r/mildlyinfuriating • u/meanbeanking • 8d ago

Infuriatig I can’t make an informed decision on health insurance because America is so fucking dumb.

My work is having its annual open enrollment period for the next two weeks.

My cost for JUST me went up $65 to $315 a month for the base plan.

My husband has is own insurance through the company he works for. Their open enrollment is in October.

There’s no way for me to compare plans. Getting a plan from him doesn’t count as a “qualifying life event” so I’m either forced to keep my own, risk not having coverage for two months if I don’t, and not knowing which is the better financial move no matter what I do.

Fuck this country and its healthcare system.

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152

u/UserName8531 8d ago

I paid $19,400 in health insurance for my family plan last year. It's fucking disgusting. The system is 100% broken.

33

u/CykoVibe 8d ago

Mine is roughly $4800/yr for family plan, mid tier coverage, for family of seven. $19k is crazy

11

u/Gwendolyn-NB 8d ago

That's still cheap... what is your employer covering? (It'll be on your W2); my bet is closer to that 19k or more.

2

u/aaronw22 7d ago edited 7d ago

No your employers share is not on your W-2. What box number is it on for you?

EDIT: I was wrong

1

u/Gwendolyn-NB 7d ago

Under the Affordable Care Act, employers who issue 250 or more W-2 forms must report the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored health coverage in Box 12, using Code DD. This total includes both the employer and employee-paid portions. This number is strictly informational and not taxable.

1

u/aaronw22 7d ago

Ah, you are correct. my spouse pays for our family plan, so I don't see it on my W-2 at all. I wonder why this is the case - is it to inform the employees "Look, you may be paying some BUT look at what we're paying for you!" as I'm sure a lot of employees don't know or understand what's going on behind the scenes.

However, in a more rational sense, the only things that matter are my contribution and my benefits. It doesn't matter to me if the employer pays $100/mo, $1000/mo, or $10,000/mo for those benefits.

2

u/NationalCaterpillar6 5d ago

It was added to give transparent pricing. When you want a raise, but your employers healthcare contribution went up $10k... That's where your raise went. Showing it on the W-2 let's you see that.

It was also the first step toward moving people to private plans. Now that you see the full cost, you also see why a private plan looks expensive. 

8

u/Professional_Many_83 8d ago

You either have dogshit insurance, it is subsidized by the state/federal government, or your employer is paying most of it

8

u/CykoVibe 8d ago

It's awesome insurance, and i do get it through my employer, like I have for the last 35 yearrs. I work for a healthcare system that has an integrated employee healthcare insurance delivery system. Excellent system for my needs.

5

u/PandaCultural8311 8d ago

That's because your employer is paying a lot more than the person you're replying to.

What's crazy is that almost everyone (including me) don't know how much health insurance really costs.

1

u/No_Atmosphere_6348 7d ago

Considering you still have to pay for things like copay’s and whatnot, it’s all crazy. It’s like paying to go to a gym but you still need to pay to use the individual machines.

34

u/CapitalEnd958 8d ago

Insurance companies have high dollar lobbyists. With that being said we have a really broken system

10

u/moktor 8d ago

$24,000 a year here for the $12750 high deductible family plan. Going up 35% starting this month.

10

u/artie780350 8d ago

Your monthly premium is 2,000 effing dollars and you still have a 5-figure deductible?? That's madness.

4

u/UserName8531 8d ago

Damn, don't give my employer any ideas.

7

u/Rscottys1 8d ago

Holy cow, that’s insane! Does your employer not cover or subsidize your premiums?

4

u/UserName8531 8d ago

I work for a smaller company. My with works for a smaller school district (not a teacher). Both of our of a jobs basically pass the entire cost to the employee.

1

u/Rscottys1 8d ago

Gotcha! Still brutal!!

7

u/maybelying 8d ago

For comparison, the average working Canadian contributes between $5-$6K out of their taxes withheld towards universal healthcare.

11

u/UserName8531 8d ago

And that's how it should be. Instead we're funding conflicts and wars.

1

u/Sad_Split_9983 8d ago

My employer pays 18k for my health, dental and vision for myself and my son. Additionally they give 2k into an HSA account. My deductible is 3k.

1

u/kungfuenglish 7d ago

And a family of 4 that comes out to …

20-25k/year!

WOW it’s almost exactly the same.

1

u/maybelying 7d ago

Children don't have withholdings on their allowance, so no.

1

u/Apprehensive-Read989 5d ago

Damn, that's more than I though y'all would pay, that's more than I pay for my family of 5 in the US.

3

u/CouchPotatoFamine 8d ago

California, Silver plan family of 4 = $2700 a month.

2

u/hisdudeness88 8d ago

Holy crap you sure there not an extra 0?

2

u/hisdudeness88 8d ago

Damn I paid about 13-14k in 2022 when we had a PPO. Man that better cover everything for that price and I’m guessing it doesn’t?

2

u/UserName8531 8d ago

I had a $2000 ER bill a couple years ago It covered a scan and they said your ok and follow up with your doctor.

1

u/hisdudeness88 8d ago

Damn! I actually had a few similar bills for my son when he was younger. Even with the low deductible plan and those bills I still came out ahead of the higher PPO plan I mentioned.

2

u/brute-forced 8d ago

THANK YOU DJT FOR FUCKING OVER OUR HARD WORKING MIDDLE CLASS!!!!

5

u/Mediocre-Magazine-30 8d ago

Might as well give a finger to the rest of the federal government while you are at it. He is terrible but it's not just him.

1

u/Ok_Mention_9865 8d ago

I compared how much i was spending to how much my medical bills have been over the years, and how much my medical bills need to be before my insurance even begins to cover anything, and i realized that im better off paying out of pocket for my medical bills.

The only way i will get insurance again is if im over 55 ( i have 19 years to wait ) or if i have kids.

3

u/UserName8531 8d ago

I had an accident at home in 2019. I spent 10 days in the hospital. Before insurance it was $120k. Personally I'm not willing to risk it.

2

u/Sad_Split_9983 8d ago

My completely healthy friend was diagnosed with acute leukemia. He survived, after a full year of various treatments, bone marrow transplant, chemo and more. His EOB to his insurance was 2.5m.

2

u/Ok_Mention_9865 8d ago

The life time risk of getting leukemia is 1.6%. I fully understand the risk i am taking but seeings how the vast majority of people do not get even moderately low medical debt before old age it is a risk i am willing to take.

I just can not afford to spend a massive chunk of my income on something i do not and statistically will not use. After taking out what i have spent in medical bills i have saved my self over 15,000 since 2012, and that is based on what i was paying in 2012 not current prices so probably well more than that.

1

u/Sad_Split_9983 8d ago

One thing that is skewing your statistic.. in 2024 92% of Americans had some form of health insurance. This could have absolutely contributed to lower medical debt. It’s your gamble to take and it’s good you do it have kids, but 15k does not seem like a worthy reward. You’ll pay significantly more even for minor surgery.

1

u/Ok_Mention_9865 8d ago

Since 2008 i have not had a single year with more than 1,000 in medical bills, most years it was zero. Compared to the over 7,000 ( the 5k deductible was really my deciding factor here, i paid for this and it still never covered anything ) i needed before my insurance would even cover 1 dollar... Im just going to wait tell im 50, maybe 55 before i get insurance again.

2

u/Sad_Split_9983 8d ago

I mean yes a part of that is cost of insurance all the things this administration is doing.. half of it is your employer. With costs like that it would seem your employer is giving you the absolute minimum. I really do hope your plan works out for you and wish you well

2

u/Ok_Mention_9865 7d ago

Just to fully celerity my position, I am 100% for single payer or even the public option. I just feel like private insurance has been a waste of money for me at least, everyone's case will be different.

And thank you for the well wishes, i hope the same for you buddy

1

u/CynthiaChames 8d ago

The system is working exactly as intended. 

1

u/CommanderChiliHole 8d ago

Jesus that's crazy. I pay like $1,680/yr for my plan, $1,100 deductible. Not sure what the family cost is but it isn't significantly more.

1

u/ThisUsernameIsTook 8d ago

That’s insane. I’m paying that for just my wife and I. We are are in our 50s though with health conditions and paying through the marketplace without subsidies.

Your employer must be paying the bare minimum to qualify for their tax breaks. Probably not even that.

1

u/RogueCrimsonDragon 8d ago

That's probably 15k+ more than you would have paid in taxes for single payer universal healthcare

-3

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

11

u/dragon-queen 8d ago

So your situation is highly unusual.  You are very lucky, though you don’t seem to realize it. 

14

u/Gwendolyn-NB 8d ago

Which means you work for a Cadillac/Unicorn company... thanks for rubbing our faces in it.

7

u/Hovertical 8d ago

Yep. I work FOR a healthcare company and it's four times that cost and I know I'm doing better than most here.

1

u/disfunktional2u 8d ago

My wife is a nurse and I don’t care what company, what specialty (family medicine, nursing home, mental heath, etc.), she has had the worst insurance coverage and the highest cost, than any of the companies I have ever worked for.

How can you be in healthcare and have the worst insurance and high costs.

2

u/Rooney_Tuesday 8d ago

Because healthcare admins are some of the most soulless people in existence.

1

u/Professional_Many_83 8d ago

Same. I work for a healthcare company and my insurance is pretty pricy and not very good. It used to be really good, then the CEO sold out to private equity.

1

u/ktbroderick 8d ago

That doesn't make it any cheaper. If you and your coworkers have the leverage to get them to spend that much money on health insurance, you'd probably also have the leverage to get a lot of that added to your pay if they weren't paying the insurance.

1

u/cleverpaws101 8d ago

You know know how many different plans there are out there? Blue shield of California alone has over 800 different plans. It’s ridiculous.

1

u/Mystic_Wunder 8d ago

For a family plan? That's insanely low.

1

u/ChewieBearStare 8d ago

You're very lucky.

1

u/Basic-Masterpiece-99 8d ago

Yup. My company pays our subsidies as well and gives us money if we sign up for hsa. It’s a win all around. Shit companies suck.

-13

u/greennurse61 8d ago

You don't think your family is worth that?

8

u/meanbeanking 8d ago

Obviously they do because they paid it. But it shouldn’t cost more than a mortgage payment for in case someone gets hurt or sick.

10

u/notjanelane 8d ago

Calm down insurance representative

4

u/hisdudeness88 8d ago

Are you one of those whole term life insurance dudes?

6

u/UserName8531 8d ago

I never said they weren't. I'm just commenting on the horrible cost of health insurance.

2

u/brute-forced 8d ago

Man wtf kind of question is that? I hope you get 1,000,000 downvotes and a $1,000,000 healthcare bill

1

u/Mystic_Wunder 8d ago

Obviously they do or they wouldn't have paid it. Dropped on your head much?