How is the United States of America such a developed country, yet the healthcare industry, as a whole, is so incredibly screwed up?
Yet again, I find myself sitting here with my heart pounding out of my chest, my shoulders up to my ears with stress and anxiety and feeling helpless, all thanks to healthcare coverage and the astronomical premiums I have to pay.
I just can’t get my head around how insurance companies getting away with mob-like tactics? How is it ok to charge a monthly premium that costs more than a mortgage payment? How is it acceptable to charge over 50% of my husband’s net salary to cover my family on a plan that doesn’t have a ten-thousand PLUS deductible?
I know I’m not alone in this frustration. I know this because ALL OF US are paying astronomical premiums.
Starting in 2017, even the heavily subsidized families will be feeling the premium pain, so many of us know all too well. With few providers left in the government healthcare marketplace, there is NO reason to offer competitive plans. I was told by an insurance broker, I was lucky that there are two providers in the Kentucky marketplace, “It keeps the rates fairly competitive.”
THIS IS NOT RIGHT!
Starting January 2017, the current Caresource Silver family plan I have for my family will DOUBLE in cost in 2017. Taking the premium from $251 to $571!
To add insult to injury, the cheapest plan available through the Marketplace, a Caresource Bronze plan that has a $13,000 deductible and HUGE upfront out of pocket fees when we visit a doctor, will cost $365, with the subsidy. That means, in 2017 I will have SUPER shitty health coverage that cost me an additional $125 a month. WTF?
HOW?
Sure, my family can get coverage with my husband’s school; A non-profit school for children with learning differences. The lowest monthly premium, that is essentially the same coverage as the CareSourse Bronze Plan with the HUGE deductible, will cost us $965 a month. Yes, NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE DOLLARS! The “best” plan would cost us $1800.
For the record, it would be cheaper to pay CASH 100% out of pocket to have a baby, then pay a year’s worth of premiums and the deductible.
HOW?
After talking with a friend who is an insurance broker it was clear, the insurance companies who work with the government subsidies, have increased their premiums so much in 2017, the once helpful, Affordable Care Act, is no longer. The 2017 increase COMPLETELY absorbs the subsidy, leaving families, once again, with budget-busting astronomical premiums.
You know the joke about how a store will increase the price of everything by 35% then have a 25% off sale? The Insurance companies are doing the same thing.
NOT RIGHT!
Not on any level.
Allowing insurance companies to charge families, in some cases, two thousand dollars a month in premiums is, CRIMINAL! How are we paying more a month for our health insurance premiums than our mortgage?
HOW?
Don’t even get me started on the fact that my husband’s ‘shared’ company health coverage plans offer the SAME plan on the Humana website but at THREE times as much! When I asked the Humana rep at my husband’s school how that was possible, she told me it had to do with illness and pregnancies from the prior year at the school, and that I could “probably find the SAME plan at a lower cost on the Humana website.”
HOW IS THAT LEGAL???
I dream of the day the government cuts out the insurance companies and regulates the coverage and premiums FOR ALL OF US!
And last, To The Trump Administration, you want to help this country? You want to make America great again? START with the insurance companies gouging the shit out of American families.
