My family's Blue Cross premium is going up 42% in January ...

[dawg]

Are people getting increases like that everywhere, or do they just have it in for me? I already have a $2,000 deductible, and if I increase the deductible any further we lose maternity coverage.

I'm self-employed, which is why I'm stuck buying insurance in the individual market.

I guess I'm just curious as to whether other people are seeing this kind of an increase. I've always thought this is an issue that Dems don't talk enough about. I think we ought to offer our own "Contract with America" for 2006. And I think healthcare should probably be one of the first three points.

[villager]

1. while they're all bastards, you should shop around...

check out HealthNet, and other insurance providers for similar plans -- you might be able to save some $$

Blue Cross' incessant raises for a plan we never used (i.e., high deductible) finally drove us away to another provider...

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Our deductibles were raised to something like 1400 per person.

Premiums went up too. I think we'll be shopping around as soon as that free market competition thingie starts to kick in. :eyes:

[comsymp]

3. We had our pre-Open Enrollment meeting today,

and I'm hearing the same thing -- Company line is a 25% avg increase, but most folks are seeing around 40%.

And the coverage ain't all that to begin with.

[napi21]

4. Are you a member of the local Chamber of Commerce?

A cousin of mine has his own practice (psychology) and he got a quasi group rate through the Chamber. It's still not CHEAP but much better than he could have gotten on his own.

[Skidmore]

5. We've seen some pretty sharp increases over the past

couple of years. Now I may very well be unemployed by the end of January so I don't know how we'll manage. Insurance is the biggest racket. The profit should be taken out of it. I believe that there should be a catastrophic illness policy and all other routine and preventive care tests and procedures should be scaled to an affordable fee schedule. Either that, or caregivers should be willing to barter.

[dawg]

9. I'm wondering if we're near the "tipping point" ...

Health care simply cannot continue to rise 25-40% per year when salaries and incomes are risising at at 3%. (And that's without even considering gasoline)

Mathematically, as we say here in Georgia, that dog ain't gonna' hunt. Not fer long, least ways.

I know mine is not the only middle-class family that is getting hammered. The large employers are still able to negotiate discounts for their employees (which, by the way, is an unfair and anti-competitive practice that should not be legal), but at this rate even the state employees are going to be feeling this before long.

Who can afford to keep absorbing these increases?

[waiting for hope]

6. Don't bet the farm

that you may be able to get a better deal by shopping around...just a few months ago my company had a 35% increase in health insurance and the owner did some serious shopping and found squat...and maternity coverage, please ... when my son was born in 2001, it cost us a mere $200.00 - my daughter was born last January and that birth was about $1200.00. Take a look at your elective officials campaign promises on Health Care - just about every one had made a promise that it would be addressed. I'm in the process of slapping "Liddy" Dole a letter with her promises and asking why nothing has been done.

[BamaGirl]

7. Our co-pays/deductibles are going up (again)

but we don't know how much yet. My dad's been bitching for a month cuz his premiums just doubled. Health insurance is the biggest racket out there. x(

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. The bright side is that we don't have (EEK!) Socialized medicine.

Like the civilized countries do.

[Medical Speaking]

10. Mine went up also

I to have a business here in Michigan and my Blue Cross premium went from $1,120 to 1,450 per month. I had to go to a PPO which dropped it to $900.00 a month. It is going to get worse. Greed is the name
and outsourching is the game.

[zoeybug]

11. I have similar insurance - also Blue Cross

Except with a 2500 deductible and no maternity.

Maternity coverage added $600 a month to the bill, which we couldn't afford. They won't cover anything until you've been paying the higher premiums for over a year, anyway, and we just got this insurance in February.

So, I'm pregnant, and I guess I just hope nothing goes wrong. :scared:

I haven't heard yet that my rates were going up, though.

[SoCalDem]

12. Just give yourself a 50% raise

:sarcasm:

[newswolf56]

13. Your profile doesn't say where you live, but it you're anywhere inside...

their service areas, check out Group Health Cooperative and/or Kaiser Permanente. These are non-profit healthcare providers -- Group Health is actually member-owned. They provide extremely high quality healthcare at substantially less cost than the for-profit HMOs.

Getting your medical services via such an organization has the added emotional bonus of vexing the Conservatives: the Right despises them because they are functional mini-models of national single-payer healthcare -- working testimony to the ultimate viability of socialized medicine. (A big expression of the Right's hatred is Bush Administration policy to deliberately skew Medicare reimbursal formulae to shaft non-profits and co-ops, forcing their rates higher in comparison to the for-profit HMOs. Bush justifies this as "making the market more competitive": the Bush/Goebbels Big Lie for handing the for-profits yet another corporate-welfare advantage.)

You didn't say what field your business is in, but you might also check with appropriate professional or trade associations. Another good resource is the Small Business Administration -- that is, if the Bush Administration hasn't already shut down SBA operations in your area.

As to chambers of commerce, it again depends on your local area: some chambers are very effective advocates for small business and independent entrepreneurs, others unabashedly represent only the wealthiest corporate overlords and are thus hostile or indifferent toward everyone else: before going to a chamber, ask around of more established business people -- they'll surely know which way the local C-of-C wind blows.

Good luck!

[LaPera]

14. You will get even less coverage for your 42% increase as well!!!

People who have health insurance with almost nothing covered by the insurance carrier, it's all out your own pocket if you need medical care...STILL, EVEN WITH SO LITTLE COVERAGE YOU ARE COUNTED AS HAVING MEDICAL INSURANCE!!! NOT COUNTED AMONG THE 52 MILLION WITHOUT ANY HEALTH COVERAGE AT ALL!!!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Make Health care a major part of the new Democratic Party platform

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. How many times do we have to say it? NO REPUBLICAN contract FRAMING !

[donco6]

17. If you're maternity age - yes.

Here in my school district, we have a broker bid for us. Because we have such a young staff, our rates increased 40% until we increased deductibles across the board. The experience modifiers for very young and very old are what kill you on premiums. And if you're self-employed with a pre-existing condition (like lymphoma for me), you're just screwed completely.

[tjdee]

18. Paying for health insurance BLOWS.

I have to do it now too--
I don't know how much more I can take with this. I might as well be on welfare, as much money as I take home after all the bills are done.

:grr:

[SoCalDem]

20. Sad..but true..

I have a friend who is caretaker for her brother. he was severely beaten by some bullies when he was a young teen, and has some degree of mental impairment..but not so severe that a stranger would notice.. he has been on SSI and medicaid his whole life (he's 60). He visits a dentist 3 times a year, goes regularly to a chiropractor, sees a doctor by appointment whenever he needs and his meds are all free..

the government is ready and able to set up programs to help people who cannot work, but at the same time are cared for by someone else, but if the caretaker (my friend) gets sick she is SOL..she has no medical insurance..


this country simply MUST have nationalized health care and sooner rather than later..

Seriously, I think the powers that be are just waiting til the Boomer Bulge has worked its way through the snake..Once that happens, the population will be smaller, and by then they may be ready to approach it seriously..

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

19. You're right - this should be a major issue for Democrats

Expect Bush to start another photo-op campaign in favor of so-called tort reform, claiming that medical malpractice insurance rates are the cause of the rise in prices. It will be more trickle-down nonsense, trying to convince us that insurance companies will voluntarily reduce their profits if their own outlay in covering claims decreases. We need to get ahead of this noise with the true facts.

I'm self-employed and have no insurance. A few months ago I went to an Emergency Room with extreme stomach pain. Four hours with virtually no treatment except for an MRI (negative findings) resulted in a $10,000 bill. It turned out to be a kidney stone that passed without further ill-effects. My cousin, who is also self-employed and uninsured shot himself with a handgun when his wife accidentally bumped into him. He spent three hours in an emergency room and was billed nearly $20,000 for basically stitching up a relatively minor flesh wound in his abdomen. Those hospital costs were not related to insurance, as neither my cousin nor I was insured. They were direct charges for medical treatment.

[Sgent]

21. One possiblity

if your married is to make your partner the other covered employee, and get some quotes on group insurance.

Depending on the state and some other things, group insurance maybe cheaper for the same coverage -- even if its a group of 2.

[texpatriot2004]

22. That's their plan no mortgage deduction and increased health

care costs...it's a direct attack on the middle class.

[faithfulcitizen]

23. yes, our m-plan HMO went up by 50% nt

[bluedawg12]

24. I can tell you that your doctors salary did not go up

patients and doctors don't like this system.

The insurance companies, pharmaceutical co.'s, and hospitals are making huge profits, IMHO.