[quote=meadandale][quote=bearishgurl][quote=enron_by_the_sea] . . . Like it or not – the future of our healthcare is HSA+HDHP and some bargaining with your favorite doctor.
I am in the 5th stage of Anger-Denial-Bargaining-Depression-Acceptance cycle of this issue. Most of the country seems to be in stages 2 and 3.[/quote]
enron, I don’t have an HSA, but have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) which I used to think was “affordable.”[/quote]
If you have a HDHP it is likely an HSA qualifying plan…in which case you would be foolish not to take advantage of this and contribute pretax dollars to your HSA account that you can then use for any of your health related expenses. The annual max contribution is now almost $3k. If you have a plan with a deductible in the $3-4k range, one year of contributions gives you basically all the money you’d need to pay the deductible in the event you have a major health event (hospitalization, etc).[/quote]
enron, my carrier has two similar HSA-compatible plans to mine and I can “convert” to one if I wish. They are slightly more expensive (probably due to bookkeeping tasks with the HSA). When I recently got my 60-day notice of my 10/1/10 rate hike, I was told that I could change to an even higher-deductible plan to keep about the same rate as before, but, under the new health-care reform act, I was “grandfathered” into my old plan (6 yrs now) and if I left, there was no guarantee of ever getting the same deal back with the current benefits promised in my policy. They stated they reserved the right to change plan configurations for new plan applicants to meet the requirements of health care reform. It also said that if I stepped down to a lesser plan, if I wanted a better plan later, I would have to “requalify” at that time so they could “price me properly.”
The type of form letter I received was sent to ALL longtime individual policyholders with ALL US carriers.
I have a very low to non-existent tax rate, anyway, so the benefits of an HSA would probably be moot in my situation. Also, it wouldn’t take much out-of-pocket medical expense at all (over and above my premiums) to exceed 7.5% of my annual income, making nearly my entire deductible tax deductible :=)
[quote=equalizer]Simple fact to all questions on policy is that lobbyists wrote the bills and legally paid the Congress to pass the bills. Not hyberbole, c’est la vie.[/quote]
Yes, equalizer, insurance companies lobbied heavily for all the above provisions and more and Congress did not think they could get the bill to the President without their cooperation. I for one am very glad Congress didn’t provide (in the HCR Act) for the Federal goverment to “administer” or even try to contract “administration” of health plans. That would most certainly have been another horribly botched, mismanaged fiasco. Our “gubmint” is currently challenged in their attempts at navigating their way thru brown paper tunnels of their own making, as it is. Best to leave well-enough alone and let them focus on the messes they’ve already created :={
In the individual market, health care reform DOES NOT promise “affordable premiums” or premiums at a particular price point for an individual with pre-existing condition(s). It ONLY guarantees COVERAGE in an HDHP where they were previously denied. Even if a recent cancer survivor agrees to pay $1100-$1500 per month for their HDHP premium, insurance companies STILL do not want them, even at this rate level (6-8 months of brand-name chemotherapy can easily run north of $175K, not including doctor fees and any other treatment or surgery). The rest of us will STILL be required to (indirectly) supplement these new policyholders’ premiums (through frequent and systematic rate hikes), many of whom are now grabbing at ANY coverage available to them (because they CAN).
I can only surmise that in and after 2014, when people with pre-existing conditions might be entitled to more comprehensive and/or more affordable coverage, the individual rates for “healthier” people and groups will double or triple to make up the difference, forcing a lot of small businesses into the =<49 employee category to avoid paying the $2K per head fine for not offering medical plans to their workers.
