My wife's company had a meeting today about the company insurance and here are the direct results of Obamacare. Up to this year the company would pay for my spouse's insurance and one spouse or dependent. Starting immediately because of rate increases to keep a dependent on the insurance it will be $500.00 a month, for a spouse $700.00, for a family plan $1400.00 a month. For the family plan my wife would lose half of her bring home pay each month just for insurance.

You won't be the last one, but I'm sorry that you got punched.

My wife's company had a meeting today about the company insurance and here are the direct results of Obamacare. Up to this year the company would pay for my spouse's insurance and one spouse or dependent. Starting immediately because of rate increases to keep a dependent on the insurance it will be $500.00 a month, for a spouse $700.00, for a family plan $1400.00 a month. For the family plan my wife would lose half of her bring home pay each month just for insurance.

 

The only thing definite about what you list is that employees now have to take on more of the cost. It doesn't tell us anything about what costs were before.

 

Insurance companies tell a company what the TOTAL premium will be for the various coverages for that employer. The employer then decides how much of that the employer will cover vs how much the employee has to pay.

 

So unless we know what the TOTAL cost to the employer was last year we cannot make any definitive statements.

 

However, if I were the employer I would definitely place the blame elsewhere.

For the record, I am NOT saying it has no impact.

My brother's company just went though the same thing.

 

Basically they were told they had a choice. If they wanted to keep their monthly cost the same, the plan would have to be modified to be more in line with Obamacare. If they wanted to keep their current benefits, they were going to have to pick up additional costs.

The only thing definite about what you list is that employees now have to take on more of the cost. It doesn't tell us anything about what costs were before.

 

Insurance companies tell a company what the TOTAL premium will be for the various coverages for that employer. The employer then decides how much of that the employer will cover vs how much the employee has to pay.

 

So unless we know what the TOTAL cost to the employer was last year we cannot make any definitive statements.

 

However, if I were the employer I would definitely place the blame elsewhere.

 

The other thing is, Obamacare does have protections put in place to help prevent Insurance companies from gouging customers. However, because many of these protections don't kick in until 2014, many insurance companies are making these huge increases now. Much of the uncertainty stems from the need to now cover folks with pre-existing conditions, and not knowing what the impact of those costs will be. Even so, if your rates rise more than 10%, they have to disclose why (the insurance company, not your employer). While there will be an impact cost wise, we just can't be sure what that impact will be. Many companies are using Obamacare as an excuse to get out from under some of the costs associated with providing healthcare insurance. Even if premiums were to not rise, it's not unusual for companies to raise the rates (actually the percentage the employee pays towards the actual premium) in an effort to reduce overall expenses. I suspect there is a little more to the story than just "Obamacare"...but Obamacare is a convenient scapegoat. And I've said it before, Obamacare is all about ACCESS to health insurance, not about reducing premiums. Costs are almost certain to rise, as people who haven't been insurable in the past, now have to have access.

 

In many of these cases, Obamacare may be the glove that's hitting you in the nose, but the Company is probably throwing the punch.

The other thing is, Obamacare does have protections put in place to help prevent Insurance companies from gouging customers. However, because many of these protections don't kick in until 2014, many insurance companies are making these huge increases now. Much of the uncertainty stems from the need to now cover folks with pre-existing conditions, and not knowing what the impact of those costs will be. Even so, if your rates rise more than 10%, they have to disclose why (the insurance company, not your employer). While there will be an impact cost wise, we just can't be sure what that impact will be. Many companies are using Obamacare as an excuse to get out from under some of the costs associated with providing healthcare insurance. Even if premiums were to not rise, it's not unusual for companies to raise the rates (actually the percentage the employee pays towards the actual premium) in an effort to reduce overall expenses. I suspect there is a little more to the story than just "Obamacare"...but Obamacare is a convenient scapegoat. And I've said it before, Obamacare is all about ACCESS to health insurance, not about reducing premiums. Costs are almost certain to rise, as people who haven't been insurable in the past, now have to have access.

 

In many of these cases, Obamacare may be the glove that's hitting you in the nose, but the Company is probably throwing the punch.

 

You are partially right about ACCESS. Obamacare is going to dramatically increase the cost of insurance to healthy Americans so that they can subsidize access for unhealthy Americans. It is another wealth redistibution tool.

 

Then in 2018, when the Cadilac tax kicks in it will get even worse. Benefits will either be reduced to stay under the 40% tax threshhold or employees will have to pay even more.

 

If it's so great why are so many organizations, both public and private, trying to get out of it?

 

Obamacare is going to absolutely increase the cost to healthy individuals.

 

Low cost/high deductable plans will be gone. People who have in the past selected high deductable insurances to protect themselves against a catastrophe, but have their premium be low, won't be able to get those plans anymore.

 

 

Ben Carson: Spiraling Obamacare Costs Should Make Americans 'Extraordinarily Worried'

 

Americans should be “extraordinarily worried” over the projected rising costs of healthcare under Obamacare, renowned pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson said on Wednesday.

 

“This was something that was supposed to bring the cost of healthcare down — and, of course, it’s had exactly the opposite effect,” Carson, who is retiring this summer as director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told Neil Cavuto on Fox News.

 

“The average family that has private insurance has already seen about a $2,500 increase, and there’s no reason to expect that that’s not going to continue to go up.

 

“As the insurance companies are penalized, they’re simply going to pass on the costs to consumers,” Carson added. “We can look for a long upward spiraling of costs.”

 

Recent studies have shown that Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, may not be affordable for many low-wage workers, including those at large chain restaurants, retail stores, and hotels.

 

Because of a wrinkle in the law, companies can meet their legal obligations by offering policies that would be too expensive for many low-wage workers, The Associated Press reports.

 

The company can get off the hook, corporate consultants and policy experts told the AP, but the employee might still be required by federal law to get health insurance or else risk fines.

 

But many low-income workers are expected to remain uninsured because Obamacare bars employees who have an offer of “affordable” workplace coverage from receiving new tax credits for private insurance — and that could be a better deal for middle-class workers, the AP reports.

I wish Obamacare was simply a system put in place to forbid price gouging and set regulations between insurance co's and providers. For instance, the provider needs to charge $40 for a role of tape because the contract is to pay 50% of AWP. However, the uninsured and under insured, don't get that contracted rate and are left with maybe a 5% discount.

Companies want no part of this monster. They are reducing their risk by putting more on the employees and probably would like to see a single payer system to get them out of the medical insurance function all together.

My wife's company had a meeting today about the company insurance and here are the direct results of Obamacare. Up to this year the company would pay for my spouse's insurance and one spouse or dependent. Starting immediately because of rate increases to keep a dependent on the insurance it will be $500.00 a month, for a spouse $700.00, for a family plan $1400.00 a month. For the family plan my wife would lose half of her bring home pay each month just for insurance.

 

It would be instructive to know what the rate increase actually is. When I was helping negotiate this sort of thing at my employer (long before Obamacare), the typical annual premium increase was in the 12-15% range.

 

If the actual increase wasn't anywhere near $500/$700/$1400, your company is doing the punching.

The owner of the company that funds my position told me a couple of weeks ago that his company's premiums increased 40% over the past year. It will be interesting to see whether Obamacare will actually result in more people having coverage or fewer. My guess is that costs will soar and about the same number of people will be covered as before, and liberals will blame Republicans for not providing more money for the program.

My wife's company had a meeting today about the company insurance and here are the direct results of Obamacare. Up to this year the company would pay for my spouse's insurance and one spouse or dependent. Starting immediately because of rate increases to keep a dependent on the insurance it will be $500.00 a month, for a spouse $700.00, for a family plan $1400.00 a month. For the family plan my wife would lose half of her bring home pay each month just for insurance.

Is the company still paying any of the premium?

Is the company still paying any of the premium?

 

For employees, but my understanding is the cost for employees went up to what it use to be to cover two people so they past the entire cost of a dependent/spouse on to the employee.

For employees, but my understanding is the cost for employees went up to what it use to be to cover two people so they past the entire cost of a dependent/spouse on to the employee.

The numbers just don't seem right to me so let me make sure I understand. It will cost X for your wife however the company is still covering that. In order for a child to be added it will cost an extra $500, for you to be added $700, or you could cover the whole family for $1400. So 1 child and spouse would be $1200 and a spouse and 2 or more kids would be $1400. That means the total family plan is $1400 plus what ever it costs for the employee.

 

I guess my point is that this sounds like the most expensive health care plan I've every heard of. I have always considered my insurance expensive. The yearly cost of a family plan is $18,200 (company pays 60%) and that only comes out to $1517/month total. It sounds like to me your wife's plan costs close to $2000/month.

The numbers just don't seem right to me so let me make sure I understand. It will cost X for your wife however the company is still covering that. In order for a child to be added it will cost an extra $500, for you to be added $700, or you could cover the whole family for $1400. So 1 child and spouse would be $1200 and a spouse and 2 or more kids would be $1400. That means the total family plan is $1400 plus what ever it costs for the employee.

 

I guess my point is that this sounds like the most expensive health care plan I've every heard of. I have always considered my insurance expensive. The yearly cost of a family plan is $18,200 (company pays 60%) and that only comes out to $1517/month total. It sounds like to me your wife's plan costs close to $2000/month.

 

That does sound like an insanely high amount. I pay a little under $600/month for a family of 5 and it includes vision, and dental. I used to manage my old companies plan, and we only paid 50% of the total premium (it was a small business), and I still paid right around $600 for a high deductible plan with dental and vision. In fact my rates have stayed roughly the same for the last 10 years (maybe a 5-10% increase over the last 10 year) and I've worked for 3 different companies, one small, one medium, and currently a very large company all with different health insurance providers. The only change is my rates from last year would occur if I (and my spouse) fail to complete several "healthy" actions, in which case we would get hit with a $400 per year surcharge. I would demand to see what the actual premium is and to know what percentage you are paying. It really sounds to me like you are getting hosed, and it has nothing to do with Obamacare.