What do you pay for health insurance?

Wife and two novelistas are on my plan. My portion of my insurance premiums through my employer is $234 a month. If it were just me, it'd be $25 a month. I'm real interested to see what it's going to look like when ACA takes full effect.

I've talked to one guy who has the same size family as me and we have the same insurance provider, and his portion of the healthcare premium is nearly three times what mine is. I guess I need to count my blessings.

When the employee portion of health insurance is approaching the size of a mortgage payment, that's a tough pill to swallow.

 

In Florida I paid $1,600/year to insure two cars.

Now I pay $800.

I'm the same driver. And it's probably a little more dangerous for me here because my commute is not 90% interstate, and the roads are generally narrower (and with fewer left-turn lanes).

I was a safe driver at age 19, although I was assumed to be a reckless idiot. I was a safe driver when I owned a sports car, although I was assumed to be a maniac just itching to go 115.

As a 19-year-old single male I drove like a 55-year-old married grandmother. Because I believe in defensive driving. Would any auto insurance company believe me?

Auto insurance is as screwed up as anything else.

 

My school division went with the group plan, about 3,300 employees, and it went up this year because there were too many high ticket claims. But I do agree, that it is the wiser way.

 

I paid around $600 per month for family coverage when I was still in newspapers. Didn't matter how large my family was, it was a flat rate once you insured yourself and a child.

 

I pay $66 a month for health, dental and vision.

 

Public entities tend to have higher claims. Older people and those with health problems will be more likely to apply. And are far less likely to leave.

Someone who is 25 will probably leave for 5K while someone 55 will more likely to stay for the pension and benefits.

Regards.

 

Ultimately that's probably what's going to happen but it does not mean that employees will be happy. They would be moving to a government run plan from a plan that they were satisfied with.

One of the problems for small businesses with ACA is that there is not much concrete about it from a cost standpoint. To accept it is blind faith in the Federal Government who I don't have a lot of faith in based on how they have sold the program so far.

What is concrete is that my overall taxes will go up by at least 10% by the end of 2013 when you factor in increased income taxes and new taxes as a result of ACA.

What most people do not realize is that when Medicare taxes go up to to individuals they also go up to companies who have to match the increase.

One thing I am will to bet on is that when the dust settles in 2014, ACA will not end up in a saving to most.

 

Health care costs were rising at 5 times the rate of inflation before government ever touched this.

Maybe small business should be complaining about big business, not just big government.

 

I don't see the relationship to big business.

 

Everyone complains about the cost of government programs.

But how many equally avid complaints did small business owners ever lodge with Oxford or United or Aetna about costs? How many fights did they take up on their own behalf against skyrocketing for-profit medical care?

It's a lot easier to bitch about government health care than it is to convince private enterprise to dial back its profit margins.

 

I stumbled across this on FB, it's about what an IT contractor could do with the money he's spending on health insurance.

http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/health_care/health_care.html

He's actually not paying that much for his entire family. My in-laws are business owners. They pay about $1,500 per month for the two of them.

 

Welcome to the real world Mr IT contractor. That's part of problem. Too many think it's fine to pay for a Lexus and but not health insurance. They want someone else to pay for that. The money has to come from somewhere.