re: Just got my letter from Blue Cross

Mine went up 51%. This is bs.

Wiltznucs

You likely have some very good points in here. But why do you feel the need to skew with exec salaries? You know that is only a small incremental cost as it relates to premiums or cost of services...or am I wrong?

quote:

---

Just got the letter from my employer. 2 options..

1) keep your premium as is ($70/month), but your deductible increases to $3500 from $1500

2) keep your deductible at $1500 but your premium goes up to about $100/month.

60/40 coverage

---

Tough call, but if you're reasonably healthy, pocket the $30 savings every month until you need it down the road.

quote:

---

Tough call, but if you're reasonably healthy, pocket the $30 savings every month until you need it down the road.

---

yeah, that's what I was leaning towards..in the 5, 6 years I've had this plan, I can count the number of times on one hand that I've had to see the doctor

quote:

---

united

---

I have United and it has been really good to my wife and me. It's been way easier to deal with than BCBS ever was, and I'm paying less out of pocket too. If it's offered to you, get the flexible spending account. I'm not sure what our premiums are, because my employer pays them.

The CEO of HCA made $17M last year. In truth, that's pennies in the bucket when considering the entire healthcare market. I'll give you that. I make the example because it's true of not only him but also the CEO's in Pharma, Devices, Insurance, Hospital Execs, etc. Then there's the money returned to investors in the form of dividends. The point is that there are billions of dollars that could be used to provide care which are instead paying for something that may not be actually adding value.

Healthcare costs are driven by numerous factors. I don't want to minimize that as I highlighted only a few. There is no easy fix, make no mistake about it.

quote:

---

Ted Cruz wasn't even in the Senate when they passed the ACA

---

Look, you said that there was no way the bill could get influenced because the Dems had a super majority. I'm saying there were other ways to skin a cat. He was a Senator and he tried a fake filibuster to defund the Act in 2013. He was grandstanding for himself and admitted as much. He couldn't ultimately block the bill but he used the deficit ceiling as leverage to pass a revised version of the ACA. The government shutdown hurt a lot of people because 1 million government employees got furloughed indefinitely and permits weren't issued for businesses who needed them to function. That was his leverage and that's just two of the ways to skin this cat, that's all I was saying.

quote:

---

The CEO of HCA made $17M last year. In truth, that's pennies in the bucket when considering the entire healthcare market. I'll give you that. I make the example because it's true of not only him but also the CEO's in Pharma, Devices, Insurance, Hospital Execs, etc. Then there's the money returned to investors in the form of dividends. The point is that there are billions of dollars that could be used to provide care which are instead paying for something that may not be actually adding value.

---

I'm not sure what is confusing about this. Insurance companies exist to provide a return on capital to investors, or else investors (we, the public, who own mutual funds, collect pensions, etc.) wouldn't own shares. They are meant to serve as yield vehicles. They provide a service for policyholders in that they pool money together and deploy it as needed for medical purposes. That is the economic value.

I do agree with your sentiments that the lack of transparency on cost for the consumer is probably unparalleled.

You know how I know you're poor?

quote:

---

this shite needs to get fixed ASAP.

---

Agreed.....but Republicans will not allow tweaks to improve it.....as happened with social security.....Medicare........Obamacare is modeled after a conservative think tank plan.....Obama put that forward in an effort to work with conservatives.....liberals hated the plan from the start...with that said, my insurance as a self employed sole proprietor has gone up at the same rate as before Obama and I get better coverage than before....I am going to check out Obamacare this year to see if it saves me any money. If not, still not a bad price sticking with my private plan.