Open Enrollment

I don't know if they have this everywhere else in the world, but right now in the US (at least where I work), we are in a timeframe called "Open Enrollment". This window lasts a few weeks and it is a time when individuals can enroll or change their health plans. I'll be honest and admit to you that for the better part of my life, this has pretty much been a non-issue for me.

It's something I take for granted, and with the exception of a short time back in the early 2000's or so that I was laid off and had no health insurance, it's not something I paid too much attention to.

According to the Internet, open enrollment typically runs from November 1st to January 15th or so, but different states in the US can have different date windows. They typically try to do it in the
Fall so that things can be in place for the next calendar year.

I think part of the reason I have paid so little attention in the past is because @mrsbozz carries the health insurance for our family of two. Since she gets health insurance, I have the option to take a "cash in lieu" one time payment each year. It's a lump sum that we generally dump into our health savings account to earn interest or invest in other things within the HSA.

I just got an email yesterday from our business office letting us know it was time once again for open enrollment and we had to pick our plans.

Plan 1 (1700/3400) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life

         Cost Per Pay: Single $148 / Two Person $399 / Full Family $446

Plan 2 (new offering) (2500/5000) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life

         Cost Per Pay: Single $56 / Two Person $191 / Full Family $187

Plan 3 PPO (500/1000/3-Tier RX) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life

         Cost Per Pay: Single $232 / Two Person $587 / Full Family $681

Plan 4 (500/1000/5-Tier RX/10% Co Insurance) w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life

         Cost Per Pay: Single $143 / Two Person $388 / Full Family $433

Cash In Lieu of Medical Coverage w/ Pak B Dental, Vision, Life ** MUST provide proof of coverage **

         No Medical Coverage during the Calendar Year, still eligible for dental, vision & life coverage. 

        DVL Cost Per Pay: Single $7 / Two Person $10 / Full Family $18

So those are the plans for the current year. The numbers in parenthesis are the deductible amounts. So it's either $1700 each year for each individual, or $3400 for the family. This year for example, I had some physical therapy appointments as well as some other tests that easily pushed us to our deductible. That's part of the reason why I had that procedure done on my foot last month because it was basically free with our deductible met.

Here's the really scary part... these are the numbers from last year:

So basically, for the same plan we are currently on, the deductible went up from $1600 to $1700 for an individual, and the family deductible increased from $3200 to $3400, but even worse, the premium went from $163 for two people to $399 per pay.

That's an almost 250% increase!

It's not too hard to believe that the two largest sectors for political lobby spending are Big Pharm and insurance based on information from Investopedia.

Oddly enough, even the new plan with a higher deductible still has a higher premium than the other plan from last year. If we stayed with our current plan we would be looking at about $10,000 per year in health care premiums, plus whatever we have to pay towards our deductible.

There is a good chance we will move down to the new higher deductible plan, because even with the higher premium and the higher deductible we would still be saving money versus sticking with our current plan.

Oddly enough, if you look at the numbers, the jump between two person and family is pretty insignificant and in some cases it's actually cheaper if you have a family. Nice to know we are being punished for being childless!

As I was mulling over the plans and the increase in premiums, I was suddenly struck with a pretty powerful realization. @mrsbozz and I both have good jobs. This sucks, but it's not a huge deal for us. We should be able to cover the cost of whichever plan we choose with minor impact on our finances. The same probably can't be said for many of our hourly workers.

I found myself thinking about some of the people I see at work every day and how I know they are barely scraping by as it is. With a 2.5x cost increase to their health insurance, they are likely going to have to make some tough choices. Sure, they can move up to the higher deductible, but these same people often have more medical issues due to socio-economic factors. While $1800 per year might not seem like much for a deductible increase, for these folks it may as well be $18,000.

I still need to gather some data and make sure the plan we might move to is an apples to apples comparison of the plan we currently have. If not, we will likely have to pay the higher premium to stick with our current plan. The sad part is, the raises @mrsbozz and I got this year don't even come close to covering the difference.

The other annoying part of all this is that we get very little say in the decisions that are made about health insurance. It is all determined by the unions that they negotiate with. Since neither of us are in a union, we get zero say and are just along for the ride. We can hope the large collective bargaining groups have everyone's best interests at heart, but I think we all know that is seldom the case.

It's pretty clear that health costs are out of control, and it's a sad world when people have to worry about spending their money on staying healthy vs. staying housed.