Blue Cross Blue Shield sent me my bill and it went up $100. I don't remember

[glinda]

getting any notice at all. Has this happened to anyone here recently from them? Can they just "not" give notice or explanation and do this? Bastards. We now cannot afford Health Insurance for me. Anyone know of someplace I can try to get insurance cheaper than $500/mo. They barely cover anything as is.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Did you have a birthday recently?

They typically raise rates in your birthday month (Nice present!), especially if your new age ends in a "0" or a "5."

[glinda]

4. Yes. I turned 55. Why do they do that????????

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Because they CAN

and the health care legislation currently going through Congress allows them to continue discriminating by age, even though they would no longer be able to discriminate on the basis of pre-existing conditions.

This is one severe problem with the new legislation. You can bet on those vultures gouging the 50+ crowd to make up for the fact that they can no longer gouge 30-year-olds with severe illnesses.

[dflprincess]

2. Have you looked into Minnesota Care?

I know that's not necessarily cheap, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

When I worked for a small company (this goes back at least 15 years) I got quotes from several insurance companies. It's amazing how they all came back with the same numbers for the same coverage. I'd imagine it's the same way for individual policies.

[glinda]

5. I came across something on them. I think I will. Man I hate BCBS.

[glinda]

11. You have to be well below the poverty level it appears. We do not take in much but we

still make house payments, have to pay for bills, pay off debt, etc............

[dflprincess]

12. I think MinnesotaCare is also available to people who can't get insurance elsewhere

for one reason or anohter, but it is based on income and I'm not sure the premiums are any cheaper than private insurance

[glinda]

14. They state they are higher actually.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Call your congressman

they are really in the mood to help with health care now adays :evilfrown:

[glinda]

6. I am going to tomorrow. Fat chance that will help though. Told my husband we

should drop them and take a risk for a few months. I have had it.

[Angry Dragon]

7. If you drop you may not be able to get any other insurance

[glinda]

9. That is true. I just asked them what happened and I was told that it was a

"benchmark" B-Day. Well happy happy to me right? An extra $100 NOT given on my B-Day but taken away from food, etc...AND I was also informed that the YEARLY rate increase is always on APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaa!!!!! They must really be laughing at people!!!!!! So lets see..... by the time I am eligible for Medicare in 10 years, I will be paying well over $1500/mo. for what??????
I also asked for an estimation of the amount that we have paid in as far back as they go in the records. :>)

[dflprincess]

13. Don't forget - car insurance rates also start to go up again at 55

but you can get a decent discount on that if you take a defensive driving class.

My cousin took one recently. I asked her if they show gory films of what happens when you drive too slow with your turn single on and cause road rage in the drivers behind you. Sort of the opposit of the ones we were shown in driver's ed about the hazards of driving to fast.

[glinda]

10. emailed him

[Scruffy1]

15. Mine went up over 20%

Just got my yearly open season paperwork. Health Partners went from $14,500.00 to $17,800 per year. Even with my employer paying the largest part I still will have to pay $540.00 per month. This is for a top of the line plan. May have to switch to 80/20. Health Partners is a coop and I have no reason to believe that they are making ridiculous profits its just that health care costs in a for profit industry are out of control.

[dflprincess]

16. I seem to recall an article quoting Mary Brainerd (Healthpartners CEO) as

saying HP is not really a coop it the real sense of the word any longer. They are still a not for profit group but they have crawed into bed with Cigna. I think this was to give both them & Cigna a larger customer (aka victim) base.

Healthpartners also owns Regents Hospital which used to be Ramsey County Medical. They do have a deal with Ramsey to continue to serve the indigent and they're in an understandable panic over how they will continue to do this with Pawlenty's coming cuts to GAMC. That may account for some of your rate increase.

[mascarax]

17. Scruffy, is that $540 single, single +, or family coverage?

I hope it's family!