In 2013, I paid $3,600 for a BC/BS policy that cost a total of $17,600 for my family of four. My employer paid $14,000, or about 80% of the annual premium. Next year, my plan with BC/BS will cost me $6,100, and my employer will pay $24,400 (assuming the company still covers 80% of the premium) for a $30,500 policy.
I am worried that I will be assessed an excise tax of 40%, because my insurance policy will then cost over $23,000. Amazingly, my insurance will not only have jumped from $17,600 in one year to $30,500 the next year, but will likely jump to $42,700 annually if an excise tax is applied.
I’m not sure who pays the extra $12,200, me or my employer. I certainly can’t afford the extra cost, when I’m already dumping my kids’ music lessons in order to cover the additional $2,500. And if my employer is going to be asked to pay $36,600 to cover me, then he will likely just dump BC/BS entirely.
So much for Obama’s promise: “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”
For my 2013 policy, I moved from the high-premium, low-copay plan I had the year before, to a low-premium, high-copay plan. It wasn’t just a high-copay plan, it was a plan that required me to pay the entire cost of doctor visits and prescriptions until I hit the maximum out-of-pocket expense. In other words, it was a catastrophic healthcare plan.
When I went to the drug store to fill a prescription, the clerk noticed the $0.00 copay printed on the receipt, and she said, “Wow! You’ve got great insurance!” I informed her that, no, the reason it was $0.00 at the register was because the full cost was coming directly out of my medical savings account.
Since healthcare available through the exchanges costs considerably more than advertised and provides considerably less than expected, I may have to risk going without insurance and just paying the fine. Indeed, the fine of 2.5% of my annual salary would be less than paying out-of-pocket for doctors, drugs, and a catastrophic insurance policy. I would just continue to pay out of pocket for routine events, and then just show up at the ER for anything major, just like all the illegal aliens do. Stick that in your crack pipe and smoke it, Obama!
With Obamacare fully implemented, I would indeed be saving “up to $2,500 a year” on my family’s premium, because I wouldn’t have any health insurance at all.
Wouldn’t it be nice if, when employers drop their employee health plans, they just added that amount of salary back to their employees’ pay checks? After all, wages AND benefits were offered for our labor in the first place. Under Obamacare, it seems everyone expects to just lose the health benefits without compensation. I think I should see an increase of at least $14,000 if I am dropped from company healthcare plans. It is MY FAIR SHARE.
Premium Before Obamacare: 17600
Premium After Obamacare: 30500