Health insurance increases 24.4% in one year for me....

[steve2470]

My medical insurer, Aetna, told me a few days ago that my monthly premiums will rise 24.4% from last year. I am self-employed. Is this a common experience ? To say I am livid is an understatement.

[madrchsod]

1. that`s what happened to big ed....

i never forget the day it happened. his entire radio show was devoted to the bs/bc company. when he found out all the exec`s went to the caribbean...well we know the rest.

[LiberalAndProud]

2. Yes. It is a common experience.

There is a built-in increase of 12%(+) every year for every demographic. Every five years you will age into a new demographic, which will increase your premium by an addition 10%(+).

The really bad thing, especially for micro businesses, is when you have two or more employees aging into a more expensive demographic in the same year.

We changed insurance carriers and thought we had taken care of the problem for one more year. Our new insurance company declared bankrupcty and their policies were then serviced by our old insurance company, and we got to pick from the policies they offered.

I opted out. The game is rigged.

[enid602]

3. inflation

I hope you´re not eligible for Social Security benifits, as these payments will go down somewhat, give the lack of inflation in the general economy. Just think how much your health insurance premiums would have gone up in inflationary times!!!

[Winterblues]

4. My wife just turned sixty and her insurance went up 38%

and the deductable also went up from one thousand to five thousand..American Health Care sucks..

[LiberalAndProud]

6. We are at the edge of the huge donut hole.

The very young, the elderly and the extremely poor are covered by government programs. The health insurance industry almost looks legitimate for the youthful. As we edge ever closer to Medicare eligibility, the insurance industry makes it clear that they no longer want us on their docket. I rue all the years I paid for thin air.

Buying insurance is a bet. When we buy it, we're betting that something bad will happen and the insurance company is betting that it won't. It's a poker game and the table is rigged in favor of the house.

[SteelPenguin]

5. Yes

If you are self employeed you get the brunt of it. Kinda funny as you're trying to be responsible but you get totally worked over because you're a lone guy. I'm the same way with my small business. If I want to provide competitive coverage to a large firm it costs me over 2,000 a month per employee. I can't really make them pay more than 400 a month, and even that is pretty steep, and that means I'm paying $1,600 a month per employee in health insurance...

So I just don't offer it. Well. I offer it, but I don't contribute towards it, and let my employees make their own decisions. This also means that hiring is brutal for me because I essentially can't offer any kind of real health benefits that my employees, or I, can afford. It's almost impossible for me to compete in hiring against larger competitors who can group with better health insurance rates.

When you're self employeed and have to get it yourself, done that as well, you're even more screwed. I was turned down before for so many different plans. I have a high BMI even though I'm not obese, the chart will tell you I am. That's what I get for being barrel chested I guess. The best I could do was a plan with a $10k deductible and low lifetime caps to keep it under $1000 a month just for me (my kids are on sChip).

Anyway yeah this is a common experieince.

I've always said, after being self employeed, moving from state to state while self employeed, and owning a small business and trying to arrange health are in all those ways...

If everyone had to purchase their own health care without the help of their employer, and without being allowed to group together to negotiate better rates, we'd have true Universal Health Insurance in this country inside of a year.