Anybody else's healthcare, deductibles, doctor visits, etc going up?

[kentuck]

We got our new healthplan costs yesterday at my workplace. Brand name drugs went up to $35 dollars from $20. Specialist visits went up from $20 to $35. Emergency room visits went up from $50 to $150.

Why? Do they anticipate some changes in healthcare once Obama is in office that might affect their earnings? Maybe we can give them a $trillion dollar bailout?

Anyone else seeing similar increases in medical plan?

[pitohui]

1. ours go up every year

that's sort of what triple/double digit inflation of health care costs MEANS

[sickinohio]

2. Yes - my daughter called me yesterday.

She was crying. She said they had good news, and bad news. My son-in-law got a 70 cent raise per hour, BUT the catch is, their amount that they now have to pay for their health care went up higher than the total of the raise each month, along with the deductible!! I do not know how people are going to keep up, especially people like them that have small children, elderly people that rely on Medicare, etc, etc. This is all very sad.

[Epiphany4z]

3. ours goes up every january and

the husbands boss switches insurance companies like every 2 years...so one year my meds are 10..the next they are 40 then 2 yrs later they are 15...we hear rumors this years switch is really going to cost us..to the point that it may not be worth it for us to keep it...I am really worried as a diabetic..in not so good of health.

[Vinca]

4. Can I get on your health plan? It's a deal from my perspective.

[bikesein]

5. They routinely did in the past

This year we started a high deductible plan with a Health Savings Account. In years past an increase in co-pays and premiums was standard nearly every year. That then led the company to hunt around and change plans often.

This plan has its downside since we have to pay $4,000 out of pocket before the insurance campany pays a dime. However with chronic medications and some in patient treatment thrown in I think we are ahead of our personal health expenses from last year. There is also a tax deduction on the money spent on healthcare, although I am not quite sure how that will work on the tax form. I have not heard if the actual premium is going up this next year or not.

[Another Bill C.]

6. My Humana/Medicare went up

by $28.00 per month. That's about 1/2 of my Social Security cost-of-living raise for next year. The hospital co-pay went from $625 to $950. The other co-pays went up, too.

[Captiosus]

7. My wife's copays have doubled, and...

Her employer switched insurances "mid-term" because the insurance carrier they had before had become too "cost prohibitive".

This turned into a 4 month journey into hell because the former insurance carrier wouldn't provide certificates of credible coverage to any of the employees. My wife, who has gout, hypertension and hyperthyroidism, had to see doctors for her medications, but the new insurance called her issue a preexisting condition and we were left holding the bag.

Four months of fighting with her former insurance company got us nowhere and now one of her new doctors is threatening legal action against us unless we pay in full because her new insurance company, who has finally started accepting claims for her conditions, won't accept the claims over the last 4 months.

Sigh.