I'm wondering who else out there is getting screwed over on their health insurance. I have no idea how they can use the term "affordable" in the title Affordable Care Act. I just got my renewal notice for 2016. Our premium with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota took a 63% increase which equates to $590 more per month than it did this past year. They also increased our deductible about $500. Since the ACA implementation, our insurance has doubled and will be costing us over $23000.00 next year when I factor in a $4000 deductible on top of our $1600/month premium. I own my own business (resort) and am self employed, my wife is a self-employed contract mortgage underwriter. Both are full-time jobs, so having another full-time job that provides benefits isn't an option. Where we live, part-time positions are generally $8-12/hour and offer no benefits. It's almost to the point that I'm going to have to sell my business to get a full-time job that offers benefits in order to cover our health care costs.
We could raise our deductible, but with the new programs our options are limited. The higher deductible will lower our monthly premium, but if we have a lot of doctor visits or a surgery we will meet the deductible and the total overall cost will be about the same. Even though our two kids (1 & 4) are pretty healthy, there are almost always an unplanned visit to the doctor or ER when the clinic or Urgent Care isn't open. My wife may potentially need knee surgery this winter so the higher deductible will be reached with that anyway. We can enter into the MNSure marketplace to determine if we get a subsidy, but the way the system works in MN once we hit the "Submit" button we have to take what they give us. Which could potentially mean that the kids would be placed on medical assistance and only be able to go to a doctor or specialist that accepts medical assistance payments...that's not an option as far as I'm concerned.
I am so frustrated by this I can hardly see straight!
We could raise our deductible, but with the new programs our options are limited. The higher deductible will lower our monthly premium, but if we have a lot of doctor visits or a surgery we will meet the deductible and the total overall cost will be about the same. Even though our two kids (1 & 4) are pretty healthy, there are almost always an unplanned visit to the doctor or ER when the clinic or Urgent Care isn't open. My wife may potentially need knee surgery this winter so the higher deductible will be reached with that anyway. We can enter into the MNSure marketplace to determine if we get a subsidy, but the way the system works in MN once we hit the "Submit" button we have to take what they give us. Which could potentially mean that the kids would be placed on medical assistance and only be able to go to a doctor or specialist that accepts medical assistance payments...that's not an option as far as I'm concerned.
I am so frustrated by this I can hardly see straight!