Re: Insurance letter, sigh

Cookie2025 · ‎03-10-2010

@Mom2Dogs wrote:
@151949...since you are on medicare you may not realize how much insurance is these days, even on the o-care web site, the lowest plan is roughly $705 a month and a much higher deductible than what I will be paying in 2017. I have already called my congressman and on Monday I will be calling the governors office to complain loudly.....there is no excuse for this huge increase in an insurance premium. We simply cannot afford the plan without dipping into retirement savings....at one time we were middle class now I am not sure what class we would be in but I do know I am tired of paying others peoples way.....

Good Luck momtodogs - I hear you. I am on Medicare with secondary insurance BC/BS thru my Employer. The rates went up $40/month this year - which was actually less than last year. It is best to not let your Congressman, ect. 'forget' people are still hurting with the insurance premiums. You sacrifice by having good insurance coverage or you 'sacrifice' by not having enough health insurance.

I helped my Son with getting ACA through the Department of Social Services/State of Maryland. He did not have access to a scanner to scan his financial documents into the computer. He called and was advised he would receive a notice and he would need to physically present the financial documents in person. He received the notice, took the documents to DSS. A man at DSS asked him 3 questions and told him he was done. I told the man to 'hold on - what about the financial documentation'. The man told me 'don't make this any harder than it is'.

He received a red and white card and a notice to select a healthy insurance company. He called and enrolled. He was advised on the phone he would receive a bill and his card - this was one month ago.

NOW - he still has not received his health insurance card. He will be visiting them this week to find out what happened. In the meantime I told the neighbor what was happening and she told me she made three visits before they got her insurance straightened out.

This program is 4 years out and still has too many bumps.

CouponQueen · ‎10-21-2010

What the poster is suggesting is trying to call a Exchange Site that can offer alternatives. While it may not be the full top of the line coverage she is looking for..she may have a higher co-pays.. it should make the monthly premiums more affordable.

While I do agree there are slips in the road that need to be worked out...some of the ACA is good.. The states where governors opted out are states that are having more issues..but I bet the governors of those states are not losing anything..

I don't honestly think that somebody who has never had to want for anything in their life nor paid taxes in 18-years..has any clue how the middle class works is going to fix these issues. I don't think it is going to get better..it is the insurance companies.

kitty60 · ‎03-13-2010

Believe me the insurance issue is not as easy as it seems. I sympathize with OP. I purchase my own insurance, high deductible policy, or so it was when I purchased it. I basically pay everything up to $3,500 and then it pays. I currently pay $713/month, I did receive a notice with an expected increase of 8%. Since many suggested on this post ACA, I went on and checked out. The plan that pays the least with a large annual maximum out of pocket would cost me more than my current plan. To go to one that would still have a deductible higher than $3,500 was well over $1,100 per month. Sorry, the ACA is Not affordable. We need to keep politics out of it and find a solution. I agree no one should go broke with catastrophic medical costs but maybe that needs to be addressed as a separate issue. Many companies are offering insurance that in my opinion is substandard and when they offer this policy people who chose to purchase a better policy outside of their company are now disqualified from a subsidy. The whole system is broken and we need to start somehwere.

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

@kitty60....you have hit the nail on the head.....like I have said more than once, I have tried to find something else for coverage on the o-site and thru an insurance agent..but as you discovered it does not exist....

The whole thing really irritates me.....

CalminHeart · ‎03-09-2010

My medical/dental/vision insurance goes up to $150.56 per week in January. This is the retiree version of what i had when I worked. My former employer cut benefits for retirees. I guess working somewhere for 40 years no longer counts. No wonder millenials don't have the same loyalty to employers.

I tried everything to find similar coverage for less but couldn't. I just hope Medicare is still in place when I hit 65 in another 18 months.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

Before my DH could retire we had to take health insurance under serious consideration, because we were both covered under his employee plan. As it turned out he had to work a little longer until he was eligible for medicare and I was on his COBRA for a short while until I was eligible for medicare. How you are going to cover yourself for health insurance is a very important part of the decision to retire or not,. Many people continue working after they become eligible to retire only for the insurance. If you can't afford the high cost of insurance - you should probably keep working until you can get medicare.

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

@151949 wrote:
Before my DH could retire we had to take health insurance under serious consideration, because we were both covered under his employee plan. As it turned out he had to work a little longer until he was eligible for medicare and I was on his COBRA for a short while until I was eligible for medicare. How you are going to cover yourself for health insurance is a very important part of the decision to retire or not,. Many people continue working after they become eligible to retire only for the insurance. If you can't afford the high cost of insurance - you should probably keep working until you can get medicare.

@151949....my dh and I are self employed, he is on medicare, several years older than I am..... I am not retirement age.

We are fully aware about the cost of health care and the need to work to cover those costs...

Even before this ridiculous health care law was passed we intended to work our business as long as we possibly could because retirement is not for us...we enjoy working. The probem is health care is now the largest part of our budget as well as many others across this country....again this law needs to be replaced with something affordable.

KarenQVC · ‎05-13-2010

@Mom2Dogs It looks like you should be letting Tom Price know what is happening to you.

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

@KarenQVC wrote:
@Mom2Dogs It looks like you should be letting Tom Price know what is happening to you.

You are hopeful about that man??

The fox in the hen house comes to mind...

KarenQVC · ‎05-13-2010

@tansy This will be the point man. We need to educate him about what is going on NOW. He needs to know that older people need relief. The younger people will be able to build up their medical accts. over decades.