Hi jfh! I retired last November, still too young for Medicare. I'm on a Cobra plan with Kaiser, good coverage for me and my husband. My monthly payment was $1046 ( 4 months at the original rate), and starting March 1st., it went up to $1119. Co-Pays went up too, $5 to $15, $15 to $30...and so on.

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

NatMedTalk and Beyond

States are not going to sue about medicare...that is not what I am talking about. Medicare is Federal and all Americans are entitled to it come age. No state can take that benefit away...On the other hand some states believe you cannot force someone to purchase insurance and have it so written into their laws.
Medicare is not insurance. It is a federal benefit.

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jfh

I�m curious why you went with a Cobra Plan. I realize that they are required to take everyone and of course they will do so for a price. But have you checked out some other companies? None of them are going to be cheep still I think depending on coverage they should be able to beat Cobra prices.

For comparison currently I�m paying about that same amount for 6 months of supplemental coverage to Medicare.





It going to be interesting to see how these states follow up with this litigation. I hope they will really fight for repeal and not just go through a few motions and say �see we tried�.

It takes some really tortured logic to claim that the commerce act requires that someone must buy something.

That was kind2creatues. I went with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas. Too bad I could not shop within other States.

I don't think these suits will work against the Federal gov. The Fed trumps the States. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the Texas would fight all socialistic entitlements.

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- Jim
Life is just one damned thing after another - Elbert Hubbard

The health program will be an entitlement like Medicare and Social Security. If some of these States could get away with this suit, it probably won't stop there.

Hi Mad Scientest,

I went with Cobra because I really liked the plan that I had from my work which I was on for years. I have been looking at other plans, mainly because I want to get off the Cobra which will end at a fixed time. I'll be more comfortable to find a plan that's affordable with an insurance company that I can trust. It doesn't appear to be that all of them are reliable. Also, lower monthly premiums to me means higher costs at the doctor/hospital. We don't make very many doctor visits, I'm more concerned about serious issues that may come up, that need extensive medical attention.

A few years before going on SS I went through three different companies. The first two started out with very reasonable rates, but within 6 months they were raising their rates and in little over a year they were double.

I finally wound up with a plan that would only cover things like a whole body or maybe a brain transplant from blue cross. All other "minor stuff" was at my expense. As I recall at the time for one person it cost about 450 every two month. However I was in good health, and still am, and that was good enough to carry me till SS took over.

I did my search through this site. No one will contact you, until you are ready. I had to go with a plan with $5000 deductible. Even with that, I have to pay 25% of the remaining cost.

https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

I wonder how true this is. Just because it is in a news paper, doesn't make it true. But the Miami Herald reports ...

The hypocrisy is funny though.

12 states are now planning suit against the federal government for their state laws declare that such commerce cannot be mandated.

Idaho senator said that if they get away for this he will try to arrage for them to mandate the purchase of potatoes by everyone.
It was a terrible selling year for potatoes this past, therefore it would benefit all the good people of the state of Idaho, and therefore the nation also!....but ultimately people here would just rather put up with fickle potaote sales and maintain their freedom.

That would not surprise me.

Democrats, republicans are two wings of the same bird, meanwhile we are suppose to keep arguing which one is better. I may be wrong but I think/hope people are starting to wake up to that reality.
To the bankers and insurance and drug companies it doe�s not matter whether a politician has an R or a D after their name so long as they will follow whatever marching orders they are given.

Obviously our health care system is broken and needs fixing, but this is not the fix.

Although the US Healthcare Reform Bill is nothing to do with me personally and looking at it from a neutral point of view, a couple of things stick out which could cause future problems with the costs of premiums.

The ban on “discriminating” against anyone with a pre-existing condition.

While this may be popular, it forbids insurance companies to charge sick people more for insurance.

It could result in a lot of people waiting until they are ill before getting insurance. The bill supposedly has a $750 fine for not buying insurance but that won’t even be enforced. Even if people have to pay a $750 fine, that’s much less than the $20,000 plus that it could cost a family to buy insurance.

It could result in a situation where the majority of people in the scheme are pre-existing conditions and premiums could skyrocket. The only wayround this is to fine people who wont take out insurance what their annual premium would have been. Good luck with that.!

Most of the projected cost savings which the government has quoted would be made through the increased numbers taking out insurance for the first time. If there's not a big increase then there wont be savings.

Mandates will raise costs.

The bill forces all insurance plans to cover "at least... maternity and newborn care... Mental health and substance disorder services... behavioral health treatment... preventative and wellness services and chronic disease management... pediatric services, including oral and vision care." In the real world, some people want these and some don’t.

By requiring insurance companies to pay for all,and not tailoring to individual requirements,you are forcing people to buy insurance for conditions they may never need which puts up costs.

Also, from what I read the federal government have the power to add in future endless new health mandates. This will no doubt include various vaccination programmes.

If the bill is not changed to look into these possible increases in costs, I reckon within 5 years you could be paying at least 40% to 50% more in premiums.

Just my 2 pence worth.

Years ago, when I was looking into buying insurance for myself, I came across a group, that I was very impressed with...It wasnt really insurance persay, but it was a christian organization that basically had people join the group, each person paid so much monthly, and it went into some type of savings account... If someone in the group got sick, or needed medical attention, then the money would come out of the account and pay for that need...It seemed logical to me at the time, especially since in order to be a part of the group, you had to not smoke or do drugs, and basically had to live a healthy lifestyle... I honestly believe that would work better for alot of people... Now granted, I wouldnt have been able to join at that point, because my weight would have knocked me out of the healthy lifestyle part.... But I dont think I should be forced to pay for something I will not use... If I were to get cancer, I wouldnt use any of the socalled normal procedures, so why should I pay for insurance that will cover that... I dont go to doctors enough to warrrant an insurance company to cover part of the cost...I dont do prescription drugs... so what good will insurance do me????? The only type of insurance I would even want, was if I were to break a bone or be in a car accident.... This just seems like a way for more power... lets make them dependent on us, and then we can make them our slaves!!!

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God is and all is well
~John Greenleaf Whittier~

Its money for jam for the insurance companies.............all those single men or elderly couples paying for "maternal and new born costs" as the bill describes them.

That would really be interesting to see, although I would rather not. But it might just be the thing needed to wake up the sheeple.