[Hoot Gibson]

Has anybody else's health costs skyrocketed? I currently have great coverage but on October 1, my plan changes to a high deductible, high out-of-pocket cost plan. Just as most of us intuitively expected, employees will be paying through the nose for Obamacare. But, hey, my premiums are going down slightly for the lousy coverage that I will receive.

[INDENT]

Higher health care bills ahead
Cost of medical benefits projected to jump next year, with premiums and out-of-pocket expenses rising more than 12

Workers can expect to pay hundreds of dollars more for their health care coverage next year.

In 2011, the combined average of premium and out-of-pocket costs for health care coverage for an employee is projected to climb to $4,386, according to an annual study by Hewitt Associates to be released this week. That's a 12.4 percent increase, or $486, over this year.

Companies, meanwhile, will see their health insurance costs go up nearly 9 percent, to an annual tab of $9,821 per employee, or double the employer's annual worker tab from nine years ago, according to Lincolnshire-based Hewitt.

[/INDENT]

[BillyB]

No more than normal.

[Hoot Gibson]

No more than normal.

If you work in the private sector and have not had your benefits cut and/or your costs increased, your turn is coming soon. Of course, federal employees will be the last ones affected, and elected officials will be the very last ones to take a hit.

[Old School]

Is it 2011 when the government starts counting company paid insurance premiums as incomeand becomes taxable?

[Hoot Gibson]

Is it 2011 when the government starts counting company paid insurance premiums as incomeand becomes taxable?

I'm not sure, Old School. What I am sure of, though, is that Obama and company will be touting lower premiums in 2012 (or bending the curve for premiums) and ignoring the total cost of health care to employees.

Beginning next month, I am putting $350 a month into a new medical savings plan, of which my employer will match about $70. I am doing so to help pay my new $5,000 + family deductible but I am afraid that it will still not be enough. Premiums are just the tip of a gigantic iceberg waiting to destroy the quality of medical care in this country.

Whether companies slash medical benefits or put a hold on pay increases, one way or another all employees will pay for Obama's wrecking of our health care system.

[Matman]

If you work in the private sector and have not had your benefits cut and/or your costs increased, your turn is coming soon. Of course, federal employees will be the last ones affected, and elected officials will be the very last ones to take a hit.

I am a federal employee and mine went up about 10%.

[Hoot Gibson]

I am a federal employee and mine went up about 10%.

You are lucky. I have not sat down and try to get a handle on my increased cost but I worked as a contractor in Mississippi for a year and paid for all of my insurance costs except for $300/month. I suspect that my current employer-provided plan will end up costing me much more out of pocket than I paid as a contractor. The reason for my comment on federal employees is that Obama and the Democrats depend on a heavy majority of federal employees voting to keep them in office. They will hold the rate of increase down more for federal employees than for private sector employees.

What burns me up is that we will never really know the true cost increases because there are so many ways for employers and the federal government to stick their hands into our pockets. Taxes, wage cuts, benefit cuts, higher deductible insurance plans - the feds have a big bag of tricks when it comes to obscuring the cost of their blunders.

[Matman]

It just eats me up that everyone pays the same under each plan. I pay the same as people who are 100 plus pounds over weight, smoke 2 packs a day, drink heavily, and eat McDonalds 21 times a week. I believe in a tax for obesity or tax breaks for healthy adults.

[Wildcatk23]

It just eats me up that everyone pays the same under each plan. I pay the same as people who are 100 plus pounds over weight, smoke 2 packs a day, drink heavily, and eat McDonalds 21 times a week. I believe in a tax for obesity or tax breaks for healthy adults.

I had to pay a 200$ visitor fee last night at the hospital because my dads insurance doesnt recognize me or some bull crap. Some heavy set dude beside of me who came in after me with a stubbed finger with a big medical card goes in before me and leaves before they call my name. Here i am with a fever of 103.7 with strep throat.

[BillyB]

If you work in the private sector and have not had your benefits cut and/or your costs increased, your turn is coming soon. Of course, federal employees will be the last ones affected, and elected officials will be the very last ones to take a hit.

Small group health care insurance has increased between about 10% and 20% each year for several years now -- long before HCR. We have had to switch among carriers to keep the increases manageable.

[BillyB]

Is it 2011 when the government starts counting company paid insurance premiums as incomeand becomes taxable?

The amount of the premium is included in the W-2 but is not taxable income.

[Old School]

The amount of the premium is included in the W-2 but is not taxable income.

My understanding is that if my employer let's say paid $500 dollars a month for my insurance coverage, that at the end of the year $6,000 dollars would appear on my W-2 as added income and would be taxed at that time.

[CatDawg]

I understand why you would be upset over the 200 dollars for the ER visit and understand why you went. However, one of the main problems with health care cost is individuals using the ER for a stubbed finger and for a fever. I'm sure you went due to the time and it being that high of a temp. However, if one would utilize urgent cares when and where available it would certainly keep cost down due to the amount that ERs charge. If I would have had the 103.7 temp at night I would have done the same thing so don't think I'm calling you out on it. I was just saying that some will have a fever all day not go to their doc or a urgent care then that night go to the ER.

[Wildcatk23]

I understand why you would be upset over the 200 dollars for the ER visit and understand why you went. However, one of the main problems with health care cost is individuals using the ER for a stubbed finger and for a fever. I'm sure you went due to the time and it being that high of a temp. However, if one would utilize urgent cares when and where available it would certainly keep cost down due to the amount that ERs charge. If I would have had the 103.7 temp at night I would have done the same thing so don't think I'm calling you out on it. I was just saying that some will have a fever all day not go to their doc or a urgent care then that night go to the ER.

I agree. I have put off and put off this strep throat of mine. I have took meds for 3 days trying to let i tpass. but when it got to the point i couldnt swallow liquids i had to go.

[CatDawg]

Don't blame you a bit. Good Luck and hope you feel better soon.

[BillyB]

My understanding is that if my employer let's say paid $500 dollars a month for my insurance coverage, that at the end of the year $6,000 dollars would appear on my W-2 as added income and would be taxed at that time.

You're right until the last part. It's reported but is not added to taxable income.

[Old School]

You're right until the last part. It's reported but is not added to taxable income.

I sure hope your right.

[Hoot Gibson]

I am surprised that Boeing is doing this before the election. This is not going to make President Obama very happy and Boeing is advertising heavily in the DC area trying to land a large contract for a new tanker plane. I hope that Obama and the Democrats do not throw a fit and award the contract to the French out of spite.

[INDENT]

Citing health care law, Boeing pares employee plan

WASHINGTON – The big aircraft maker Boeing Co. says "cost pressures" from the new health care law are part of the reason it's asking employees to pay more for their medical benefits next year.

In a letter mailed to employees late last week, Boeing said deductibles and copayments are going up significantly for some 90,000 nonunion workers.

[/INDENT]

[Old School]

I found this bit of news buried inside the link posted by Hoot.

Beginning January 1, 2011, more than 15,000 over-the-counter (OTC) health care items will require a prescription (and that means a doctor’s visit) for tax-free reimbursement.

Under Obamacare, OTC drugs cannot be reimbursed tax-free from Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) without a government bureaucrat-required permission slip.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen…if you want to be reimbursed for your OTC purchases through your HSA or FSA you will be required to see your doctor first.
A partial list of OTC categories is below:
Acid Controllers
Allergy and Sinus medicine
Antibiotics
Anti-Diarrheals
Anti-Gas Products
Anti-Itch and Insect Bite
Anti-Parasitic Treatments
Baby Rash Ointments/Creams
Cold Sore Remedies
Cough, Cold, and Flu
Digestive Aids
Motion Sickness
Pain Relievers
Respiratory Treatments
Stomach Remedies

[SKINNYPIG]

Small group health care insurance has increased between about 10% and 20% each year for several years now -- long before HCR. We have had to switch among carriers to keep the increases manageable.

But the point is that health care costs were supposed to go down according to Barry & Nancy. One would have to have been pretty gullible to believe it though. I for one was not a sucker. I knew mine would go up and it did.

[Hoot Gibson]

But the point is that health care costs were supposed to go down according to Barry & Nancy. One would have to have been pretty gullible to believe it though. I for one was not a sucker. I knew mine would go up and it did.

Exactly. The same people will pay to provide health care to those too poor or too lazy to pay for it themselves - you and me.

The difference is that the federal government will now be taking a cut to pay for the additional bureaucracy, so the cost of our insurance will go up and the quality of our care will drop. Eventually, if Republicans do not reverse course on Obamacare, private insurance will become rare and most of us will be dependent on the federal government for coverage.

Democrats thrive by making an increasing number of people dependent on big government and then telling them that Republicans want to take their freebies away from them. It is the only way that their candidates know how to get elected.

[RunItUpTheGut]

My rates to have sky rocketed, get this.....

two years ago i paid $2.67 a week for health insurance that came with a $15 copay and then i had to pay 5% of medical expenses.....sometimes, not always. I absoloutly loved this as most of you can see why.....

But...2 years ago my company went with the dreaded HSA, with a $2500 deductible or $5000 for a family!!!!!
This was a huge change and some of the employees in my company, factory workers for example only make 25,000 a year so if something went bad wrong then they were out 20% of there yearly wages in one lick, i was so disgusted with this move that i am leaving the company i work for when i graduate with another degree in may.

[Wildcatk23]

I had to fill out some insurance papers today that allows me to stay on my parents insurance until in 26 i believe.

[RunItUpTheGut]

I had to fill out some insurance papers today that allows me to stay on my parents insurance until in 26 i believe.

you're a lucky man, id say within the next few years insurance companies wont allow any kids over 18 to be on their parents insurances anymore without a ridiculous price.

[Hoot Gibson]

Obamacare is designed to put private insurance companies out of business and to force everybody to accept a single payer system, with the federal government being that single payer.

Young people will benefit while they are young and not paying federal income taxes but they need to understand that liberals are driving costs up and handing the bill to everybody who does pay federal income taxes. If you plan to ever have a successful career, then you should fight Obamacare tooth and nail. That means never voting for a Democrat running for national office - at least until Obamacare is repealed.

A vote for a Democratic candidate for the US Senate is a vote for Harry Reid or some other liberal Democrat to do Obama's bidding, and a vote for a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives is a vote approving what Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congress have done for Obama.

If you want the economy fixed, do not vote for a Democrat running for national office - no matter how good of a person you think that (s)he is. Obamacare is the single biggest reason that businesses are still not hiring, more than a year after the end of the recession.

[Old School]

I watched one news report where a small business owner said in 2009 he spent $178,000 per year on to provide insurance to his 49 full time employees and was told to expect that amount to raise by 35% to 40% in 2011. He said his plan was to pay the $2,000 fine which would cost him $98,000, and then divide the remaining $80,000 among the employees, then have his employees buy their own insurance.

[RunItUpTheGut]

I watched one news report where a small business owner said in 2009 he spent $178,000 per year on to provide insurance to his 49 full time employees and was told to expect that amount to raise by 35% to 40% in 2011. He said his plan was to pay the $2,000 fine which would cost him $98,000, and then divide the remaining $80,000 among the employees, then have his employees buy their own insurance.

Just about all of the small business owners are going to do this. My company will do this as well.
How stupid can the government be to make it to where you can pay a fine and get out of it easily. Why wouldnt every company do this?
It's not going to help the people at all.

[nky]

Just about all of the small business owners are going to do this. My company will do this as well.
How stupid can the government be to make it to where you can pay a fine and get out of it easily. Why wouldn't every company do this?
It's not going to help the people at all.

They will and the private insurance companies will go out of business and viola government owned single payer Health insurance and care.
But less ignore all those who will lose their jobs in the destroying of the Health Insurance Industry since they work for an evil for profit company

[Old School]

They will and the private insurance companies will go out of business and viola government owned single payer Health insurance and care.
But less ignore all those who will lose their jobs in the destroying of the Health Insurance Industry since they work for an evil for profit company

You're exactly right, I believe that Barry wanted a single payer system all along, he knows this plan will not work.

[RunItUpTheGut]

They will and the private insurance companies will go out of business and viola government owned single payer Health insurance and care.
But less ignore all those who will lose their jobs in the destroying of the Health Insurance Industry since they work for an evil for profit company

Exactly :Thumbs: