Obamacare hits home ~

No the NHS is not on the verge of bankruptcy.  It isn't a profit making business.  It is a government department.  We have to face huge budget cuts in EVERY government department including the NHS but this will not be handed forward to the front line consumers.  It is a terribly large yet efficient machine when all things are taken into account. 

Not you're right my National Insurance is (sorry looked at the wrong tax bracket on my pay slip) £284.46 on my last pay.  That's what I pay as an individual to have unlimited access to GP's, Hospitals, Laboratories, Nuclear Imagine, Physiotherapy, Ophthalmology etc etc etc.

I pay not up front fees for anything at all.  I pay my National Insurance tax with utter pride knowing it supports health for all and no one owns this nor can take it away.  We are all equal under this system. 

You're right it isn't free, but I am free to use it as often or as little as I need without fear of losing my home, my job and my possessions.

Health should not be owned by a private company it should be owned by us!

 Now here's a cause I can get behind........

All of our govt officials should be required to have the exact same coverage they opine for the rest of us.  No free rides or big buck escapes.

And BTW, I want them to have the same pension eligibility the rest of us have.  And their salary should be the exact median for the country.  If things improve for us, they will improve for them.

I dream well, don't I?

Why would we get private insurance???  When our healthcare is free???

$500 increase per month is a 56.4% increase. Usually the increases are 10-15% I don't even think thats legal! That is just insane and I am so sorry you have to go through this. I know I have been shopping for different healthcare too due to a sucky rate increase, though not nearly as bad as yours. This just sucks!

Unfortunately I don't understand the ins and outs of the obamacare plan but from my understanding its supposed to require everyone to purchase health insurance and get rid of denials due to preexisting conditions and if you fall under a certain tax bracket (bottom 25% or something like that) you get some version of a modified medicare plan. With these rate increases I don't see how anyone will be able to afford to purchase healthcare (its pretty hard as it is now) and I am very afraid for the future of healthcare in this country.

I don't see why the insurance company can't just offer everyone the rates and plans that they offer fortune 50 companies or better yet, doctors and hospitals charge us the rates that they bill the insurance companies instead of these obscene pricing differentials. Okay I am going to shut up because I am starting to sound like a crazed nut.

Hope you find a better plan!

So they price each employee separately...not all of you as a group?

How big a group are you?

Two years ago we had 55 employees, we now have 12 of the 12 maybe 2 would take the coverage and pay the increased premiums. I won't, I will self insure and pay cash, most everyone else is just dropping coverage.

We (our company) used to pay the employee premium, we can't pay the increase, so the employee will have to cover the increased premium.

I may end up just shutting down the company, we haven't made a profit in over a year and things are not going to improve in the near future if ever.

My only hope is that we get rid of the idiots now running the govermment in November and that the newcomers will really take care of business. I know that is a long shot, but it's the only hope and reason I'm hanging on.

Kerry 

Would the 35% credit not help you?

If you have up to 25 employees, pay average annual wages below $50,000, and provide health insurance, you may qualify for a small business tax credit this year of up to 35% (up to 25% for non-profits) to offset the cost of your insurance. This will bring down the cost of providing insurance. 

www.healthcare.gov/foryou/small/index.html


Be careful on self-insuring...you've had TWO wls's and will likely be rated higher.  My Long Term Care Insurance company covered my mother--who had had cancer--and my husband--who had had a heart attack, but not me, because I had had WLS within the past five years.

Well, if I was making money a tax credit would be great, but my company hasn't made any money for about 18 months, so a tax credit is useless to me.

When I said self insure, I mean self insure, I'll just pay for what ever I need. If I get sick and die, I die, I've raised my family, Barb is set and won't need to work, so if worst comes to worst, I'll just check out, no muss, no fuss. I don't see that happening, I'm really healthy now, I'm just saying, it's not like I have a family to raise and take care of, if I get sick and die, it's not going to be a huge tragedy.

Kerry

Kerry I am so so so sorry you're suffering.  I hope buisness picks up and you don't have to close.  After everything it will be a real kick in the guts!

It's no fun for me, but it's a lot worse for the employees and their families; they're all good people and I know they're really hurting; some have lost their homes etc. I kept them on the payroll for as long as I dared, but after I had spent $150k of my retirement fund, I had to let them go.

The whole thing just sucks.

Kerry