22.6% increase in Health Insurance Premium.

Wow is the United States' healthcare system ever a mess. I don't mean this to criticize you, but when we start saying our premium "only" increased 12% annually, it really reinforces how expensive healthcare in the U.S. is for nigh everyone.

My concern is that we get to a point where we have an advanced healthcare system, but only the wealthy can afford it (yes I know some already believe we have arrived).

I believe Ohio is actually fighting any of the exchanges, if I'm correct we won't have any help in this area.

The health system is a mess in the U.S. its unaffordable. My dad needed an operation has health insurance got a quote deductible 4 grand and the rest they would pay it (and I still think there would be fees other than the 4 grand). We live on the border it only cost him $1 grand (no deductible the grand total). This year the rate went up again only covering my mom (we took ourselfs out) this year and hoping that Obamacare will really make health insurance affordable. As the poster above mentioned it seems only the rich can afford health insurance. As for the OP I am hoping that Obamacare will truly make health insurance affordable thats what my dad is going to wait for as well.

My company pays $500K a year for employee health. It has increased between 10 - 17% for the previous 5 years. We have switched carriers 3 times to get better rates. We have declined to cheapen our benefits but we may have to because we are going to get with a huge increase in july.

I guess I'm lucky at 22.6%. Some people are getting 25%.

I'm really worried about what ours is going to be next year. We high some high utilization last year and will have more this year (despite us having the average age of 35 or so).

Curious which BCBS plan you have, trav.

Everything is a mess in this country

Health insurance is out of whack, but I don't believe that correlates to the healthcare in the US being a mess. If you want that 22% or whatever shifted to your taxes feel free to move to country with health care subsidized fully or mostly by the central govt.
You should hear the stories from my colleagues over in Europe or Canada. They have extremely long waits for certain care and on top of that don't have the option to out of pocket pay for the expense since the money was taxed out of them up front.
If you have issues with a high cost, just negotiate with the service provider (physician, hospital, lab). They are usually willing to work with you and able to come to a much lower payment if paid upfront cash.
Also, this last year there was a big push to have large increases on the low deductible plans. You could also look into a high deductible plan if that is an option to lower your premiums. The high deductible plans had smaller increases as companies are trying to push their people to these plans.

Let's all have a collective moment of honesty and clarity here for a minute. There is no "health" insurance in this country nor in the majority of the developed world. It's sickness, disease and acute injury coverage. The only real health ins occurs when you pay someone to keep you healthy like in Ayurvedic or TCM. I'm talking if you get sick, you don't pay. Allopathy has failed, not political policy.

22%? You're lucky. Mine went up 50%

I had to go to a plan with a higher deductible in order to keep my costs the same.

Quote from gpister : The health system is a mess in the U.S. its unaffordable. My dad needed an operation has health insurance got a quote deductible 4 grand and the rest they would pay it (and I still think there would be fees other than the 4 grand). We live on the border it only cost him $1 grand (no deductible the grand total). This year the rate went up again only covering my mom (we took ourselfs out) this year and hoping that Obamacare will really make health insurance affordable. As the poster above mentioned it seems only the rich can afford health insurance. As for the OP I am hoping that Obamacare will truly make health insurance affordable thats what my dad is going to wait for as well.

I feel your pain.

Seriously, if I need anything done that is even remotetly elective I'm getting it done outside of the US. I have worldwild helicopter evacuation coverage. Most people would use something like that to bring them back to the US for medical treatment. I'll use it to get me out of the US for medical care.

Anyone along the Mexican border would be far better served going into Mexico than staying in the US. For the cost of the copayment alone, you can pay for the entire treatment. I only have health insurance in the US for catastrophic care.

Here's my little example. My dad fell and cut his lip a couple of years ago. Insurance covered most of it but the insurance company sent us a statement of how much they had to pay the hospital. It was like $36,000. I had a similar injury in the jungle in Thailand this year. I got far better medical care than my dad did. I was with him in the emergency room. In Thailand, they gave me the full 5 person trauma team which personally I thought was going overboard but what can you do. How much did it cost me? $102. That was far far less than my dad's copay for his care. That $102 included the initial ER care, all take home medication/supplies and 5 days worth of daily follow up visits and wound cleanings. They were really concerned that I would have a scar and wanted to do anything to prevent it. The hospital I went to in Thailand made my dad's hospital back in the US look third world. I'm not saying that that level of care should be $102 in the US, but it definitely should not be $36,000. The cost of living in Thailand is not 36000% less than in the US. Something is very wrong with our health care system.

Quote from jostle : Health insurance is out of whack, but I don't believe that correlates to the healthcare in the US being a mess. If you want that 22% or whatever shifted to your taxes feel free to move to country with health care subsidized fully or mostly by the central govt. You should hear the stories from my colleagues over in Europe or Canada. They have extremely long waits for certain care and on top of that don't have the option to out of pocket pay for the expense since the money was taxed out of them up front. If you have issues with a high cost, just negotiate with the service provider (physician, hospital, lab). They are usually willing to work with you and able to come to a much lower payment if paid upfront cash. Also, this last year there was a big push to have large increases on the low deductible plans. You could also look into a high deductible plan if that is an option to lower your premiums. The high deductible plans had smaller increases as companies are trying to push their people to these plans.

I have completely different direct experience. I needed to see a dermatologist here in the US. It took 3 months to get an appointment. I saw a dermatologist in Thailand. I got an appointment within the hour. I got a blood test here in the US. It took 3 weeks to get the results. I got a blood test in China. Took 3 mins to get the results. I've gotten a MRI in Buenos Aires. In the US, it took 3 weeks to schedule one for my grandma. In Buenos Aires, I had to wait until the next morning because I showed up at 5pm and they had already shutdown the machine. They were most apologetic for having to make me wait until the next morning.

The thing you are missing is that we already subsidize medical care. We just do it through the ER. The most inefficient and costly way to do it. Other countries that once had US styled health care and have switched to universal care pay a fraction of the health care costs that we do. Look at previous health care threads were I've posted all the links to back this up. The US health care system is the least efficient of any in the world.

Quote from barnz008 : Curious which BCBS plan you have, trav.

Quote from hottnucks : 22%? You're lucky. Mine went up 50% I had to go to a plan with a higher deductible in order to keep my costs the same.

Now I'm on the highest deductible one they offer. 2 years ago when I switched to this one my deductible was a quarter of what I have now. Yet now, I'm paying more than I did for that far lower deductible plan 2 years ago. I don't even want to think how high that plan is now. I can't move to a higher deductible plan. No longer an option. They have no higher deductible plan.