BCBS health insurance renewals

I'd be interested in knowing what the enrollment expectations were when these rates were set. If they're based on everyone enrolling, but the younger & healthier people do not enroll, rates could be even higher in 2015. If they're a worst case scenario, rates could go down in 2015.

My guess is that this is just the tip of the iceberg for rate increases, and I would not be surprised if there's even less competition next year (where there is currently competition), and we'll be headed towards a single payer system. I think this is exactly what the Democrats are hoping for.

Just what we need - the government that would run out of sand if it was put in charge of the desert having complete say in our health care (like they're not heading that way anyway). :banghead:

 

So NOTHING I said was incorrect, but you just wanted to disagree. It was YOU who picked the argument with me. That makes a lot of sense now doesn't it?

 

Profit is not bad, but the seeking of only profit is not good either. For example, BCBS as a "nonprofit" continues to raise rates every year while giving away larger sums. To me it would be more logical to not raise the rates so high and not give away as much each year, thus keeping down healthcare costs, but that is just me. Did you happen to notice the percentage increase in executive salaries too?

 

It was a special circumstance in this particular user's (and maybe a few others) case. It is not required of everyone. Stop trying to make something out of nothing all the time. I had something similar happen while checking my credit score.

 

That is not unusual if you have ever checked your credit report online. Same procedure.

 

Would constant efforts to stop, defund, delay, obscure, obfuscate, deter, etc. since the very day it was proposed have anything to do with this? If we're being honest, we'll say 'probably, yes'.

 

I am most perplexed about the grandfathered issue. Two years back I remember getting a notice that stated my plan would be grandfathered as a compliant plan in the ACA. This was two years ago. I believe people had a chance to change their plans at the time to something that would be compliant, but I could be wrong. Making that move then might have cost them more at the time, but be better in the long run. I don't know if what we are seeing is folks who did not act upon that and 'let it ride' so to speak and are not being forced into something more costly.

 

What was creepy about it was that even though there was obviously much accurate information about me, I still cannot be verified, either by the healthcare.gov site OR the credit bureau to which I was referred.

 

According to my BCBS rep that I spoke with yesterday, our plan is being grandfathered which was not verifiable online when I attempted to go through BCBSNC. The rate hike will be 26% should we choose to accept that. The rate hike is what prompted me to look to the gov't site to "shop" which was not an option. I had to "apply", and was unable to complete that process due to the "identity verification" snafu.

 

Yes. It's way to much to ask. Wth is wrong with you.

 

I liken it to tax season when TurboTax cannot update their software until all of the laws, codes, etc. have officially been hammered out and taken effect. It has happened a few times. I would imagine this could be partially the case here too. Not saying it is, but it is possible.

If you were told to build a tree house with specific plans and someone gave you all of the supplies up front you would have an easier time of it than if someone gave you unfinished plans, half the supplies and told you to start building but the buyer had not decided on the final floor plan yet.

 

Harvey I met a friend for lunch yesterday and he is grandfathered in at his old March of 2010 rate. In fact, his is going DOWN by roughly $20/mo. which makes no sense to me. He and I are the same age, of the same health and married with two kids (both under 10 years old). Why March of 2010? I have no idea.

Up until 2010 he and I had the same plan but in 2012 Mrs Wulf and I welcomed our second child. Before he came along, we changed our policy and it ultimately threw us off the grandfathered wagon we are hearing about now.

TarDevil I found out from Mrs Wulf today that you can see your exchange BCBS rates on the BCBS site. Don't ask me where but she saw them. Perhaps they have published them because of the POS site known as the exchange.

At any rate, there were 24 options ranging from $510/mo plans (after subsidy) up to some over a $1100 dependent of course on the deductible you choose. She said a family making 85-98 grand can get a subsidy of roughly $185/mo. I'll have to confirm once I get a chance to look it over.

 

Yes, a BUFFER. When they estimate their costs most rational estimators add a percentage or BUFFER. This means they add a similar BUFFER to the rate to help ensure they make a target profit.

You claimed I was just trying to argue when YOU commented on my post and called it incorrect without ever mentioning what small item YOU considered to be wrong. If you had not been such a "tool" it would have been simple to have explained it to you.

 

Ahhh, you knew my meaning yet choose to argue anyway. That explains it very well. Carry on then.

 

Yes the meaning I used just as Webster defines it:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buffer

2: a means or device used as a cushion against the shock of fluctuations in business or financial activity

 

Nah, you have it. I just don't think you know how it is used. You sure don't seem to know there are usually several definitions of a term which is generally determined by the context of the user, thus the user's definition.

 

Please be aware that North Carolina decided not to take any federal money for the ACA so we are paying a bigger amount than intended.

Hopefully the items below will explain the problems with the website, which is still unacceptable in my opinion. Let's all try it again.

Sherry

More than a week after its glitch-plagued launch, the federal government's online health-insurance exchange is slowly getting more functional.

For the first time, curious shoppers at HealthCare.gov, the federal portal for insurance enrollment created by President Barack Obama's health-care reform law, finally have the option to browse plan options and prices without having to get past the website's balky log-in process.

HealthCare.gov quietly added a feature on Thursday enabling shoppers to review insurance premiums after entering some basic information, like where they live and the kind of coverage they're seeking. This workaround could ease the crush of traffic on the part of the website that takes applications for insurance and financial assistance while allowing Americans to get a glimpse of what Obamacare could cost them.

The first 10 days of the six-month enrollment period for health coverage have been rocky, as the government struggled to provide consumers with one of the fundamental promises of Obamacare: a simple, one-stop-shopping destination where the uninsured, people who buy health insurance directly, and small businesses could compare health plans by price and benefits and learn whether they qualify for financial help.

 

The state running the exchange wouldn't have affected the prices. Only competition does that. Not that I expect you to understand 2nd grade economics.

 

Two different instances below with my 2nd grade economics. North Carolina opted outed. I wish you would stop with insults and try understanding all of this.

Sherry


http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

Additionally, states have the option to expand their Medicaid programs to cover all people making up to 138% of the federal poverty level (which is about $33,000 for a family of four). In states that opt out of expanding Medicaid, some people making below this amount will still be eligible for Medicaid, some will be eligible for subsidized coverage through Marketplaces, and others will not be eligible for subsidies.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/10/2765421/arizona-medicaid-shutdown/

Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) — who raised eyebrows for pushing her party into expanding Medicaid in June — told the Arizona Daily Star, “the bottom line is we need that money in our economy to save rural hospitals and jobs in the rural areas.” “It’s all about jobs and getting back federal dollars that our taxpayers have paid to the federal government, to bring them home,” she added.

Indeed, multiple studies have have shown that expanding Medicaid under Obamacare reduces states’ uninsurance rate and brings in more money to hospitals and doctors. In Arizona, hospitals will gain “$108 million in the first six months of 2014 under a Medicaid expansion plan” and increase the number of people with coverage by about 300,000. Overall, “expanded Medicaid coverage will boost that hospital’s bottom line by more than $749,000.”