Population Control through Obama Care!

[Blaster]

I wasn't quite sure where to post this because it fits into many categories, Political, Religious and Civil Liberties.

As of this year my health insurance change radically. Last year I had a $15 co-pay for a primary care Doc and a $25 co-pay for a Specialist. Hospitalization co-pay was $250. So I had a Cadillac Plan. Labs and pretty much everything else were totally covered.

Now work has changed our plan so that I have a $5000 deductible and then they start paying 80% with my max out of pocket of $9000 per year. Everything else except preventative care which is free goes against the deductible.

We are done having kids but I happened to think that under the old style plan where there was only 1 co-pay to the OB-GYN for the entire pregnancy and $250 to the Hospital for a birth, kids were cheep to have (expensive to keep!).

Now the expense would be quite different. Especially if during the pregnancy the year ticked over (two deductibles to satisfy).

Of course those who never paid for anything will see zero impact. For regular working folks, family size will most likely be impacted.

I'm assuming that I'm not the only person who is has seen their Health Insurance go up in price or decrease in coverage.

Your thoughts.

[PaulMason]

We are done having kids but I happened to think that under the old style plan where there was only 1 co-pay to the OB-GYN for the entire pregnancy and $250 to the Hospital for a birth, kids were cheep to have (expensive to keep!).

Now the expense would be quite different. Especially if during the pregnancy the year ticked over (two deductibles to satisfy).



Are you sure it isn't covered under Obamacare? Although you have a deductible, that doesn't mean that the deductible kicks in for having a baby. It could be that the ins co. is required to pay and the cost is included in the premium.

[GAFinch]

Penalizing people with cadillac plans, forcing them to pay more out of pocket. Penalizing people with budget plans, forcing them to pay for better plans. Exemptions for union plans. This is just plain old wealth redistribution where responsible people are penalized and eventually forced to turn to the government for help, making them dependent and loyal.

[ArtificialGrape]

HDHP (high deductible health plans) that I've seen had:
. an employer contribution into your healthcare spending account (HSA)
. lower premium per paycheck
. 100% coverage for preventive care (annual exams, well baby care etc.)
. an additional employer contribution to your HSA if you get your annual physical, participate in stop smoking, weightloss programs, etc.

Does your plan include any of these?

Also, is the $5000 really your deductible, or your stop loss at which point the carrier begins paying 100%?

Mine works like this:
. $900 employer contribution into my healthcare savings account on January 1st
. I contribute $200 paycheck ($400/month) to the savings account (we have some special needs in the family: juvenile diabetes, allergy shots, 3 people with contacts/glasses)
. When I get my annual exam it is covered at 100%, AND my employer contributes $150 to my HCSA
. My family deductible is $2500, so I'm paying 100% of prescriptions and non-preventive care (e.g. sinus infection, diagnostic lab work, etc) until we've spent $2500
. After hitting the deductible the plan behaves like an 80/20 indemnity plan
. If we hit the stop loss at $5000, then everything is covered at 100% for the rest of the year.
. Also, in contrast to a Flexible Spending Account, the Healthcare Spending account is not "use it or lose it", so any unused balance rolls forward into the next year.

-ArtificialGrape