As many of you long time readers know, I hate Obamacare with a passion. I am currently paying 329% higher premiums for DH than I was before all the plans changed - with a higher deductible. While it's great the politicians repealed the mandate, I still want DH to have insurance coverage and repealing the mandate did nothing to offer different and cheaper plans.
The following article in Politico came across my news feed last night.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/04/obamacare-religion-health-care-216933
I have checked into these faith-based healthcare sharing plans before, a couple of years ago. At that time there seemed to be 2 and both had a requirement that you had to attend church and have a pastor sign off. While we believe in God and the Bible, we do not attend a church. But, apparently, several more plans have opened up (under the umbrella of the exemption), with a couple not requiring the signed affidavit of church membership/attendance. In fact, due to the huge price increases of Obamacare in the past few years, these ministry health sharing plans are gaining membership in leaps and bounds. They do require a signed statement that you believe in God, do not drink, do not smoke and do not use illegal drugs. DH qualifies on all those counts.
According to the article Liberty Healthshare and Altrua Healthshare are two that do not require a pastor's signature, but still require there rest of the beliefs and healthy lifestyle. I'm requesting more information from both plans. Liberty's monthly cost appears to be $199 per month for DH's age. Altrua seems to have several different levels of plans ranging from $224 to $363 per month for DH's age. That would be a saving of between $200 and $360 per month over what I am currently paying for his insurance. Definitely something to check into. Plus the deductible is much much lower.
DH really rarely goes to a doctor anymore. Like a once a year visit for a check up. Since no doctor could (years ago) figure out what is wrong with his muscles, he just lives with it and is not taking any medication for it. Basically what we really need for him is something to cover an emergency or serious illness. I think one of these plans would fit that bill, for the most part. We can afford an office visit or two out of pocket each year.
Have you used any of these cost sharing plans or know anyone that does? I have read some good reviews on them, for the most part. One BBB "bad review" was really the person mostly complaining about her providers billing dept. It wasn't the healthshare plan's issue. Others seem to not understand that a plan like this might require a little more work and diligence on the patient's part to make sure bills are submitted correctly. Previously working for doctor's offices in the billing dept. I have some experience and knowledge of how the systems work between doctors billing and insurance companies.
This is on my "to-do" list to figure out this month. Maybe I'll be able to start paying a newer lower premium starting in March.
Due to Trump putting an end to government funding for the ACA, the insurance companies involved have no choice other than raise prices and let the people pay the cost. I think it's ridiculous that the US does not have health insurance for their citizens. Republicans have had 10 years to clean up ACA & make it better. So many Americans depend on it & obviously do not want to loose it, Obamacare. It's sad this is the best America can provide but it's better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how close your husband is to retirement age but I would hope you can find something much less expensive. Does his medical history affect his premiums? I understand your frustration.
The insurance companies have been exhorbitantly raising premiums each year since Obamacare went into effect, long before Trump ending the mandate to have insurance or pay a fine and ending the gov't funding. In fact, this year was the lowest increase I've had to deal with. DH is 53 and the ONLY health care insurance options are plans mandated by Obamacare. There are no other insurance choices. In our state two plans are left. There is no option to buy a catastrophic plan anymore(unless you are under 30 years old). The premiums under Obamacare are all the same, for the most part, and not affected by medical history. These faith based cost sharing plans are the only thing offered to "get around" having to use Obamacare. His only other option (also controlled by Obamacare rules) would be to go on my health insurance plan through my employer and that would cost $1000/mo, so that is not going to happen. I did also just read an article that Idaho is considering allowing other insurance plans that don't follow Obamacare laws. Will be interesting to see if they do and how that affects premiums for those in their state. I'm sure competition would make for lower prices and people leaving the marketplace plans for these new plans. If it works as they think it might, I'm sure other states would follow suit.
DeleteMonica, you are wrong. The negative changes in health care are NOT President Trumps fault. Insurance premiums and deductibles went through the roof when the Unaffordable Health Care Act (nothing affordable about it) went into affect. It was Obama who shoved this down the throats of American citizens. The only ones it has helped are those who were never insured to begin with, for which the rest of us are now paying dearly for. I do not agree that health care should be a constitional right. I'm all for helping those who truly cannot help themselves, but don't make me pay for those who choose to make poor choices.
DeleteA Dime is exactly right. The first year Obamacare went into effect my DH's rate increased more than 200 PERCENT, for a worse (Bronze) plan and higher deductible. And each year it's gotten worse. And prior to Obamacare we had many different plans to choose from, who were able to compete with each other on price. Health insurance it not a right. I've worked my butt off and always made sure myself and my family were covered - not relying on someone else or the government to do it for me. Now, I get to also pay for those that don't want to work for it, in addition to covering my family. There are those that need the assistance, that is what medicaid and medicare are for and the other programs, like CHIP. When I was a young adult with a part time job (going to school) and couldn't afford a fancy plan that covered everything, I didn't expect someone else to pay for it. No, I made healthy life choices and bought a low cost catastrophic plan to cover an emergency or major illness, if necessary, until I could graduate and get a job w/benefits. Moving to this state his rate for a Bronze level plan went even higher (another 50%)...why? because this state has more residents that don't make a lot of money and most of them qualify for subsidies, so the few of us that make to much pay the extra.
DeleteI believe religion & politics should not mix. It's sad that our government can't come up with a better plan. Health insurance should be a constitutional right not an option that only some can afford. Just sad.
ReplyDeleteit's very sad that there is nothing offered that is affordable or a choice anymore. For those of us making a "living wage/salary" and don't qualify for subsidies, we sure took a hit to our standard of living with these crazy health insurance costs
DeletePrior to Obamacare, Hubs and I had fantastic insurance through Hub's work. When that law was passed, our premiums skyrocked and we were also hit with a crazy high deductible ($6500 each!) which is something we had NEVER had had before. When I broke my ankle...you guessed it...$6500 OOP. This farce of "get everyone insured" hurt more than it actually helped. Thankfully Hubs was able to find a different job that offered slightly better insurance, but we are still paying more than we did before Obamacare was put into place. I'm with One Family on this one. Bottom line, nothing is free. Someone will pay for it. Even salvation isn't free...as Jesus paid that price!
ReplyDeleteI agree. I did end up talking to a rep from the Liberty plan. While it would save us money, because of DH's high cholesterol he would pay an additional $80 per month and have to be on a "coached" program to work toward goals and talk to a health coach once a month. That is really not something he would like at all. I know him, LOL. Having someone call him up once a month that he doesn't know and discuss his eating, weight, etc would not be his cup of tea.
DeleteOur experience with Obamacare was when we had it for 4 months after DH got laid off....we HAD to, it was the law that you have health insurance so we did the right thing. We used it for 4 months only to get our prescriptions filled (so maybe twice) and then DH got a job with great benefits. We cancelled our Obamacare and then, as we were doing last years taxes we got notification that because they "subsidized" our health care for 4 months we have to pay back $8000. There was no person to talk to, no office to visit, and we got no responses to our emails. We finally found a form where we could appeal it and, of course, it was denied so we are now paying the IRS $300 a month until that $8,000 is paid for the 4 months and 2 times we used it. Ask me how I feel about Obamacare.....
ReplyDeleteOMG that is insane! Just not right at all. I would be livid. So they claim they subsidized you $2000 o month? Just wow.
DeleteThat is absolutely insane! I knew from the get-go that Obamacare was garbage, but this is beyond crazy. Stories like yours make me so angry that this was pushed on to the American people.
DeleteThat is what "they" said, whomever THEY is. We took our taxes and paid an accountant because we were SURE that was wrong but she said she was so,so sorry that many, many people were getting hit with the same thing. I can't TELL you how angry this makes me...but of course, I'm totally over it now, can't you tell :)
DeleteSue, this is wrong on so many levels. It angers me what Obummer care did to my own private insurance. With everything you've been through, you have every right to be angry.
DeleteSue, I looked up that issue on the internet and wow, there are people getting slammed like you did. Like you said, by law you had to have the insurance. You qualified for that subsidy because your DH was unemployed! It's just totally wrong to come back and take your whole year into account once he got a job. It's not like you had a choice to not take the gov't crappy overpriced insurance. I sure wish the Republicans would get off their butts and repeal and replace, like they promised and campaigned to do.
DeleteTrump inherited an utter disaster and it will take time to clean up the mess and completely move forward. My hunch is he will make good on all his campaign promises, including repealing and replacing Obamacare. Barely a year in office and the country is already moving in a far better direction.
DeleteI too think it's a utter disaster. There are only 2 plans left in my state. It's just ridiculous. I sure hope he makes good on his promise. There seems to be no talk of it anymore, but at some point something has to be done. The few remaining insurance companies will keep loosing money too and either get out of supplying the coverage or jack up even higher rates to make up for what they are losing. If we don't have any choice but to buy their plan, is a scary thought. I know a guy who is self employed, wife a SAHM and 2 kids. He's paying like $2000 a month to insure his family, more than his house payment. I know another guy who is self employed and wife doesn't work. He doesn't make a lot but too much for subsidies. They've just been paying the fine and going without insurance. I couldn't take that risk. Now she just got a 2 year degree and a full time job and has insurance, so that is good.
DeleteThe article was worth reading. I would never dare be without some type of insurance and have considered these in the past. I've heard good things about them.
ReplyDeleteBeing a foreigner, I have a very different question. Those religious plans are actually asking you not to drink? I thought alcohol is not forbidden in Christianity.
ReplyDeleteMany many years ago when I was living in the US, I had a Kaiser Permanante coverage provided by the company I used to work for. It wasn't bad at all but, then I was very young and there had been no real health problems.
Alcohol isn't forbidden in my protestant faith. The plans I looked into are saying is it can only be consumed in moderation.
DeleteI assume they are considering that drinking more than in moderation is a health issue. It's not against the law to get an abortion in the US but these religious plans will not cover it, nor will they cover an unwed pregnancy.
DeleteT'Pol - the regular insurance companies/Plans like Kaiser Permanante are required to cover just about everything under the sun....until you really need them to, for something serious, and then they want to fight that this or that procedure is not covered. When DH was being tested for various things with his muscles, one of the last tests they did was a blood test for some rare inherited muscle disease (I can't remember what it was called now, been too many years) but the blood test was $3000. Insurance was verified it was covered before taking the blood test. Then after they decided it wasn't covered. Had to appeal, blah blah.
I'm with Samaritan ministries. So far so good. Been there 1 year. For each incident I'm responsible for the first $300- but that's reduced by the amount of any discount I can negotiate. So well checks aren't covered. But for my family of 5, we pay $495 per month. We aren't dr going people- don't have any preexisting conditions.
ReplyDeleteWe had our first incident over thanksgiving. My Dd had a finger in the door accident and required an ER visit and a dozen or so stitches and a couple visits to a specialist. With the discounts from the hospital I didn't have to cover any of it. Total bill around $2500. I did have to pay upfront and was reimbursed in January.
If we would have had traditional insurance through my dhs work, we would have paid $1200/month AND would have paid for the finger incident out of pocket due to the $5000 deductible.
We are required to send in an annual statement from our pastor about church attendance.
I am happy to be off the insurance train!!
That's great it's working out so well for you and your family. What a savings!
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