Promoted from the Ricochet Member Feed by Editors Created with Sketch. If You Like Your Health Insurance Plan…

 

I’ve had November 1 marked on my calendar for a while. Today I need to choose a new health insurance provider, because my current one is pulling out of the Texas market (and who can blame them). They sent me a letter informing me of this fact six months ago. Much like Winnie the Pooh and his little black rain cloud, that letter has cast a small dark shadow on my health care choices this year.

So far I have not been able to log in to the famed healthcare dot gov, but I received a very nice message about how they’re working to fix this. I can peruse available plans though, with prices designed to make your blood boil. (Good luck finding a cardiologist though!)

I realize that I am actually very fortunate to be able to afford the (exorbitant) premiums and deductibles, but the whole process really frustrates me. I don’t even like my PCP very much. On my new plan I’ll probably have to choose a different one anyway.

There’s no point to this post except to say: If your employer pays your premiums, be thankful. If you’re in my shoes (or worse), buckle up — I don’t think it’s going to get better any time soon.

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  1. tigerlily Member

    I think there are an awful lot of people in your shoes. Good luck! It’s amazing to me that the website for this gawdawful program still acts up.

    • #1
    • November 1, 2016, at 11:05 AM PDT
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  2. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge

    I suspect it is designed to get worse until it is so bad the public demands single payer.

    My employer provided plan has increases across the board. Everything went up and coverage down but it sounds like it is still doin much better than the ones on the exchanges. My friends getting their insurance on the exchange are talking about 50% premium increases with coverage being so poor it is useless to them. Many are not going to the doctor anymore since their plans no longer cover that sort of stuff. It is going to be an interesting ride.

    • #2
    • November 1, 2016, at 11:09 AM PDT
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  3. Titus Techera Contributor

    I fear you’re right, but I still hope you’ll manage. There are no good laws to help, so I hope you have at least some good luck!

    • #3
    • November 1, 2016, at 11:10 AM PDT
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  4. Seawriter Contributor

    You can contact the agent who provides your homeowners or car insurance and buy the health insurance policy through the agent. You are still stuck with Obamanation Care, but at least you can buy it.

    Seawriter

    • #4
    • November 1, 2016, at 11:20 AM PDT
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  5. Retail Lawyer Member

    Is it too much to ask for an apology for this disaster? It really hurts many people!

    • #5
    • November 1, 2016, at 11:28 AM PDT
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  6. Seawriter Contributor

    Retail Lawyer:Is it too much to ask for an apology for this disaster?

    From Obama and the Democrats? Of course.

    Seawriter

    • #6
    • November 1, 2016, at 11:56 AM PDT
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  7. Richard Rummelhart Inactive

    The part I can’t believe is after the disaster of Obama care that voters are going to reelect the Democrats who created the problem.

    • #7
    • November 1, 2016, at 12:27 PM PDT
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  8. Front Seat Cat Member

    Fake John/Jane Galt:I suspect it is designed to get worse until it is so bad the public demands single payer.

    My employer provided plan has increases across the board. Everything went up and coverage down but it sounds like it is still doin much better than the ones on the exchanges. My friends getting their insurance on the exchange are talking about 50% premium increases with coverage being so poor it is useless to them. Many are not going to the doctor anymore since their plans no longer cover that sort of stuff. It is going to be an interesting ride.

    This is something that should not be happening to hard working Americans – to not go to the doctor when you need to, and reductions in services is shocking – something else O ruined and HRC will continue.

    • #8
    • November 1, 2016, at 12:41 PM PDT
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  9. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge

    Front Seat Cat:

    Fake John/Jane Galt:I suspect it is designed to get worse until it is so bad the public demands single payer.

    My employer provided plan has increases across the board. Everything went up and coverage down but it sounds like it is still doin much better than the ones on the exchanges. My friends getting their insurance on the exchange are talking about 50% premium increases with coverage being so poor it is useless to them. Many are not going to the doctor anymore since their plans no longer cover that sort of stuff. It is going to be an interesting ride.

    This is something that should not be happening to hard working Americans – to not go to the doctor when you need to, and reductions in services is shocking – something else O ruined and HRC will continue.

    I have one friend that is actively considering divorcing his wife since then his wife and kid will be able to get better insurance coverage than he can afford for them on the exchange.

    • #9
    • November 1, 2016, at 12:44 PM PDT
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  10. PHCheese Member

    Just a reminder for those considering not voting, not one Republican law maker voted for this monstrosity.

    • #10
    • November 1, 2016, at 12:51 PM PDT
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  11. Seawriter Contributor

    The individual plans all stink – at least in Texas. Even the Platinum plans. I suspect they stink everywhere. Group plans are better, but you have to belong to a group.

    Seawriter

    • #11
    • November 1, 2016, at 12:57 PM PDT
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  12. tigerlily Member

    Richard Rummelhart:The part I can’t believe is after the disaster of Obama care that voters are going to reelect the Democrats who created the problem.

    Or that Obama has a job approval rating in the mid to upper 50’s after all the lies and chicanery that went into passing and implementing this monstrosity.

    • #12
    • November 1, 2016, at 1:06 PM PDT
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  13. Kozak Member
    Kozak Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Here’s a selection of plans for wifey and me. Thank God we don’t need em….

    screen-shot-2016-11-01-at-4-29-48-pm screen-shot-2016-11-01-at-4-30-23-pm screen-shot-2016-11-01-at-4-30-57-pm

    • #13
    • November 1, 2016, at 1:42 PM PDT
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  14. Arthur Beare Member

    Before Obamacare I had an individual “high deductible” plan: $600/mo: 1000 deductible. I called it my car crashes & cancer plan. Its main (and very real, as I found out later) benefit was that the insurance company reduced the billed charges.

    Given the prices shown in @Kozak‘s post, it seems much more rational to pay the fines and go without, as the chances of ever seeing a penny of your premiums paid out are very small for I’d guess 90% of the population. On the other hand, a couple of days in intensive care can cost (or be billed at) what you paid out. (The other scandal here is the astronomical cost of health care — but that is off topic.)

    So, I guess the 64 thousand dollar question about the notion of repeal and replace is whether the infrastructure of the insurance industry would be able to return to the pre-Obamacare system even if it was allowed to.

    • #14
    • November 1, 2016, at 3:48 PM PDT
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  15. Paula Lynn Johnson Inactive

    Seawriter: The individual plans all stink – at least in Texas.

    In NJ, too. Ours was cancelled and we replaced with a high-deductible plan, figuring yeah, deductible’s high but we’re healthy (knock on wood) and at least the premiums are lower. Then in one year the premiums shot up higher than what they were for the same high deductible.

    My pharmacist says it isn’t gold silver or platinum, it’s “pure cr!p, pretty cr!ppy and not-so-cr!ppy”

    And yet you go to CNN today and the big headline is how Obamacare actually isn’t doing that bad in AZ . . . not like there’s any Wikileaks to report on today or anything.

    • #15
    • November 1, 2016, at 3:55 PM PDT
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  16. JimGoneWild Coolidge

    And ObamaCare is about getting health insurance, which doesn’t necessarily get you health care. Also, never mentioned by the media, the 10 million or so who lost their health insurance.

    Of course the final changes to ObamaCare does end until next year. Thanks Obama.

    • #16
    • November 1, 2016, at 3:58 PM PDT
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  17. Craig Inactive

    It has been removed from YouTube and the web the town hall meeting where Obama claimed he never said “if you like your doctor. . . . ” (despite evidence to the contrary) . This has survived.

    • #17
    • November 1, 2016, at 4:13 PM PDT
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  18. Dad of Four Inactive

    We live in California; I know, our own fault. Our plan (2 adults, 3 kids from 18-24) went from $2300/month to $2900/month. Our deductible (before any coverage) is now over $6500 per person, and our out of pocket for non-network services is now over $12,000 per person. Basically, we have no insurance as it was defined 10 years ago at a cost near $30,000 per year.

    • #18
    • November 1, 2016, at 4:19 PM PDT
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  19. Kozak Member
    Kozak Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Dad of Four: Basically, we have no insurance as it was defined 10 years ago at a cost near $30,000 per year.

    Yeah but you have pediatric dental, infertility treatment, and unlimited substance abuse and psych coverage….

    • #19
    • November 1, 2016, at 4:21 PM PDT
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  20. Spin Inactive
    Spin Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Just for fun I logged in to see what my costs would be. Looking at them, I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Which is to say I don’t understand why there hasn’t been a r********n.

    • #20
    • November 1, 2016, at 4:45 PM PDT
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  21. Biden Pure Demagogue Coolidge
    Biden Pure Demagogue Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    There’s no point to this comment, @girlfriday.

    • #21
    • November 1, 2016, at 4:55 PM PDT
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  22. Lash LaRoche Inactive

    The coward John Roberts owns this mess. All of it.

    • #22
    • November 1, 2016, at 5:11 PM PDT
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  23. Nanda Panjandrum Inactive

    Mike LaRoche:The coward John Roberts owns this mess. All of it.

    Not solely, recall those 60 Democrat votes?

    • #23
    • November 1, 2016, at 5:14 PM PDT
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  24. Lash LaRoche Inactive

    Nanda Panjandrum:

    Mike LaRoche:The coward John Roberts owns this mess. All of it.

    Not solely, recall those 60 Democrat votes?

    True, but he could have stopped it four years ago.

    • #24
    • November 1, 2016, at 5:23 PM PDT
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  25. Biden Pure Demagogue Coolidge
    Biden Pure Demagogue Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    @docjay

    • #25
    • November 1, 2016, at 6:32 PM PDT
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  26. Douglas Inactive

    Mike LaRoche:

    Nanda Panjandrum:

    Mike LaRoche:The coward John Roberts owns this mess. All of it.

    Not solely, recall those 60 Democrat votes?

    True, but he could have stopped it four years ago.

    I swear to you, I believe someone had dirty pictures on Roberts or something. Something. He changed his position so abruptly so late in the process. It shocked even Anthony Kennedy.

    • #26
    • November 1, 2016, at 6:55 PM PDT
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  27. jeannebodine, Verbose Bon Viva… Member

    In PA, they announced will no longer pay commissions to brokers, so you can’t even get a broker’s advice.

    My premium went to $1,678 a month just for me. I have the choice of one company as the other two companies have withdrawn from the Marketplace. Marketplace? Does any of this sound like a Marketplace? I want a PPO because the Obamacare HMO almost killed me 2 years ago.

    We can’t possibly afford this. I am sick with worry about what to do. I don’t get a subsidy but that’s actually a relief because when I got one, we had to pay the entire amount back at tax time. It’s all so hopeless. My husband has Alzheimer’s so I can’t take any chances with my health but what am I to do?

    Thanks @girlfriday, for writing this post because I find I can’t talk about it but writing about this abomination was good for my soul.

    • #27
    • November 1, 2016, at 8:57 PM PDT
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  28. Cato Rand Inactive

    I’ve got to share this from Crains Chicago. I saw it today. Since you might hit a paywall, I’ll give you the short version —

    “Entrepreneur” who had a good group health plan for 23 years. She changed her business plan and pushed her employees into 1099 status making the company ineligible for her group plan.

    So she bought a plan from the Illinois ObamaCare exchange which she describes as not quite as good, “but manageable.”

    That plan is getting dropped from the exchange and what’s left is not as good, more expensive, and doesn’t include the doctors or hospitals she wants.

    Here’s the punchline. Guess who’s fault this is? “The Republicans” because they’re “using healthcare as a political football.” Got it?

    She cancelled the group plan for herself and her employees, trusting in Obama’s “if you like your plan, if you like your doctors” lies and when those don’t pan out it’s the Republicans fault.

    • #28
    • November 2, 2016, at 3:20 AM PDT
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  29. Cato Rand Inactive

    By the way, in Illinois, I’m not finding the prices quite as eye popping as some of these other posts. What we have lost is networks. I see doctors at two of the largest medical systems in Illinois, Advocate and Northwestern University Medical, and there’s not a plan that covers both, and very few that cover either. No plan covers more than one of the three doctors I see regularly. But if I need an IUD, hey, they’ve got me covered (as long as I don’t mind the drive to Bloomington where the doctor in the plan who does that works).

    Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois · Blue Choice Preferred Silver PPO℠ 109 – Standardized

    • Silver
    • PPO
    • Plan ID: 36096IL0990106

    Estimated monthly premium

    $1,262.46

    Deductible

    $7,000 Family Total

    Out-of-pocket maximum

    $14,300 Family Total

    Copayments / Coinsurance

    • Emergency room care: $400 Copay after deductible
    • Generic drugs: $15
    • Primary doctor: $30
    • Specialist doctor: $65

    Estimated total yearly costs

    • $16,130

    Doctors, facilities & drugs covered

    • Your Doctors (0/3)
       
    • Your Prescription Drugs (0/7)
       
    • Your medical facilities (0/3)
       
    • #29
    • November 2, 2016, at 3:48 AM PDT
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  30. cdor Member
    cdor Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Kozak:

    Dad of Four: Basically, we have no insurance as it was defined 10 years ago at a cost near $30,000 per year.

    Yeah but you have pediatric dental, infertility treatment, and unlimited substance abuse and psych coverage….

    And just think of all those people receiving 80 to 100% subsidies as a result of your ridiculously high costs. Nothing new here. Socialism raises no one…it just lowers everyone.

    • #30
    • November 2, 2016, at 6:04 AM PDT
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