Those of us who are self-employed and pay for our own health insurance learned in early November that we are facing huge premium increases thanks to the tumult in the insurance marketplace (and a myriad of other reasons too complex for me to sort out).
My plan is being cancelled; my insurance carrier is suggesting a replacement that is 20 percent more expensive, has a higher deductible, and covers less (a virtual trifecta of good news!).
And there's nothing you can do about it. To be a responsible adult, you need to have health insurance, and there's absolutely no competition.
I wish insurance company executives and politicians would come out and acknowledge how painful and infuriating these premium increases are for average people.
If only they'd drop the spin and buzzwords and say something transparent like: "Look, we hear you: You think we're greedy blood-suckers who use your premiums to go on corporate retreats to Boca Raton. But here's exactly how we set your rates. Here's why they are so high. Here's what an MRI costs. Here's what an average hospital stay costs."
Instead, my carrier has been running a series of online spots featuring diverse, well-dressed, prosperous-looking people and happy families gazing at their laptops and phones with huge grins on their faces. Why are they grinning? Why?
Get real, guys: "open enrollment" season is not a cause for rejoicing and your new dental plans are not "exciting" to us.
My health insurance premium has become one of my largest monthly expenses, and it galls me to see insurance companies spending money on expensive ad campaigns and frills that I don't need or want (recipe tips? little magazines with trendy graphics? No, thank you!).
Even the $150 that I receive as a rebate each year because I'm a regular at the gym now represents a laughably small fraction of what I'm paying in.
The word "unsustainable" comes to mind.
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