Dodging the "everything is Obama's fault" meme? Yeah, I've been consistent about that. And if you willfully ignore the Congressional bullshit that resulted in this version of the ACA, then you're oblivious.
If you say so. None of the insurance providers are gearing up for the event. Aetna is shit too. Yeeeaaa.
Mine already sent me a nice letter explaining how they're already prepared for it. Again, sorry your insurance sucks.
Really? Any mention of an increase? Changes to the policy? Or just a form letter telling you they're on it! You know, I don't care really. I'm sure your reacharound is coming soon.
That's the point I was trying to make. There's a huge range between employer-contributed group plans (which tend not to vary that much, because they know employers will shop for something cheaper - coverage, co-pays, and deductibles be damned) and individual plans which, in my state, in my experience, just keep going up and up and up. I was with one plan about a decade ago where the premiums increased three times in less than 18 months before I told them to piss off. No change in my age group, lifestyle, or health status, just these cute little emails from them saying "Hi, we've increased your rate by another 50%...just because we can." I'd love for anyone to be able to argue that cross-state insurance exchanges (which IIRC will go into effect in October of this year) are a bad thing. Not to mention the parts of the ACA that have already gone into effect. Saying "the ACA is the reason my premiums went up" is, I dunno, misinformed at least.
That there is the point. A lot of people in this thread are using anecdote as a substitute for evidence. I would imagine some premiums will go up on policies that cover jack and shit. But policies of a more comprehensive nature should stabilize or even go down in cost. I have several years of negotiating corporate insurance policies. And I can tell you from experience, that large increases have been common for well over a decade. Sometimes the company swallows it, sometimes we tweak coverage options, but we have needed more and more creativity to maintain the benefit without breaking the bank. Increasing costs are not new, whether or not you have personally experienced the trend prior to Obama's election.
Why is everyone so opposed to a piiblic health insurance system? Don't we want to live longer and pay less out of pocket? Consider Canada. The health care system there takes a little over 9% of GDP, compared with 17% and rising in the U.S. You pay nothing out of pocket for health care because if you're a citizen or legal resident, it's covered by your federal and provinicial taxes, which are charged progressively depending on your incoome, as well as a cut from your gasoline taxes. (Tax burden in Canada is typically the same as the combined State and Federal tax you pay in almost any large state, where you DON'T get health care if you're at all above the poverty level--meaning Canadians get a lot more for the same tax dollar.) You pay a small co-pay for prescription drugs which is keyed to your income (so low income people can end up paying nothing for even the costliest drugs). All drugs, moreover, cost only a fraction of what the same drug from the same plant brings to the maker in the U.S. because government negotiates price in behalf of the consumer while Congress in the US specifically BANNED the government from using its potential bargaining power, so big pharma could gouge the public. Admittedly Canadians should run up a big bill because they smoke more, eat more and drink more booze and beer than a typical American, and exercise less. You'd think their poor lifestyle should also cut down on their longevity. You'd think wrong. Canadians, although their lifestyle is aguably LESS healthy than the average American, live five to six years LONGER than the average American. Since they're demographically a carbon copy of Americans, the big difference is far better access to primary and acute health care. And they pay less. What's wrong with living years longer and paying less for the privilege? And now that you know how Canadians accomplish that, why aren't we using them as our model? This passion for expensive private insurance is leading to both empty bank accounts and an early death. For the privilege of paying an inflated cost for private insurance, you're paying with not only more dollars but years of your own life. Do you really love Aetna and Wellpoint and Humana that much, that you'd die early for them? (Data comes from Statistics Canada and the World Health Organization
