My premiums have doubled and are about to get even higher.
Healthy (no pre-existing conditions) middle-aged female, self employed, no meds. I was at about $120 per month for basic/catastrophic care, now I am at $270.00 for the same coverage and actually higher co-pays. And I am looking at almost double that within the next 12 months, for crap coverage. I make too much to qualify for medi-whatever. This stinks!
I’m a huge believer in socialized medicine and it was a big part of why I voted for Obama twice. But I personally feel like I’ve been screwed, now.
I voted for him twice also, largely due to my belief in socialized medicine. Unfortunately, while the AAC has benefited me, personally, too many people have been left with higher premiums, lower deductibles, and/or lesser coverages. My brother has MS and one of his meds isn’t covered by his new insurance company. There’s no generic and each injection, which he needs weekly, costs 4K. His doctor was able to have him enrolled in a clinical trial so that he could get it for free, but I don’t know what he’ll do when that ends.
I’m not sure what can be done to ease the burden the AAC is imposing on some people, but it is definitely not working the way I envisioned it. That said, I don’t think it’s working badly enough to be scrapped completely. There are just many major adjustments that need to be made.
Between 2013 and 2014 ours increased 56% for the same coverage, and with higher deductibles. Year-to-year increases in the past had never come close to that. When I asked why, they said it was due to “new federal mandates.”
Our experience has been great. Both my husband and I are small business owners, and both of us have pre-existing conditions. For 350 a month each, we got a great plan.
It is better than nothing, that’s for sure. But for me it is ENORMOUSLY expensive. My plan, which covers a family of three, costs about $1100 per month. It’s a good plan, but far from the best (and far from the most expensive). It’s also a lot cheaper than COBRA: That is $1500 per month.
Unfortunately, my wife has crap health benefits at her job, so switching to her plan isn’t an option. As a result, we are spending about a quarter of our income on health insurance premiums this year.
From these replies, it sounds like it’s largely working as intended. People who have pre-existing conditions or are otherwise uninsurable are now able to afford it, subsidized by the healthier people who previously wouldn’t have had insurance or would have paid very low rates.
That’s a win in my book, though I admit I haven’t really been affected by it too much.
Depending on why the medication isn’t covered, the physician and patient and patient’s family can request an appeal. This can take some time, so start documenting now, work with the physician to document the patient’s response to the med (and why other ones didn’t work), and start the appeal a couple of months before the end of the clinical trial.
I had to go through the same song and dance for the Botox-for-migraine injections that keep me out of the ER and allow me to work more than full time.
Using social media if you get a boneheaded denial on the first go-round (and you probably will) works extremely well. Get some activists on your side.
Part of the problem is with the states that decided to make a political stand rather than help their citizens, and didn’t expand Medicaid. These are many of the areas where pricing is ridiculously high for working people.
Another part of the problem is that plans and pricing are still in the hands of insurance companies, who’ve demonstrated their “go fuck yourself” attitude toward patients for years.
I’m a proponent of single payer myself, even though it will affect my own employment (I’m a healthcare analyst). I’d rather pick up a new trade than flop along in the situation we have now.
We are also getting a business off the ground - and while we don’t qualify for subsidies (or I really hope we don’t), its enabled us to take that risk because if we fail, we will qualify for subsidies. Plus shopping the exchange in Minnesota is easy. Coverage under the exchange, with no subsidies, for a very similar plan, is less than half what COBRA insurance is.
IMHO Obamacare as it was proposed was good. Once he caved to the insurance industry and doctors, not so much so. The plan I was under was great - affordable with broad coverage and only a $10 co-pay. It was also one of the ones cancelled. What I have now costs almost the same but has a $5,000 deductible. If I’m seriously ill 2 years in a row, I figure I’ll probably end up on the street. So I’m not totally impressed.
Maybe once the law is fully in effect and things settle down I’ll be able to improve my situation but I figure that’s about 2-6 years off.
After 12 years of living overseas and not being able to buy insurance in the US due to a pre-existing condition, I was able to move home to Nevada and buy insurance. Now I don’t need to move to a new country every 90 days to stay legal.
My brother’s wife is a cancer survivor and was unable to get insurance for years. She’s been on Cobra during that time paying insane premiums. Now, she has affordable health care.
I’m also small business owner. In the private market between 2002-2010 when I ‘cancelled’, my plan went from $600 to $2895 per month. I was uninsurable after that (pre existing conditions, Yay!) until Obamacare as were my sons solely because he/they was related to me. I now pay $403 for my youngest son and myself.
I have insurance through work. Premiums went up this year, but a smaller percentage than previous years. What comes out of my paycheck to cover health insurance remains the same. No co-pay for my physical was the only change I’ve seen.
We ( Spouse, college aged daughter, am myself ) are covered under my employers plan and it is quite good. After the ACA went into effect, my premiums went down around 15%. Our HR group sent a bulletin saying that this was “… due to unanticipated efficiencies realized by the new health care law.” This past summer we got a “premium holiday” for the months of June, July, and August which meant there were no deductions from my paycheck, saving us around USD 1,600.
