View Full Version : 2018 Health Insurance Increases
Carp! I can't just be me.
Can I vent a bit?!? ~23% increase in our small biz "group" plan now more than my mortgage!!! We have $6,000 individual deductibles, $40/80 copays, all sorts of other costs (prescriptions have ranged from $10 - 140). Everyone in the house is relatively healthy. Thank God!
Yes, I am used to the annual increases and expected something. Previous years were anywhere from a few bucks to a hundred. This is insane!
I think they timed these letters until people mailed in their ballots. Still cheaper than Single Payer, but it won't be far off the way this is going. There is no way our household is getting the healthcare we are paying for with these premiums. And it's not really insurance with pre-existings covered no matter what--it's cost sharing.
I hear you. I got three stitches back in February. It wasn't an emergency, and I didn't want to go but thought it might be a big deal since it was on my hand. I called around to the clinics at grocery stores and they all said they'd just send me to the emergency room. I went and it ended up costing me over f'ing $6,000!
One of my life coaches pointed out that I could have flown first class to Panama gotten the stitches and flown back for less. Health "insurance" in this country is completely fucked and has been for a long time. Now I'm angry about that all over again.
[snip]
One of my life coaches pointed out that I could have flown first class to Panama gotten the stitches and flown back for less. Health "insurance" in this country is completely fucked and has been for a long time. Now I'm angry about that all over again.
Sorry, that really sucks.
I'm pissed about this too. It's going to get to the point where people give up and we go full Commie. I really don't see another solution.
My wife is our "benefits coordinator" and she has two months to come up with something. Obviously, we can pay for a lot out of pocket in lieu of these premiums, but I've always thought it was irresponsible to not have an insurance product since I have a family.
If it was just me? They could f right off.
Since I don't have an employer, I get zero help paying for health insurance. I make sure to fund our HSA as best as I can though each year. If people aren't aware, you can fund an HSA pre-tax, and do so for as long as you have it. If you build it up to be very large and don't use it, it just turns into another pre-tax retirement vessel at some pre-defined age.
Same boat here.... I'm retired and PERA's plans suck... But looking at Connecting Colorado (connect colorado) I can make up to $100K for a family of four and premiums are way cheaper than what PERA-Care charges...
Grant H.
11-01-2018, 20:21
Hence why I use CHM (Christian Healthcare Ministries).
Basically a catastrophic event type of system, so we pay out of pocket for normal stuff. Telling most providers that we are cash customers, and having researched what Medicaid/Medicare would pay, we've been able to do pretty well in negotiating good cash prices.
I looked up negotiating with companies before I paid my bill. I found lots of info, and everything I tried got shut down pretty hard. BUT they knew all the moves and I just had to follow the lady's lead on the phone. I still got it down into the $3,000 range I think. Still.
I remember the CHM from last year, but I never made a move on it.
Bailey Guns
11-01-2018, 20:31
I'm very fortunate (you know...silver lining and all that) that I'm now enrolled in the VA Choice program. I'm seeing the same doctor I saw under my BCBS plan thru my employer. But I just got my open enrollment packet and our premiums thru my employer didn't go up this year. Insurance is getting more and more important now that I'm rapidly approaching "senior discount" age.
Hence why I use CHM (Christian Healthcare Ministries).
I signed up, only to be denied on a pre existing condition. Since they're a co-op they're allowed to pick and choose.
Ours is going up . . . just not sure by how much. We were acquired this year and we're all losing the UHC coverage we've had for years--which has been awesome. Everyone is getting put on Blue Shield (California), which is what the company who bought us uses. We all get to move over and pay more . . . they all stay on the plan they had and get to pay less. Great.
Only other choice is Kaiser here in CO and I won't go back to them unless it's a last resort. Had a couple bad experiences with them from a previous job. So I guess we'll find out what Blue Shield has going for it starting Jan 1.
.455_Hunter
11-01-2018, 21:41
My company is self-insured (employee owned) and we use BCBS to administer the plans. The rates and coverage are pretty good, especially since all of the participants are current employees and their families. If I feel BCBS unfairly denies a claim, I can just squeal to our HR director or COO and get resolution. For FY18, our friends benefits pool (including health care costs) was underrun by $2M.
My wife and kids are on CHM as well. $300/mo for all 4 ($150 wife and the kids are considered one "unit"). That's the "gold" level. We are also part of the "brother's keeper" program, which is for catastrophic. It's quarterly and based on participation numbers. I think last quarter was $50? $500 copay per incident, and if you get enough self-pay discounts they often waive that.
Prescriptions could be an issue, if one needs a bunch of them.
Also, they have a lifestyle clause, so no tobacco users. I'm covered under the VA *spits*, so the tobacco thing isn't a problem. I've been out since 2009 and haven't used them once for anything not related to the med retirement. I just suffer lol. Actually haven't been to them since... mid 2010? I should probably look into that as it's my understanding we can now see other providers.
Anyway, if you are interested in CHM, Grant or myself can provide you some info and personal experiences if you want to go that route. I think there are a few more on here too.
Fentonite
11-01-2018, 23:35
I hear you. I got three stitches back in February. It wasn't an emergency, and I didn't want to go but thought it might be a big deal since it was on my hand. I called around to the clinics at grocery stores and they all said they'd just send me to the emergency room. I went and it ended up costing me over f'ing $6,000!
One of my life coaches pointed out that I could have flown first class to Panama gotten the stitches and flown back for less. Health "insurance" in this country is completely fucked and has been for a long time. Now I'm angry about that all over again.
That sucks on many levels. I am the guy who sews people up in the ER (among other things). Depending on my patient load on that particular day, I would have probably been paid around $40 to see/examine you, evaluate the injury, order xrays, interpret them, manage your care, repair your wound, and arrange appropriate aftercare (not to mention, personally and likely solely absorb any possible liability if something goes wrong). That is about what I earn (before taxes) for each laceration, heart attack, stroke, assault, psych, pneumonia, overdose, fracture, anaphylaxis, abdominal pain, head injury, flu, etc, etc, etc, that I see every day. And you get a bill for 6 grand; ridiculous. Granted, the nurses, techs, radiologists, registration clerks, etc all need to be paid, but I expect most of your cost was a facility fee, going to the hospital. And sure, there is a real cost to having world-class equipment on hand and available for any emergency (MRI, CT, every imaginable specialist paid to be on-call, cath lab, OR, etc) that is absorbed by those using the ER, but I suspect most of your $6,000 was billed to cover the vast number of folk who come to the ER and do not pay. Like our current insurance system, it is just another way we are all subsidizing those who do not pay their share. And believe me, the guy (or gal) taking care of you is not getting rich doing it. The mega-companies that hire us?, that is another story.
I hear you. I got three stitches back in February. It wasn't an emergency, and I didn't want to go but thought it might be a big deal since it was on my hand. I called around to the clinics at grocery stores and they all said they'd just send me to the emergency room. I went and it ended up costing me over f'ing $6,000!
One of my life coaches pointed out that I could have flown
first class to Panama gotten the stitches and flown back for less. Health "insurance" in this country is completely fucked and has been for a long time. Now I'm angry about that all over again.Now I'm angry about that all over again.
This. ^
I actually know 2 who did similar.
One was my own mother 10 years ago.
She saved 12k on cost of surgery. MD did fellowship at Johns.
Facility was top notch ge and siemens stuff.
In major cities, they sell medical vacation packages and it is pretty popular.
The country she got a surgery at, they are far more advanced in stem cell than us. They are about 3 years behind -mab's.
GilpinGuy
11-02-2018, 00:13
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. We got notice last night that our premiums aren't going up this year. I don't remember a year they haven't gone up at least a little.
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. We got notice last night that our premiums aren't going up this year. I don't remember a year they haven't gone up at least a little.
I was listening to something talking about how premiums aren't going up this year, and some are even going down. They cited something about prices having gone up so much already that they can't go up anymore. That sounded ridiculous, so it might have been within the framework of a law or something. Either way, it was clearly a piece trying to make things sound Rosey.
Fentonite: When the lady came to get my insurance info, I laughingly told her, "As long as it's under ten thousand dollars." She said, "Oh, I'm almost SURE that it will be." I was like, "Ummmm, I was just joking."
I assumed it would be at least $2,000 just because it was ER related, but was floored when that bill came in. All I could think about was how I needed some nurse on the side to bandage me up like super heroes have. I would have paid someone $500 cash in a heart beat if I had suspected.
hollohas
11-02-2018, 08:02
I'm pissed about this too. It's going to get to the point where people give up and we go full Commie. I really don't see another solution.
And ^this was the specific purpose of the ACA. It purposefully made costs go through the roof so people would accept full commie single payer in the future.
hollohas
11-02-2018, 08:05
Colorado also has some of the highest rates in the nation. Notice how they are building an ER on every corner? Well, those ER's don't have any patients so they all have been forced to raise the costs of service to keep the doors open.
We have been with CHM for several years now. We have had a few injuries with the boys and it worked out great. It is saving us a HUGE chunk of change, very happy with it.
We have been with CHM for several years now. We have had a few injuries with the boys and it worked out great. It is saving us a HUGE chunk of change, very happy with it.
Every time i see company "benefits" emails w/ rates, I don't know whether to laugh at the company or cry for my co-workers. CHM is definitely a good way to go if one is accepted.
We're looking at CHM today and a Catholic share that was recommended by friends. Trying to get a plan in place early in case there is a lot of shock.
We also got some info from our existing broker this morning. The CO insurers are jacking up rates on all PPOs and trying to nudge people into HMOs. This is happening in both the small group and individual markets. But the HMO rates for '19 aren't out yet!!! So much fail.
There is a PPO available to us at our current premium with an $8K deductible (up from our current $6K). Remember when the Dims said "you can't afford to get sick!" Show me the family has $8K lying around just in case. If I had that, I'd have more C&R/milsurps! [LOL]
Again, these are not insurance products anymore.
I'm almost at the point that I would just want a catastrophic plan that starts at $10K and goes to $1M. Maybe a maternity rider for the next five years. And that's it.
This is going to get a lot worse... The more rates climb the more people will go without insurance pushing more cost on those of us trying to take care of our families.
We've looked at the Catholic ones, hoping to keep it "in house", but CHM is usually the better option -- at least for us. Only downside is their reimbursement window is typically longer than the Catholic ones.
If you go with CHM and do us as a referrer, we get one month "free". I'd be happy to split that with you so you get $150 off. Feel free to PM me for our name and account # info for the referral.
NOTE: A few people have asked me about CHM in the past and I made the same offer. We did receive one referral discount once, but I had no idea who the person was (since there were a few) so I was unable to split it with them. If that was you, dear reader, please let me know so I can make good on that offer!
And ^this was the specific purpose of the ACA. It purposefully made costs go through the roof so people would accept full commie single payer in the future.
QFT
What a mess for everyone that needs insurance. I was very happy to get on Medicare with a $600 a year premium for a supplement for the 20% not paid by Medicare. Still have a $2000 deductible on the supplement, but this is at least tolerable.
Zundfolge
11-02-2018, 11:14
We're looking at CHM today...
Wife and I have been with CHM for several years. Haven't needed it yet but friends we have that have used it say it works fine.
One interesting upside is that since you're "self pay" on your routine maintenance stuff, you often get better service at a discounted price (for example, my wife has been getting 3D mammograms since we switched and they give her a self-pay discount. 3D is the way to go and many insurances won't pay for it as routine, only if you have to have a secondary screening.
We pay 300/mo for the two of us, plus about $50/quarter for the extra "Brother's Keeper" (which is basically a catastrophic insurance plan that takes over if we get over the $250k or whatever the cap on the Gold tier plan is ... its either 250k 500k or 1million, but I don't remember for sure).
ETA also the "deductible" (put that in quotes because technically its not a deductible since CHM is technically not insurance) is $500 per incident.
hollohas
11-02-2018, 11:14
Medi-Share is another Christian healthcare insurance company. I've been told by people that use it that it's awesome. I'm going to look into it as well.
Grant H.
11-02-2018, 12:23
Medi-Share is another Christian healthcare insurance company. I've been told by people that use it that it's awesome. I'm going to look into it as well.
Some friends use Medi-share, and they like it, but their lifestyle agreement (tobacco, alcohol, etc) is much more strict than CHM. (Or at least it was when we were shopping).
BPTactical
11-02-2018, 12:43
Elections have consequences.....
The way I understand my HSA is that I can only keep it if I have a high deductible plan. Part of my hesitancy to try CHM was that it's not really insurance, let alone high deductible. I suppose I could fund a normal account the same way I find my HSA, but it's definitely not as good of a retirement vehicle.
I was listening to something talking about how premiums aren't going up this year, and some are even going down. They cited something about prices having gone up so much already that they can't go up anymore. That sounded ridiculous, so it might have been within the framework of a law or something. Either way, it was clearly a piece trying to make things sound Rosey.
Fentonite: When the lady came to get my insurance info, I laughingly told her, "As long as it's under ten thousand dollars." She said, "Oh, I'm almost SURE that it will be." I was like, "Ummmm, I was just joking."
I assumed it would be at least $2,000 just because it was ER related, but was floored when that bill came in. All I could think about was how I needed some nurse on the side to bandage me up like super heroes have. I would have paid someone $500 cash in a heart beat if I had suspected.
I'd have stitched it up myself for those numbers... [Rant1]
Elections have consequences.....
Most people have NO idea the variations of consequences.
Typical idiot gun owner that votes (D) -
Oh I didn't think he'd really ban my guns.
Zundfolge
11-02-2018, 17:13
What's the advantage of an HSA over just having a savings account you squirrel some money away into? Don't you have to spend whats in your HSA by the end of the year or you lose it? I'd think losing it once would offset any tax advantage one gets.
Flex spending account is the one where you must spend every year. Health Savings Account you fund tax deferred every year ($6,900 for family, $5,500 for individual?) And the money stays there. With mine I keep like $3,500 liquid, and it puts the rest into some sort of Vanguard type deal. You can fund every year and it continues to build. Anything left in there converts to an IRA of some type at a certain age. Also, say you pay any medical expenses year after year in cash, as long as you keep it all well documented, you can take X amount of tax free money out of your account at any time, in any year. X being equal to whatever amount you can prove you've spent on medical stuff.
So while I generally fall into the category of not having $6-$10k floating around for deductibles, after two years I'm not that guy anymore and I got to lower my taxable income at the same time.
I'm sure some of that needs tweaking on accuracy, but that is the just.
wctriumph
11-02-2018, 17:34
I am being crushed by my health insurance. It costs me 50% more than my rent every month. And that is after my employer's contribution. The congress of commies truly screwed this country over when they passed this law.
What's next? No religious activities in public spaces, no smoking in your home unless your home is designated non-smoking by the landlord, water rationing, gas rationing, food rationing, ammo rationing, tattooed ID on your arm or mandatory microchip implants or you can't participate in society?
We are soooo screwed as a nation and even as I try to do my part to make it better, I am ignored and marginalized by the political elite, told that I am scum because I treasure freedom.
OK, rant over, got a little carried away there.
When I withdraw money, it just goes into whatever account I have set up in a day or two. In the example of my medical bills, I just paid them on a credit card, then paid the credit card when the money came in. That means I also get 1% cash back on that card. This was a shitty year so I'll lose more than that 1% to interest, as will most people, but when you have your act together, it works out pretty well.
As far as record keeping. I try to take a picture of bills with my cell and use CamScan app to download as a PDF. Then you can have a medical expenses folder for each calendar year and keep copies in the cloud and on your external hard drive.
tmjohnson
11-02-2018, 18:57
In July my insurance increased 178.00 a month. Not a notice or nothing.
Government, Lawyers, and Insurance,
Are the three things that people do not need.
-John
crashdown
11-02-2018, 19:48
We went with Medi-Share recently. 1/5th of what insurance would have cost us.
My research shows that Medi-Share is the only health sharing program that works like a PPO, so there are in network doctors that have pre-discounted prices and bill Medi-Share directly. There were plenty of doctors in our area, and our current ones were even already in the plan.
Medi-Share also doesn’t have any tiers for coverage, and no maximum limit that they will pay. There are different monthly amounts based on what you want your family deductible to be.
We have only used it once for a medication refill. They technically don’t cover meds until you meet your deductible, but they give you a savings card for meds, glasses, etc. We used at our normal pharmacy and the scrip went from 94 bucks to 12....
Everyone I know that’s on it loves it, and my doctor said the same thing when I asked her.
We went with Medi-Share recently. 1/5th of what insurance would have cost us.
My research shows that Medi-Share is the only health sharing program that works like a PPO, so there are in network doctors that have pre-discounted prices and bill Medi-Share directly. There were plenty of doctors in our area, and our current ones were even already in the plan.
Medi-Share also doesn’t have any tiers for coverage, and no maximum limit that they will pay. There are different monthly amounts based on what you want your family deductible to be.
We have only used it once for a medication refill. They technically don’t cover meds until you meet your deductible, but they give you a savings card for meds, glasses, etc. We used at our normal pharmacy and the scrip went from 94 bucks to 12....
Everyone I know that’s on it loves it, and my doctor said the same thing when I asked her.
Do you have a link?
Speaking of discount cards, you can just hop online and order some, for free, from where ever. We've used them before and they work and save you money.
crashdown
11-02-2018, 20:26
Do you have a link?
Speaking of discount cards, you can just hop online and order some, for free, from where ever. We've used them before and they work and save you money.
https://mychristiancare.org/medi-share/
We have been using Medi-share for a couple years now. I'm not one to give advise on this subject as my better half does all that stuff!! From my experience we have encountered good things and not so good things. Recently we would have been better off doing self pay at our pediatricians office as that bill would have been $110 self pay vs. $171 through Medi-share. Also, I had an ER visit and I called to ask if the hospital was in network and what cost would be expected. They told me it was in network and I'd only have to pay my ER copay but that ended up being a $900 bill later. On the flip side of that, it went to my deductible. In the end we believe its much better than conventional insurance as it dropped my monthly premium from around $1300 a month($6000 deductible) to $700($2500 deductible) for my little family of three!
I think we're (3) paying around $700 a month already.
Didn't you just pay $6,000 for three stiches?
I fail to see any benefit in paying for "insurance." It's extorsion, plain and simple.
-John
Yep. Feels great. We don't even have dental either and I've had over $1,000 in dental this year alone and that's just me, not including my kid's regular dental visits.
I'd say that if we were in a car accident or something, that's where the insurance comes into play, or some injury that would prevent me from working. I could probably manage $10,000, but anything over that and I'd be in real trouble. That's the thing with health insurance and why the concept of those catastrophic polices has grown in popularity. At this age, I would never go to the doctor unless I'm dying from sickness, broke something, or am bleeding. However, between big game hunting, working on roofs and in damaged structures, and just the amount of time I spend driving, my risk level climbs.
I actually cut myself almost as severely about a week after the stitches (still had them in) on my other hand, but I sure as heck wasn't going back in. I hadn't even gotten the bill yet but I knew I wouldn't make that mistake again.
Obviously there are a ton of scenarios for people such as self employed, employer only has one option, etc. But as someone in the healthcare field I will say that in MOST cases the best option, if available, is a high deductible HSA plan. Most employers pay around $1k into it each year some are way better than that even. Anything you pay in is basically tax deductible so if you are in a 20 percent or so tax bracket when you work it all out its almost like you are getting 20 percent into your hsa for free. It carries over, you never lose it. So if you are pretty healthy and things rarely come up you can easily get into the 10k range after two or three years with minimal cost. The premiums are usually fairly low. And just because it's high deductible doesnt mean things aren't still covered before the deductible. My 4 year old broke his arm and the urgent care in network visit was $950 for xrays, splint, etc but our bill was only $150. >it costs me 200 per month in premiums for 4 with a 4k deductible and 9k max out of pocket. Once you hit the 4k you pay 10 percent up to 9k. Obviously every employer is different but I had a lot of options and that was definitely the best.
All things considered I think some of ben Carson's meeical plan was a decent idea. Basically hsa at birth that Carrie's on forever and can be used to pay premiums. I would even be on board with small government help into the hsa because it would allow you to keep the costs down to tax payers. Give people tax breaks on them. It puts the money in their control so they can make decisions on what to use it on and what to bypass as opposed to things like Medicaid where people never see the costs so they use it on anything and everything they can.
I should mention the high deductible hsa plans are goo if you are overall pretty healthy. If you have a chronic condition or genetic disease or something you have to carefully weigh that because you may end up spending more in the long run.
Obviously there are a ton of scenarios for people such as self employed, employer only has one option, etc. But as someone in the healthcare field I will say that in MOST cases the best option, if available, is a high deductible HSA plan. Most employers pay around $1k into it each year some are way better than that even. Anything you pay in is basically tax deductible so if you are in a 20 percent or so tax bracket when you work it all out its almost like you are getting 20 percent into your hsa for free. It carries over, you never lose it. So if you are pretty healthy and things rarely come up you can easily get into the 10k range after two or three years with minimal cost. The premiums are usually fairly low. And just because it's high deductible doesnt mean things aren't still covered before the deductible. My 4 year old broke his arm and the urgent care in network visit was $950 for xrays, splint, etc but our bill was only $150. >it costs me 200 per month in premiums for 4 with a 4k deductible and 9k max out of pocket. Once you hit the 4k you pay 10 percent up to 9k. Obviously every employer is different but I had a lot of options and that was definitely the best.
I will add that if you go the HSA route and have it at a place that allows you can actually invest the funds. I'm not paid to plug them but I use Optum Banking for mine. You're allowed $3,450 (more if above 55 years old) per year HSA contributions from all sources. My work put about half of that in each year divided by each paycheck and I put the rest in out of my own pocket. You're also allowed to contribute it all at once in the calendar year so if you work with your employer right now to offer a high deductible insurance option before the end of the year and set up an HSA you can literally drop $3,450 in in a single paycheck if you can swing it at year's end to get it going. Get your balance up to twice whatever your deductible is ($3k in my case) and then anything above that goes into mutual funds. You now have a secondary retirement account if you're maxing out your 401k contributions. The best part is you can reimburse yourself for medical expenses whenever. If they're smaller you can pay out-of-pocket and let that money sit in your mutual fund generating interest. Two decades from now that $10 for a prescription will be worth $50 or more. Doesn't sound like much but extrapolate that over sever scripts, Dr visits, massages & other medical expenses. It adds up. Just know that, like with any investments, the potential to lose money also exists but if you believe that over time the stock market will be worth more than it is today it's a solid route to go IMO.
$50 for a prescription 20 years from now. That amuses me. I have prescriptions that are $400/month now.
...maybe in 20 years they'll be generics. [Coffee]
$50 for a prescription 20 years from now. That amuses me. I have prescriptions that are $400/month now.
...maybe in 20 years they'll be generics. [Coffee]
No, I'm saying that $10 you leave in the investment will be worth $50 20 years from now. My Coumadin is $10 now & my doctor's want to put me on the ones that are $400/mo. No thanks.
No, I'm saying that $10 you leave in the investment will be worth $50 20 years from now. My Coumadin is $10 now & my doctor's want to put me on the ones that are $400/mo. No thanks.
Xarelto, eliquis and pradaxa have manufacturer coupons to split the cost with your insurance and can often make them very affordable though not always. When you consider fewer clinic visits for INR checks it sometimes balances out.
$50 for a prescription 20 years from now. That amuses me. I have prescriptions that are $400/month now.
...maybe in 20 years they'll be generics. [Coffee]
PM me what scripts. I'm a pharmacist and might be able to find a way to make them cheaper. Not at my pharmacy either just in general.
That being said I see meds that expensive all the time so it might be a SOL situation.
Xarelto, eliquis and pradaxa have manufacturer coupons to split the cost with your insurance and can often make them very affordable though not always. When you consider fewer clinic visits for INR checks it sometimes balances out.
Trust me, I've already been through all of this. $10 for a 3 month supply of Coumadin and getting my blood drawn every other month for $15 cash is substantially cheaper than the cheapest method of getting any of those other three. I'm counting down the days when generics will be allowed for them because then maybe I can justify the cost but as of right now it's just insane. I'm on coumadin and that crap has been around forever so the interactions are well-known & everyone knows how to deal with it.
So does your insurance pay zero on them? Because if they pay anything there's a good chance to get any of the 3 for around $25
hollohas
11-04-2018, 20:21
Health care costs are astronomical now. We had our 3rd baby in December last year, a C section. Between the hospital bill for mom, the hospital bill for baby and the baby doctor bill for everything leading up to the birth, the total bill was over $38k. Family deductable is $6,000 and out-of-pocket max is $12k so it was a pricey one. So well over $20k last year for medical bills and premiums combined. WTF.
My 1st daughter was born in 2009 and cost us $1,000 out of pocket, all in. (and our premiums were a fraction of what they are now). My, how times have changed. F U Obama care.
I was pleasantly surprised today b/c my company did not raise my rates.
Now a few of us are wondering if we'll get raises.
No, I'm saying that $10 you leave in the investment will be worth $50 20 years from now. My Coumadin is $10 now & my doctor's want to put me on the ones that are $400/mo. No thanks.
If you're on multiple scripts, Coumadin interacts with damn near everything (including your diet), and they're pretty significant interactions. With some of the new boutique blood thinners, what can be a very long list of risky interactions on Coumadin could be significantly reduced to a couple of moderates. Another advantage is when you come off the blood thinners for surgery and go back on again after surgery. Going back on Coumadin can mean quite a few days of Lovenox injections while taking Coumadin to get your levels up. With the newer blood thinners, you can be back to thinned out in a single dose before you leave the hospital.
If you're on multiple scripts, Coumadin interacts with damn near everything (including your diet), and they're pretty significant interactions. With some of the new boutique blood thinners, what can be a very long list of risky interactions on Coumadin could be significantly reduced to a couple of moderates. Another advantage is when you come off the blood thinners for surgery and go back on again after surgery. Going back on Coumadin can mean quite a few days of Lovenox injections while taking Coumadin to get your levels up. With the newer blood thinners, you can be back to thinned out in a single dose before you leave the hospital.
I understand the cons of Coumadin but there are also pros. The fact that it's been around for so long means that the interactions you mention are very well known and for someone like me who is healthy (they still don't know how I ended up with PE in the first place) and only on one med it doesn't really matter. It's inexpensive, consistent and if I get into a car accident or something the antidote is likely not far away since so many are on it Vitamin K and how to use it is common. The interactions with the newer drugs still aren't fully known and they also don't have an antidote for them should it be needed.
I'm not anticipating any surgeries or other hospital stays so coming off and going back on isn't in the future. I did have a couple of oral surgeries while on it though and got pretty good at knowing how much to cut and when to get my INR right under the 1.8 that the Doctor wanted me at prior to surgery. No Lovenox shots afterwards either as I was able to get it back within the therapeutic range (2.0-3.0 for me) pretty easily. Even if I had to give the shots again for a couple of weeks it's not the end of the world and a couple weeks of those is still cheaper than a single month of the self-leveling meds.
The most paramount thing for me though is what I've already mentioned; price. I can pay about $3/mo for Coumadin or about $400/mo for one of the others. Coupons get it down to a little less than half of that but it's still no comparison. I'm not paying that per month for benefits that I personally won't ever see. Maybe years from now if I need to be on another medication, I get insurance that covers it, generics become available or something becomes life threatening I'll consider it.
As of now I'm not too concerned about it and I'm quite happy with my $10 prescription that lasts me three months that I'm not even sure I need to be on to begin with.
In many cases there are lots of medications available and each affects a person differently and has different pros and cons. For me, this one just works. I don't lose sleep over not being able to take one of the others instead (a couple of years ago I was more concerned about it because I thought it was a bigger deal than I soon realized it was) and it's not really something I think about unless it comes up in conversation like this. I eat well, workout 6 days a week, live an active lifestyle and take care of myself. To me, that's the single most important factor to one's health.
This wasn't a thread about any of this though. I was just talking about how useful a HSA is and how you can have that money work for you and take advantage of compounding interest in yet another form of "retirement" account if you play your cards right.
My wife was on coumadin and they wanted her INR to be between 3.5 and 4.0. Was more difficult to maintain at that level. Glad to hear it works for you.
My wife was on coumadin and they wanted her INR to be between 3.5 and 4.0. Was more difficult to maintain at that level. Glad to hear it works for you.
Mine was a lot more difficult early on because they were afraid to keep upping my dosage. I was doing the shots for quite a while in fact and the day I went in and it was 1.9 when I needed to be at 2.0 to get off the shots I almost went postal especially since it was a Friday and I had ONE shot of Lovenox left. I had to go refill that expensive ass prescription to get me through another couple of weeks while I waited for that INR number to get to 2.0 or higher. Now that I'm comfortably within range (almost dead on 2.5 every time now) I'm less inclined to change things up at this point. I put in the time/money investment so now that I've got the data I'm good until something serious comes along to derail it. By then I'll have other options I'm sure.
But yeah, back to the topic at hand. HSA's are dope and everyone should have one!
Singlestack
03-24-2019, 13:42
Xarelto, eliquis and pradaxa have manufacturer coupons to split the cost with your insurance and can often make them very affordable though not always. When you consider fewer clinic visits for INR checks it sometimes balances out.
Im on Xarelto and also have CHM. The only problem is the coupon program requires real insurance with Copays and won't work with CHM. So I buy using a canadian pharmacy - $500/qtr. Thats a lot but quite a bit less than the local pharmacies and given the CHM excellent costs, manageable.
My wife gets her plaquenil ($170/mth through medicare) from a Canadian pharmacy for $35/mth
BushMasterBoy
03-24-2019, 21:34
I went to Mexico and saw a Doctor for $8. He wrote me a prescription. I got the prescription filled for $184. The drugs in the US cost $135K. Yeah it was a bit scary. The VA & military refused to help. eff them and everybody like them...
OtterbatHellcat
03-24-2019, 22:34
There is much to still be proud of about this country and our lives, and lifestyle.
Most certainly eff all aspects of the gov that doesn't take care of it's Vets and their needs, that shit pisses me off big time.
BushMasterBoy
03-25-2019, 16:31
I'm just saying if the drug prices are too high, or the doctors are just incompetent, go south of the border. $135,000 for these medications is absurd. Mr.Shkreli of Turing pharmaceutical has been jailed. And no...I don't have AIDS.
https://www.hiv.va.gov/provider/hivmeds-quarterly/2015/pyrimethamine.asp
The state of our health care just sucks for the masses.
Justice Department sides with court ruling Obamacare invalid (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/justice-department-sides-with-court-ruling-obamacare-invalid/ar-BBVe3Tl)
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday announced that it is siding with a district court ruling that found the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional.
The move is an escalation of the Trump administration's legal battle against the health care law.
The DOJ previously argued in court that the law's pre-existing condition protections should be struck down. Now, the administration argues the entire law should be invalidated.
U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor ruled in December that the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of law is therefore invalid.
The DOJ said Monday that it agrees the decision should stand as the case works its way through the appeals process in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
"The Department of Justice has determined that the district court's judgement should be affirmed," the department said in a short letter to the appeals court.
The move is certain to prompt new denunciations from Democrats, who had already seized on the Trump administration's earlier call for the pre-existing condition protections to be struck down.
That stance was a major issue in last year's midterm elections, and many Republican candidates in tough races struggled with whether to say they agreed with the Trump administration's position.
Many legal experts in both parties think the lawsuit, which was brought by 20 GOP-led states, will not ultimately succeed. The district court judge who ruled against the law in December is known as a staunch conservative.
The case centers on the argument that since Congress repealed the tax penalty in the law's mandate for everyone to have insurance in 2017, the mandate can no longer be ruled constitutional under Congress's power to tax. The challengers then argue that all of ObamaCare should be invalidated because the mandate is unconstitutional.
Most legal experts say legal precedent shows that even if the mandate is ruled unconstitutional, the rest of ObamaCare should remain unharmed, as that is what Congress voted to do in the 2017 tax law that repealed the mandate's penalty.
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