That sucks. But it isn't the fault of the ACA.
Does the employer paid portion for health and welfare include things other
than just health insurance?
I really don't see why anyone in the USA doesn't see the benefit of having
a single-payer healthcare system like the majority of other western
countries.
We retired to Mexico. If we're in the states, we get medicare coverage,
just as anyone else, at the same prices as anyone else. But frankly, Mexico
has a better deal for health insurance, even though we're only legal
residents, not citizens.
You really don't want to know how low the cost is.
But here's a comparison, from the dental side: My dentist here is young,
well credentialed, (attractive, too, but that's just a bonus) and has a
state-of-the-art office and equipment. Total cost, with no insurance
involved, to replace two old fillings and do a new one, including x-rays,
was about $140 (and I might be misremembering that, and guesstimating too
*high*). X-rays were made on the spot, using digital equipment connected to
her laptop. By comparison, the dental insurance, alone, through our jobs,
was $100/month (for two of us) and only covered a portion of the costs of
approximately $300/filling (but one x-ray was free, big whoop). My wife had
a dental action plan in the US, designed by her dentist there, for a fair
amount of work. It could be accomplished here for less than the annual
insurance premium alone in the US, which is why we cancelled our dental
insurance there well before retirement.
In general, most medical care here in Baja is excellent. Drug prices are
very low, prescriptions aren't required for many things where they *are*
required in the states. Surgical care is comparable enough that people in
southern California are known to take "medical vacations" to border towns
to get surgeries performed at a fraction of the cost of the states, plus
stay in a great hotel while they're recovering.
But those are the evils of socialism, y'know. :-)
On Mon, Dec 5, 2016 at 3:38 PM Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Sorry for the cost. I am curious: Is that an employer-provided plan or
> > exchange-provided? The former isn't ACA (although must be, at minimum,
> ACA
> > compliant), the latter is ACA.
>
> Employer-provided. The package is so bad that the VP of HR got canned
> last year as a result. Unfortunately, the new VP didn't fix it and
> it's even worse. And for 2017, we made some adjustments to our own
> selection, so family deductible is $12,000 before insurance kicks in a
> dime.
>
> So, I just looked at my benefits information. As 2016 isn't complete
> yet, I have to bop back to 2015 as a guide. The employer portion for
> health and wellness was $14,651. My contribution was $4325. For 2016,
> my contribution has increased to $6561. So, JUST for insurance, this
> family of four is paying over $20,000 (yes, it's part of my pay
> package so I'm paying for it). Our out-of-pocket, so far is almost
> $5000 and not a dime of insurance has been paid yet, as we haven't
> even hit a deductable.
>
> I was careful not to count the HSA dollars in there as that's factored
> into the out-of-pocket side of things.
>
> So, yes, 2016 is on target to being a $25,000 medical cost year and
> insurance hasn't paid one single dime. And we've been pretty healthy.
>
> I'm not feeling too kindly at this moment. That congress made a big
> deal out of some female college student who wanted free birth control
> pills makes me a bit angry when I see how much I'm paying and getting
> nothing. The only way to look at this is that we have catastrophic
> coverage and that's it.
>
> AG
> --
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