Okay. Okay. Okay. I actually should be throwing a massive party this year compared to the last two. Health Net blessed our family with a palatable — if you can call any increase palatable – 9.75% annual increase in our health insurance premiums. Not too shabby compared to the 35% annual increase last year and 35% annual increase the year before. Now, if you add all of those up we're talking about a cumulative 100% — YES 100% — increase in our health insurance premiums in only three years. In my book, that's pretty appalling and hard to justify much less swallow from a personal financial standpoint — regardless of your financial situation.
I know there is nothing we can do about it and all things considered Health Net has been pretty good to us from a coverage standpoint through the years compared to other nightmare stories we hear in the SMA community. But that doesn't make it right. And it doesn't justify anything. So…all I can do is document it and hope that someday the year over year over year over year increases in our health insurance premiums will come to an end. Until then, I'll continue writing.
There is one MAJOR bullet point that was included in our annual increase letter this year that is definitely worth celebrating…
HEALTH CARE REFORM IMPACT
Effective January 1, 2011, we will be amending your health plan coverage to comply with provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), commonly referred to as health care reform. Health Net must implement certain changes as required by ACA, including:
- Elimination of lifetime limits on essential benefits.
Now that's definitely something to celebrate! Thanks ObamaCare! The Strong family loves you for it! You can read our thoughts on the health care reform here or see our piece in the New York Times about it here.