Health Insurance 2015

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I just finished my enrollment at work and was curious what everyone's premiums did this year.

I'm enrolled in IMO a pretty good insurance program. Below is the breakout of my coverage and costs.
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*Note that I don't calc TS13 to TS14 because the company changed how much they subsidize our insurance from what was an 80/20 split to 78.5/22.5 in 2014. Without normalizing for that, it was a 6% increase. Corrected, it is a 2.6% increase from 2013 to 2014 (as noted includes the HSA which IMO probably should be removed - which makes it a 7.1% increase).

I was actually surprised it was a 6% increase over last year - and that's including the HSA which I personally don't think should be included, since I determine how much that figure is... without it, it would be a 16.3% increase, which is kray-kray. What, am I paying for all the uninsured out there? Oh wait... (p.s. I'm in favor of the spirit behind the ACA - just not how it was implemented)

Seriously though, I honestly think I have a great plan and the premiums seem pretty reasonable to me. I got really sick about two years ago, lost my vision, seizures, etc and went through 6 weeks of every test in the universe - it cost me personally about $10k, but my insurance ate about $175k worth of tests. I still have very expensive follow-up CT-scans and tests every six months, so I guess "no prior conditions" is gonna work for me :)

So depending on your calculation method, either a 2.6% to a 6.3% increase, or 7.1% to a 16.3% increase. A two year increase of 8.9% or 23.4%. Seems a little bit high to me.

Anyway, I'm curious how the rest of ya'll are doing. Big increases or decreases? More/less coverage? Don't know, don't care?

[Fallen]

Roughly the same, about 500 dollars total a year for health, a little bit more for vision and dental. Pretty cheap for good coverage, but the kicker is I can't add anyone without the rates DRAMATICALLY increasing. Something along the lines of 500+ dollars a month just for a spouse. That's how the plan always was, though, the only change is the cost goes up a little bit every year.

[waywardgs]

I thought the world was supposed to end...?

[AnticorRifling]

Hard to tell because I moved companies and I'm getting much better coverage for less but that's because of company size. That being said comparing this company's plan(s) from last year to this year the cost went up 6% but overall coverage went down. Sadly it's still way better than what I had at the small company.

[Parkbandit]

So far.. my current plan is going up 16% for 2015. And that's for a really shitty plan with a $10,000 deductible.

I'm currently shopping for new insurance.

[Fallen]

I'm being told by a coworker that our deductible increased from $250 to $500. That's pretty nasty, but I was mistaken on the cost per year. It's not $500 a year, it's actually free for the PPO if it's just you. Both vision and dental are free too. Our co-pay increased to $30 dollars from last year's $20. Everything else was a wash. Out of pocket maximum didn't change, still $2,250.

I don't go to the doctor, and i'm not on any meds, so it really doesn't effect me one way or another.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Oh I forgot to mention, my deductible is $2.6k annually for the both of us. Because of my aforementioned health issues, I usually hit that via meds/doc visits/labs by the end of March/mid April, so I get heavy bills early in the year but after that it's maybe $100 a month out of pocket, and my HSA completely covers it. I end up "saving" my HSA the second half of the year, which pays for the next years early med bills until I hit the cap again.

Edit to add.

Also, my figures are per pay period, of which I have 24 annually. Looking at it that way, a 23%+ increase over two years adds up pretty quickly.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I'm being told by a coworker that our deductible increased from $250 to $500. That's pretty nasty, but I was mistaken on the cost per year. It's not $500 a year, it's actually free for the PPO if it's just you. Both vision and dental are free too. Our co-pay increased to $30 dollars from last year's $20. Everything else was a wash. Out of pocket maximum didn't change, still $2,250.

I don't go to the doctor, and i'm not on any meds, so it really doesn't effect me one way or another.

Before I got married my insurance was similarly priced, incredibly cheap!

[Kithus]

I'm seeing an increase of approximately 6.6% for my premiums and a co-pay increase from $30 to $35. Sadly, being able to remove my ex-wife now that she is re-married saves me nothing. The cost of my premium nearly triples going from an individual plan to a family plan for just myself and my son. I'm tempted to see if it is cheaper to get him insurance off the state exchange.

[diethx]

My insurance is pretty crappy when you consider the size of my company, but eh. My premiums are going down by a third this year but only because I'm choosing a different plan (HRA over HSA). My deductible is going from $1,250 to $2,000, but with my new plan prescriptions are paid for without me having met my deductible. I didn't even get close to meeting my deductible this year, thankfully, so all prescriptions were 100% out of pocket. Now I just pay 30% no matter where my deductible is, preventative or non-preventative, and my HRA should cover all of that 30%. At least our dental plan is really good, heh.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I don't know what constitutes a good dental plan. Like, $1500 seems like a lot to me, but if you have any major issue with your teeth, that's nothing! For instance, my Dentist says I grind my teeth, and he can fix it for me through some muscular work/realigning (think things like physical therapy I guess)... for a whopping $40k. He's a fantastic dentist, and is cutting edge on all things in his field, but I'm not buying him a car. I told him when they can grow teeth, I'll just replace mine...

And for vision I guess mine is ok, but again, if it's anything beyond a set of glasses or contacts every other year, I'm not sure what benefit I get. I bet if I did the math, what I pay in is equal to what I get out of it... so it's not really insurance to me, just a bad investment of my money.

[Archigeek]

Mine is going up about 10%, but it covers my drugs, which this year will amount to 10's of thousands of dollars, as I was just put on one of the more expensive meds out there. The drug costs are ridiculous. So ridiculous, that the drug company will pay up to $2,750 in deductible per year, plus up to $700/month in any other costs, dropping my monthly cost down to $5/month after my premium of around $300/month. I guess when you're grossing $50,000 off of one patient, what's a few thousand to get them to keep taking it? A side benefit is that this also basically knocks any other medical expenses I may have down to my $30 copay, since the deductible will be met in the first month of the year.

So yeah, I'm not complaining.

Also, not surprisingly, if it wasn't for the ACA, there's no way in hell anyone would be offering me insurance. So there's that. Thanks Obama!

[Fallen]

So there's that. Thanks Obama!

http://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/thanks-obama-28.gif

[Buckwheet]

We saw ~6% increase in premiums and that is with a $500 added deductible. I really wish they would upgrade the HSA laws to say you can put up to whatever the max household out of pocket is into them. $10,500 is the max out of pocket for the plan and I can only put $6600 or whatever away for it.

[Archigeek]

We saw ~6% increase in premiums and that is with a $500 added deductible. I really wish they would upgrade the HSA laws to say you can put up to whatever the max household out of pocket is into them. $10,500 is the max out of pocket for the plan and I can only put $6600 or whatever away for it.

I also think the whole "use it or lose it" business is stupid. I haven't had an HSA in a while, do they still do that?

[diethx]

I don't know what constitutes a good dental plan. Like, $1500 seems like a lot to me, but if you have any major issue with your teeth, that's nothing! For instance, my Dentist says I grind my teeth, and he can fix it for me through some muscular work/realigning (think things like physical therapy I guess)... for a whopping $40k. He's a fantastic dentist, and is cutting edge on all things in his field, but I'm not buying him a car. I told him when they can grow teeth, I'll just replace mine...

And for vision I guess mine is ok, but again, if it's anything beyond a set of glasses or contacts every other year, I'm not sure what benefit I get. I bet if I did the math, what I pay in is equal to what I get out of it... so it's not really insurance to me, just a bad investment of my money.

Yeah, mine is $1,500 and it costs me like $10 per month. Preventative paid at 100%, minor work like cavity filling 80%, and major work like crowns, 50%. Between my wisdom tooth surgeries (most of this was considered medical and was paid under my health insurance, but not all, especially the root removal back in April of this year) and the crown I needed back in 2013, I used most of my benefit. I actually have a small break on one of my molars right now which my dentist wanted to crown this past summer... I was like yeeeeah no. I'm going back in January for my 6 month cleaning and maybe I'll schedule it then. I'm just fucking terrified of the dentist and I will probably put it off until it causes me pain... hah.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Mine is going up about 10%, but it covers my drugs, which this year will amount to 10's of thousands of dollars, as I was just put on one of the more expensive meds out there. The drug costs are ridiculous. So ridiculous, that the drug company will pay up to $2,750 in deductible per year, plus up to $700/month in any other costs, dropping my monthly cost down to $5/month after my premium of around $300/month. I guess when you're grossing $50,000 off of one patient, what's a few thousand to get them to keep taking it? A side benefit is that this also basically knocks any other medical expenses I may have down to my $30 copay, since the deductible will be met in the first month of the year.

So yeah, I'm not complaining.

Also, not surprisingly, if it wasn't for the ACA, there's no way in hell anyone would be offering me insurance. So there's that. Thanks Obama!

Like I said, I'm with you on the spirit of the ACA. I love the idea of everyone having healthcare available to them that is affordable. CBO says it will add to the deficit though, substantially, over the next 10 years, so I'm hoping for some tweaks to the law to figure out how to pay for it. I think it will be on the backs of the young and healthy, which I'm cool with, because someday they'll be old and not-healthy.

Always liked you Kerl, hope you are doing well - I don't post or visit here enough to know that you were/are sick. Anyway, hope you are on the better side of whatever it is.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I also think the whole "use it or lose it" business is stupid. I haven't had an HSA in a while, do they still do that?

There are two types of HSA's - one is basically just a credit card that doesn't expire (I'm on that one), and the other is tied to the max plan at my work, also called an HSA and it's a use it or lose it. I have no idea why they are different.

[Latrinsorm]

My plan is changing in some way, but I happen to have a few appointments this month so I'm going to get them out of the way before messing with it. If I can't find anything better, my premium will go from $270 to $310, same everything else... but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find better than the insurance company's opening offer.

[Jarvan]

There are two types of HSA's - one is basically just a credit card that doesn't expire (I'm on that one), and the other is tied to the max plan at my work, also called an HSA and it's a use it or lose it. I have no idea why they are different.

Second one really isn't an HSA, it's a FSA.

HSA - Health Savings Account never expires, and is tied to a High Deductible Health Plan.

FSA - Flexible Spending Account, use it or lose it by the end of the year. Expires obviously. Can normally be taken with any plan, but if taken with an HSA it is restricted to certain things.

One interesting fact about FSA's.. they are funded 100% from day one. But you pay into them every pay. ~IF~ you are suddenly no longer employed, then you don't have to pay back the rest of the money owed, but you also can't use any money left in it.

The second one at your job really can't be an HSA.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Second one really isn't an HSA, it's a FSA.

HSA - Health Savings Account never expires, and is tied to a High Deductible Health Plan.

FSA - Flexible Spending Account, use it or lose it by the end of the year. Expires obviously. Can normally be taken with any plan, but if taken with an HSA it is restricted to certain things.

One interesting fact about FSA's.. they are funded 100% from day one. But you pay into them every pay. ~IF~ you are suddenly no longer employed, then you don't have to pay back the rest of the money owed, but you also can't use any money left in it.

The second one at your job really can't be an HSA.

Ah, probably an FSA then. Learned something today, thanks.

[Jarvan]

Ah, probably an FSA then. Learned something today, thanks.

FSA's are great tho if you don't have an FSA and have predictable medical expenses every year. OR, if you plan to have a large medical bill early in the year. Let's you spread the cost out over the year, and reduce taxes too.

[Archigeek]

Always liked you Kerl, hope you are doing well - I don't post or visit here enough to know that you were/are sick. Anyway, hope you are on the better side of whatever it is.

No worries, it's nothing that's going to kill me, at least not in the short term. And us Gemstone players are getting old! We're bound to start falling apart right?

[Archigeek]

One interesting fact about FSA's.. they are funded 100% from day one. But you pay into them every pay. ~IF~ you are suddenly no longer employed, then you don't have to pay back the rest of the money owed, but you also can't use any money left in it.

This is stupid. It's effectively an encouragement to gamble with healthcare. I never quite understood why the use it or lose it provision of this was implemented. It makes no sense.

[Warriorbird]

Roughly the same, about 500 dollars total a year for health, a little bit more for vision and dental. Pretty cheap for good coverage, but the kicker is I can't add anyone without the rates DRAMATICALLY increasing. Something along the lines of 500+ dollars a month just for a spouse. That's how the plan always was, though, the only change is the cost goes up a little bit every year.

I'm in a similar situation. They increased that dramatically, which is tough on a lot of my coworkers who do need to cover spouses.

[Some Rogue]

Second one really isn't an HSA, it's a FSA.

HSA - Health Savings Account never expires, and is tied to a High Deductible Health Plan.

FSA - Flexible Spending Account, use it or lose it by the end of the year. Expires obviously. Can normally be taken with any plan, but if taken with an HSA it is restricted to certain things.

One interesting fact about FSA's.. they are funded 100% from day one. But you pay into them every pay. ~IF~ you are suddenly no longer employed, then you don't have to pay back the rest of the money owed, but you also can't use any money left in it.

The second one at your job really can't be an HSA.

Thanks for explaining it so I didn't have to. LOL

I work for one of the big bad insurance companies and today was a headache and I really don't even deal with the ACA plans.

[Jarvan]

This is stupid. It's effectively an encouragement to gamble with healthcare. I never quite understood why the use it or lose it provision of this was implemented. It makes no sense.

Well, the use it or lose it was put in as a balance for the company really. If you don't use the money before the plan year is up, you lose it, the company gets to keep that money to offset the plan costs. The government doesn't get it. Whereas if you leave the company on say January 21st, after having used say 4,000 in an FSA on lazik eye surgery after paying in say 40 bucks.. you don't have to pay the other 3960 back. If there wasn't that balance, a lot of companies wouldn't offer it.

Besides tax purposes.

[Jarvan]

Thanks for explaining it so I didn't have to. LOL

I work for one of the big bad insurance companies and today was a headache and I really don't even deal with the ACA plans.

Been there, done that. I used to be the HSA point of contact for 12 companies. I explained it so many times I can still explain it 6 years later. Oddly enough... my company didn't even complain when I had 20-30 min phone calls when they wanted us to have 5-6 min ones. Usually because I was explaining the HSA plan and benefits to people and had a fairly high enroll rate. For younger healthy people, I really don't think there is a better option.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Holy shit I should have invested in Insurance companies in 2009! Between this and not buying Ford at a little more than $2 a share, I'm kicking my own ass :(

http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?AET,CI,HUM,UNH&p=6&O=010000
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[Atlanteax]

About 2% increase for me ... while insurance representative indicated that for the insurance company (United Health), was about a 6% increase in the state of Michigan.
He further stated that the premium increases has been lower for them (United Health) as they are trying to get back into the state and are discounting vs their competitors.
(which essentially affirmed the need to allow plans to compete against each other!!)

However, this is for plans going from Dec to Dec, not Jan to Jan (from Dec 2013 to Dec 2014, and now doing forms for Dec 2014 to Dec 2015).

I recall the owner stating that he was moving up the plan a month (used to be Jan to Jan) to avoid near-term premium increases.

Two plans to choose from, one with $1k deductible, and the other is $2.5k ... I'll do a further edit once I look at the details later as for the annual/monthly premium $amounts.

.

Okay, monthly premium is about $483 with a $2500 deductible for in-plan, and $5000 deductible outside-of-plan ... $554/month for $1000/$2000 ... dental is separate at $35

If I was married and covering the two of us, the above would be $1016, $1163, and $70/month.

.

Seems like an awful lot when I really dislike going to the doctor office for anyting...

[Ashliana]

My health insurance premiums went up by 7.1% for the same coverage. Dental insurance was completely flat.


I don't know what constitutes a good dental plan. Like, $1500 seems like a lot to me, but if you have any major issue with your teeth, that's nothing! For instance, my Dentist says I grind my teeth, and he can fix it for me through some muscular work/realigning (think things like physical therapy I guess)... for a whopping $40k. He's a fantastic dentist, and is cutting edge on all things in his field, but I'm not buying him a car. I told him when they can grow teeth, I'll just replace mine...

And for vision I guess mine is ok, but again, if it's anything beyond a set of glasses or contacts every other year, I'm not sure what benefit I get. I bet if I did the math, what I pay in is equal to what I get out of it... so it's not really insurance to me, just a bad investment of my money.

Really? A $40,000 plan is what your dentist came up with to treat bruxism? Have him make you an occlusal guard--they're about $300-600, and your insurance will cover most of it. He's proposing some drastic, necessarily-risky surgery.. if your bruxism is that severe, you should be wearing a guard anyway.

Dental insurance is a generally good value if you have dental problems, but the benefits cap out at $1,750 a year for almost all plans that allow you to select your own dentist--which is often not even enough for a single crown, the biggest common expense people incur--then again, dental insurance through most big companies is only about $150-250 for the entire year, which for me, is less than a single cleaning, so it's definitely worth it.

Vision insurance is total garbage in most circumstances. It's okay if you're continuously re-ordering contacts, but for eyeglasses, most places won't allow you to combine insurance with any kind of special offers whatsoever, one of which is usually more than the year-long benefit of the insurance.

[Ashliana]

This is stupid. It's effectively an encouragement to gamble with healthcare. I never quite understood why the use it or lose it provision of this was implemented. It makes no sense.

Sort of.. but it's also to prevent abuse, supposedly. I've contributed the maximum amount that my company allows ($2,500 a year) and I've used every penny. Since that money disappears if you don't use it, you're heavily incentivized to spend it all. Have $800 at the end of the year left in the account? Whelp, time to buy a nice pair of designer prescription glasses/sunglasses.