the child or person was born with. Certain diseases or conditions like these are genetic in nature and can’t be helped, but the insurance companies made it so you can’t get these problems paid for. The ACA helped my son and daughter pay for help with these problems. The problem is the fat cats at these agencies push all the extra revenue created towards your premiums and co-pays. Besides my mother whom runs a daycare (self employed) went from having a 500 dollar a month deductible to a 130 dollar deductible.
Jerry
Sorry I meant premiums David.