Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

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Cigarman
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Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by Cigarman »

Hello All,

We just received our renewal for Blue Cross of NC and pleasantly surprised at only a 7% increase. Since Obamacare went into effect, our rates have been as follows, 2 adults, HSA plan, $5000 deductible each (plan remains unchanged and grandfathered):

2013 $507
2014 $675
2015 $879
2016 $960
2017 $1079
2018 $1154

As you can see, the big jump was 2014 to 2015 and my costs have more than doubled in 5 years, an average on around 14.5% per year. In 2017 we both met our deductible so my overall out of pocket cost was $22,948. I know my wife will hit her deductible because of some health issues and I may spend up to $2000 of my deductible. That makes 2018's cost around $20,848 or so. Back in 2013 our total was around $12,000.

Just curious what other's have experienced. Our grandfathered plan beats the exchange (both in costs and providers) and we don't qualify for subsidies.
BlueCable
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by BlueCable »

Cigarman wrote: Mon Oct 09, 2017 6:00 am Hello All,

We just received our renewal for Blue Cross of NC and pleasantly surprised at only a 7% increase. Since Obamacare went into effect, our rates have been as follows, 2 adults, HSA plan, $5000 deductible each (plan remains unchanged and grandfathered):

2013 $507
2014 $675
2015 $879
2016 $960
2017 $1079
2018 $1154

As you can see, the big jump was 2014 to 2015 and my costs have more than doubled in 5 years, an average on around 14.5% per year. In 2017 we both met our deductible so my overall out of pocket cost was $22,948. I know my wife will hit her deductible because of some health issues and I may spend up to $2000 of my deductible. That makes 2018's cost around $20,848 or so. Back in 2013 our total was around $12,000.

Just curious what other's have experienced. Our grandfathered plan beats the exchange (both in costs and providers) and we don't qualify for subsidies.
The rates at my employer in Iowa have decreased a few percentage points each of the last two years for the same coverage, perhaps because we are adding lots of healthy, young people.
Last edited by BlueCable on Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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bottlecap
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by bottlecap »

Ours went from $310 per month to nearly $1,100 per month in 2.5 years. And our already fairly high deductibles effectively (at least) doubled.

JT
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Hayden
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by Hayden »

My insurer will not be offering plans in my county in 2018. So I need to find a new insurer. Again. Every year for as long as I can remember I've had to change plans due to my plan being discontinued. It takes a big chunk of time every year. Groan. Rant over.
harvestbook
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by harvestbook »

I am also on BCBS in North Carolina and my rate increase are very similar to yours over the years (family plan for three people). Next year going from $1,020 to $1,155 a month. I was expecting a 15-20 percent increase based on the noise insurers were making but also believe they are close to pricing themselves out of a customer base.

I have been holding off changing plans due to uncertainty of legislative/industry changes but with almost zero real options (we can switch down to a single much worse ACA plan to save a couple hundred bucks), we're just biting the bullet another year.
I'm not smart enough to know, and I can't afford to guess.
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Helo80
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by Helo80 »

For me, I'm clocking in right at about 9.5% for a self HSA plan. I see the total rate being charged to my employer, and my contribution. It's nothing I cannot afford, but I do not like the direction this is going. At least I get some monies back in my HSA so I'm not flushing money down the insurance drain.
Thank God for Wall Street Bets.
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midareff
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by midareff »

> 9.6% AARP United > 14% Rx both mine.. wife increases yet unknown. All in all expect to be about $1350 a month no deducts.
DetroitRick
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Location: SE Michigan

Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by DetroitRick »

Assuming 2018 rates currently under review by state are approved (they almost always are here):

ACA Silver policy, HMO (decently broad network), SE Michigan Blue Cross:
2018 premium increase for us is 17.6%, assuming cost sharing subsidies are paid
Or 32.9% if they are not
Our state allowed dual submission for this issue, but that clock is ticking.

About 3% to 4% of these increases is age-related (fortunately we got a year older), the rest is everything else.
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AAA
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by AAA »

I got the renewal booklet for my Medicare Advantage plan, which I intend to stay in unless it will no longer be offered in my area. The monthly premium stayed the same and the out of network deductible actually went down 33%. Unless there's some other gotcha in the details I haven't looked at yet, that is very surprising. Any thoughts?
runner3081
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by runner3081 »

Our renewal just came (employer sponsored plan). There was a rate increase and a deductible increase on our HSA plan.

The premiums went up just a bit over 5%

2017 Monthly Rate (Family) - $38 per month
2018 Monthly Rate (Family) - $40 per month

Family Deductible went from $3.4K to $4K (+17%) and OOP Max from $10K to $12K (+20%)

This is the most significant increase in premiums/cost sharing the plan has seen in years.
LiterallyIronic
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by LiterallyIronic »

Two people (me and my baby) were $418 in 2017 (employer covered $375 of it), leaving me with $43/month. For 2018, it's going up to $507 (with my employer still covering $375), leaving me with $132/month.

Family deductible changing from $9,000 to $8,000. Like that matters, though, as we still had to pay the entire $12,000 bill when we had our baby earlier this year. We even had maternity coverage and insurance didn't cover a single cent of our doctor/hospital bills.

So, overall increase of 20%, with the part that I pay going up 200%.

My wife's grandfathered plan is barely increasing, only going from $94 to $100.
ncbill
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Location: Western NC

Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by ncbill »

In NC as well, no communication from BCBS yet, & on healthcare.gov "2018 plans and prices will be available to preview shortly before November 1."
Topic Author
Cigarman
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by Cigarman »

Thanks all for your posts...I figured a lot of us were in the same plan. Maybe Jack Bogle can do for health insurance what he did for investing....
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munemaker
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by munemaker »

We are on ObamaCare. Provider says 2018 rates will be available on November 1st. That's when open enrollment begins.

We are both early 60s, keep our income low and buy on the exchange. We are expecting even lower (taxable) income in 2018, and therefore are expecting a lower premium. 2017 annual premium was ~$3,000 (silver plan) and expecting 2018 annual premium to be around $2,000. We shall see.
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munemaker
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by munemaker »

LiterallyIronic wrote: Mon Oct 09, 2017 3:14 pm ...we still had to pay the entire $12,000 bill when we had our baby earlier this year. We even had maternity coverage and insurance didn't cover a single cent of our doctor/hospital bills.

Wow! Curious why you had to pay the entire $12,000 bill for childbirth? I am not that knowledgeable on health insurance, and this surprises me.
LiterallyIronic
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by LiterallyIronic »

munemaker wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:19 am
LiterallyIronic wrote: Mon Oct 09, 2017 3:14 pm ...we still had to pay the entire $12,000 bill when we had our baby earlier this year. We even had maternity coverage and insurance didn't cover a single cent of our doctor/hospital bills.

Wow! Curious why you had to pay the entire $12,000 bill for childbirth? I am not that knowledgeable on health insurance, and this surprises me.
My wife and I are on separate insurance. We did this because her grandfathered health insurance included maternity coverage and the insurance I got through work doesn't offer that coverage. Since we were planning on having a baby, we kept her on her old plan. Her deductible was $7,500, so that's how much we figured we'd max out on spending on delivering the baby.

Not remotely so.

Instead, my wife's C-section went on her "maternity deductible" and the rest of her hospital stay to recover from it went on her "regular deductible." The C-section itself was $6,000. But that wasn't enough to reach her $7,500 maternity deductible, so we paid the entire thing out of pocket. My wife's four day stay to recover in the hospital was $3,000. That went toward her $7,500 regular deductible but wasn't enough to reach it, so we paid the entire thing out of pocket.

Our baby's stay in the hospital was also $3,000. If we put the baby on my wife's insurance, that would increase my wife's $7,500 regular deductible to $15,000, so we still wouldn't hit it. If we put the baby on my insurance, that would increase my deductible from $4,500 to $9,000, and we wouldn't hit that either. So that $3,000 came out of pocket as well. We put the baby on my insurance because it increase my premium by only $43/month instead of the $76/month increase that would happen to my wife's insurance if the baby was added.

So that's how you end up paying monthly premiums for health insurance and then still end up footing the entire bill anyway. At least we managed to pay half of it through an HSA, so at least we used pre-tax dollars for some (and got 1% cash back using a credit card for the rest). But still, on a gross income of $48k, a $12k bill hurts.

I did ask the lady at the hospital financial office how most people manage to pay off $12,000 bills, and she said that most people with bills that large either: A) use WIC; B) use Medicaid; or C) skip town and let it go to collections
beehappy
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by beehappy »

LiterallyIronic wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:07 am
My wife and I are on separate insurance. We did this because her grandfathered health insurance included maternity coverage and the insurance I got through work doesn't offer that coverage. Since we were planning on having a baby, we kept her on her old plan. Her deductible was $7,500, so that's how much we figured we'd max out on spending on delivering the baby.

Not remotely so.

Instead, my wife's C-section went on her "maternity deductible" and the rest of her hospital stay to recover from it went on her "regular deductible." The C-section itself was $6,000. But that wasn't enough to reach her $7,500 maternity deductible, so we paid the entire thing out of pocket. My wife's four day stay to recover in the hospital was $3,000. That went toward her $7,500 regular deductible but wasn't enough to reach it, so we paid the entire thing out of pocket.

Our baby's stay in the hospital was also $3,000. If we put the baby on my wife's insurance, that would increase my wife's $7,500 regular deductible to $15,000, so we still wouldn't hit it. If we put the baby on my insurance, that would increase my deductible from $4,500 to $9,000, and we wouldn't hit that either. So that $3,000 came out of pocket as well. We put the baby on my insurance because it increase my premium by only $43/month instead of the $76/month increase that would happen to my wife's insurance if the baby was added.

So that's how you end up paying monthly premiums for health insurance and then still end up footing the entire bill anyway. At least we managed to pay half of it through an HSA, so at least we used pre-tax dollars for some (and got 1% cash back using a credit card for the rest). But still, on a gross income of $48k, a $12k bill hurts.

I did ask the lady at the hospital financial office how most people manage to pay off $12,000 bills, and she said that most people with bills that large either: A) use WIC; B) use Medicaid; or C) skip town and let it go to collections
UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE! What a scam!
Rainmaker41
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by Rainmaker41 »

HMO Platinum, $0 Deductible, $3,000 family out of pocket max, reasonable copays etc.

Coverage for myself & spouse costs me (employee share) $550 / month for 2018. Same plan was $484 for 2017, so 13.6% increase. Marginal cost of adding spouse is $496 / month compared to employee only. Employer pays 42% of total premium cost.

We could get a similar plan on the exchange for $300 less / year after-tax equivalent cost including estimated tax credits, but it wouldn't be quite as good, plus having us both on the same plan gives simplicity and peace of mind if there are insurance issues (employer can help maybe).

I played with a few different plan options but the potential out of pocket costs started to pick up noticeably.
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EyeDee
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Recent Monthly Health Insurance premiums

Post by EyeDee »

.
Our monthly premium for couple before ACA:

2010 1276
2011 1404
2012 1508
2013 1596

Our monthly premium for couple on ACA Exchange:

2014 1115
2015 1319
2016 1528
2017 1790
2018 Unknown - old insurer leaving exchange in 2018

Our monthly premium actually paid was lower than ACA Exchange premiums listed as they do not include income subsidy reduction.
Randy | SCA - Build Savings early by living below one's means, minimize Costs including taxes, and maintain a diverse Allocation.
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dm200
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by dm200 »

Not relevant to me and DW, since we are on Medicare - BUT one important (I think) comment:

In any of the individual (not employer) plans, an annual change (usually an increase :( ) is (or can be) a combination of at least two factors:

1. The plan itself has changed (usually increased) pverall premiums; and

2. You are a year older and the age factor may change.

It is both unfair and incorrect to just look at your premium changes from one year to the next. The correct way is to compare premiums for the same age.
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LadyGeek
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (health insurance premiums).
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Alan S.
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Re: Health Care for 2018, Curious About Other's Increases

Post by Alan S. »

UHC MA HMO plan.

2018 premium up from 46 per month to 47 per month

RX
Tier 1 To 4/month from 2/month
Tier 2 To 12/month from 8/month
Tiers 3-5 Annual Deductible to 245 from 220.
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