Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Not to be political...but the elephant in the room...health care reform
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="hearts and roses" data-source="post: 350088" data-attributes="member: 2211"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: darkslateblue">Just a comment about the rising costs of private health insurance. I am the administrator and work with our agents/brokers every year trying to determine which policy is best for our employees. We're a 12 person company but only about half take advantage of our coverage and we're spread over 3 states, which makes it very difficult to do comparative/ competitive shopping for policies unless we're using one of the big companies such as Blue Cross/Anthem or United Healthcare (Oxford) and because we're also such a small company, that presents issues all on its own. We used to go through our local Chamber of Commerce to secure decent rates, however, in the long run that has proven to be worthless. We average facing between a 9% and 15% rate hike each year buying private health insurance, if we buy the traditional point of service plan with a primary Dr and stay within network - we will only pay co-pays. The higher the premiums, the lower the co-pays. The lower the premium, the higher the co-pays and, very often, the lower the coverage. Our annual premium costs for this year, had we remained on the same plan, would have been a total of $125,000 for 6 employees (only 4 with family coverage). out of that the company pays 80%, which is almost unheard of these days, and the employees cover the other 20% premium costs. And now, with the change in laws covering children, dependent or not, until age 26, that means that many of us currently with family coverage will be on the hook longer than expected. myself included. Younger people simply cannot find jobs that have medical coverage anymore. difficult child is what is called Long Term Temporary employee and she's paid through a temp agency. Her contract says she can be with the company for up to 3 years and the only way she will get coverage is if she purchases it through the agency at a very high price. easy child is in a similar boat. Therefore, they are remaining on my policy.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: darkslateblue">This year, our company has decided to go with a high deductible plan ($2000 singles/$4000 families) and our company is funding what is called a Health Savings Account (HSA). Unlike a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), the HSA belongs to the employee and as long as she is spending the money on medically related costs, it's her money and if she leaves the company, she can take that money with her. The other beauty about an HSA/FSA is that it is pretax dollars, you can use it to buy things like aspirin. However, you must keep impeccable records and save all reciepts because the account can be audited if it's suspected that you are abusing the account and not using it to buy medically related items. If our company was not funding the account, this would not be a change I am in favor of, because really, how the heck would I be able to pay out of pocket $4000 to cover my annual deductible? Huh!</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: darkslateblue">What I have read so far and covered in my social welfare class is that 'in the long run', the healthcare reforms will actually save the country money. Initially, from an economic viewpoint, this reform seems like a nightmare. However, if it goes as planned and works out the way it's been shaped to work out, it will not bankrupt our country and in fact, it may help bring us back into the black. Now if we could just stop</span></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: darkslateblue">spending a gazillion dollars for the war, we'd be well on our way to recovery as a nation. Wouldn't that be nice?</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hearts and roses, post: 350088, member: 2211"] [SIZE=3][COLOR=darkslateblue]Just a comment about the rising costs of private health insurance. I am the administrator and work with our agents/brokers every year trying to determine which policy is best for our employees. We're a 12 person company but only about half take advantage of our coverage and we're spread over 3 states, which makes it very difficult to do comparative/ competitive shopping for policies unless we're using one of the big companies such as Blue Cross/Anthem or United Healthcare (Oxford) and because we're also such a small company, that presents issues all on its own. We used to go through our local Chamber of Commerce to secure decent rates, however, in the long run that has proven to be worthless. We average facing between a 9% and 15% rate hike each year buying private health insurance, if we buy the traditional point of service plan with a primary Dr and stay within network - we will only pay co-pays. The higher the premiums, the lower the co-pays. The lower the premium, the higher the co-pays and, very often, the lower the coverage. Our annual premium costs for this year, had we remained on the same plan, would have been a total of $125,000 for 6 employees (only 4 with family coverage). out of that the company pays 80%, which is almost unheard of these days, and the employees cover the other 20% premium costs. And now, with the change in laws covering children, dependent or not, until age 26, that means that many of us currently with family coverage will be on the hook longer than expected. myself included. Younger people simply cannot find jobs that have medical coverage anymore. difficult child is what is called Long Term Temporary employee and she's paid through a temp agency. Her contract says she can be with the company for up to 3 years and the only way she will get coverage is if she purchases it through the agency at a very high price. easy child is in a similar boat. Therefore, they are remaining on my policy.[/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][COLOR=darkslateblue]This year, our company has decided to go with a high deductible plan ($2000 singles/$4000 families) and our company is funding what is called a Health Savings Account (HSA). Unlike a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), the HSA belongs to the employee and as long as she is spending the money on medically related costs, it's her money and if she leaves the company, she can take that money with her. The other beauty about an HSA/FSA is that it is pretax dollars, you can use it to buy things like aspirin. However, you must keep impeccable records and save all reciepts because the account can be audited if it's suspected that you are abusing the account and not using it to buy medically related items. If our company was not funding the account, this would not be a change I am in favor of, because really, how the heck would I be able to pay out of pocket $4000 to cover my annual deductible? Huh![/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][COLOR=darkslateblue]What I have read so far and covered in my social welfare class is that 'in the long run', the healthcare reforms will actually save the country money. Initially, from an economic viewpoint, this reform seems like a nightmare. However, if it goes as planned and works out the way it's been shaped to work out, it will not bankrupt our country and in fact, it may help bring us back into the black. Now if we could just stop[/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][COLOR=darkslateblue]spending a gazillion dollars for the war, we'd be well on our way to recovery as a nation. Wouldn't that be nice?[/COLOR][/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Not to be political...but the elephant in the room...health care reform
Top