Submitted by buttergams t3_ykko18 in vermont
I'm new to the world of healthcare (24 y/o), and found out that state healthcare enrollment started this month. I went through and am apparently approved, but all the plans I'm seeing are around $650 MINIMUM a month.
Is that seriously how expensive state healthcare is? Is there no option available for low income families? The lowest deductible I'm even seeing is $9,100. Insane.
Cannot stress this post enough.
Holy shit that is amazing. That's not normal in comparison to other states.
Vermont state government adds in additional subsidies on top of the federal subsidies to help with the cost of the premiums. This is part of the reason why Vermont’s uninsured rate is so low (about 3% are uninsured last time I checked)
That's beautiful. I don't mind paying a little more in taxes to help people stay healthy.
There it is. Love the way you think!
We end up paying regardless if they get unhealthy down the road. Damned if you do damned if you don't.
I agree 100% unfortunately a lot of people don’t think like that,
Another reason Vermont's uninsured rate is low: The state requires you to have insurance.
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This. Sounds like OP is posting a pre-subsidy price.
I have insurance through my employer, but my total policy premium is $1500/month for my wife and I, and I pay 20% of that out of pocket pre-tax. So yes, health insurance is very expensive.
Sound's like a State job.
Okay, I'll look in to it! A friend said that after I apply for a plan they offer subsidy options, which I think is weird.
Sounds familiar, but I don't think you have to sign up for anything before knowing what the subsidies are. Part of the application is determining how much subsidy you'll get.
Add all of your basic information in first to see your personal Federal Tax Benefit. Then, if you’re employer qualifies, they can give an additional amount through QSEHRA that you can claim monthly. It brought my original bill of $790/month to 0 out of pocket.
Welcome to our fucked up system. Also known as the only developed country that does not provide universal healthcare.
And where everything is grossly overpriced
And corporate profits are at an all-time high.
That is definitely how expensive healthcare is. BUT, the state doesn't provide healthcare. You are shopping for a private insurance plan through a state exchange.
Dang. I was under the assumption it was a form of free healthcare. Good to know, at least
No free healthcare until we vote out those that block it. Get yourself active. Vote blue.
Are you talking federal, or state
I’m taking school board, I’m talking mayor, I’m talking county, state, federal, if it’s an elected office you can choose someone who supports basic human rights or you can choose someone who doesn’t. Most politicians start small, and if the Republican playbook has taught anything it’s that winning small insignificant local elections allow you to redraw maps in larger more significant elections.
Honestly it amazes me that there is even a discussion. The platforms are just so different… I dont understand how any good person can support a platform that opposes healthcare, that opposes woman’s equality, that opposes gay rights, that opposes education, that opposes public institutions, that opposes economic justice, the list of their opposition goes on, and it seems the only things they support are keeping white men (I’m one so I benefit from this) propped up and in power.
I’m voting for you!
> The platforms are just so different
Red team and blue team differ on plenty of things, but are they really so far apart on healthcare? It's not like the Dems are working overtime to get universal healthcare done. (Biden said he'd veto it even if it passed the house and senate, lol.) During Obama's brief period with a supermajority, all we got was a blue-branded version of a Heritage Foundation policy paper, to the right of even the Clintons' limp-wristed effort in the 90s.
Meanwhile even right-wing opponents of universal healthcare at Koch-funded thinktanks have been saying for years that M4A would save $300 billion yearly. I suspect they're willing to be so out in the open about that instead of spreading FUD in the usual Republican style (see climate change) because they know there's no party willing to even try for M4A, despite the obvious material, economic benefits for regular people.
Only people who think like me are good people!!!! What a balanced and level headed worldview.
So to be clear people who oppose:
Woman’s rights Civil rights Gender equality Economic equality Voting rights Gay rights Public education Healthcare as a right Keeping school kids safe Reigning in police brutality And support: Tax cuts for the rich War for economic gain Gerrymandering and disenfranchisement Religious freedom only if you are Christian Etc
Are good people?
I’m not saying that my way of thinking is the only right way, I’m saying that there is a baseline of decency, and currently one party isn’t meeting thst threshold. We can disagree on whether healthcare for all should be fully socialized or just a public option… but there isn’t an argument that stands for fully private.
We can disagree on what steps we take to reduce abortion levels whether it be family planning, or better sex education, but there is no argument that holds that a woman should die because a fetus is miscarrying and she can’t get medical help as a doctor cannot legally end the pregnancy safely.
We can disagree on election security whether it’s a free ID sent to every registered voter automatically, or vote by mail based code or whatever, but there is no argument to be made that we should limit who can vote, or that we should put up any barriers reduce polling places drop offs mail in etc that disadvantages certain voters.
We can disagree on whether the tax rate for Elon musk should be 90% or 70%, but there is no argument to be made that his tax rate should be lower than mine.
> Vote blue.
If the Dems were actually going to do anything about universal healthcare, this would be a good option. Instead, almost none of them mention it, even the "progressives" don't even want a vote on it, and the "most progressive president since FDR" said he'd veto Medicare for All even if it passed the house and senate.
Even the worst-case right-wing estimates from Koch-funded think tanks that hate universal healthcare estimate M4A would save $300 billion a year. My family would have saved ~$2500 a year under Bernie's M4A plan, just in premiums. My fucking deductible was 14k last year.
> No free healthcare until we vote out those that block it.
Hear, hear. Regular people can get this done if we band together and make politicians - of all parties, especially the dems - fear that we won't vote for them if they don't deliver things that benefit us in real, material terms, like universal healthcare.
There is no such thing as free healthcare. Free to you doesn't mean free. You'll pay for it one way or another. Higher taxes or cuts elsewhere. They need to first control the cost of healthcare and stop letting companies charge one price for drugs here and a much cheaper price elsewhere. They can lower the cost to start with. And then decide on what system to use. Either way it's not free. And wait times are crazy, in many countries with the government paid 'free' healthcare. Many have to end up going private and paying out of pocket to see a doctor unless they want to wait 6 months. So not all roses and sunshine. But they can do better and limit the profits of the healthcare system. Negotiating costs in more circumstances would be a small start.
We are already all paying for the shitty system that provides profits at every level. It should be 100% government. You get cost in-line by stopping the pay per service shit. I’m in favor of totally socialized medicine, that would be Dr’s being government employees or contractors, medical facilities being government owned etc.
But in my eyes free is not costing more than today. If we could go socialized for what we pay today that would be a win. And really we could do it for much less. Between myself and my employer my healthcare costs $12,000 a year. On top of that I have a 3k deductible. So my baseline is 15000 a year in cost for healthcare. Everyone bitches “well taxes will go up” but they fail to realize that currently wages are just held down in equal proportion.
Now so far this year I’ve not been to the Dr, in 2021 I went to the Dr a total of 0 times, in 2020 1 time in 2019 3 times. I see a nurse when I go and have never met the dr who is my PCP.
Most studies say that a 6% flat income tax split between payroll tax and the worker would be enough to fund full socialized medicine. That would be a 70% reduction from what is currently being paid for my health insurance. If you ask me that’s free…
Sure that means that Elon and Bill are getting a higher bill for their insurance, but I assume that my corporate gig scenerio is pretty common cost wise today, and if you do the math, we are looking at 250k annual income as the spot where 6% would become more than the 15k in current cost. So this would be a tax cut/expense cut for 90% of households.
> But in my eyes free is not costing more than today. If we could go socialized for what we pay today that would be a win. And really we could do it for much less. Between myself and my employer my healthcare costs $12,000 a year. On top of that I have a 3k deductible. So my baseline is 15000 a year in cost for healthcare. Everyone bitches “well taxes will go up” but they fail to realize that currently wages are just held down in equal proportion.
It's even better than that. Under Bernie's M4A plan, my family would have saved ~$2500 yearly, just in premiums, not counting copays and deductibles. (My family's deductible was $14k last year, lol.) Even Koch-funded thinktanks that oppose universal healthcare have admitted for a few years now that M4A would save $300 billion a year.
Keeping the current private system is the fiscally irresponsible option. We're basically flushing $300 billion down the toilet, so that a few people atop a useless, parasitic industry can buy yachts. It's insane.
It's still not free. You should call it government subsidized or government paid. But someone will still pay. Even if you pay less. Dog shit is bigger then mouse poop, but It's still shit. My healthcare actually costs almost twice as much as yours but I have no deductible and employer pays 80 percent. I'd rather get more of that back in my paychecks, but I like being able to see a doctor when I want. And I don't go often, but when I do, it's a doctor. Socialized healthcare is better if they can give more people healthcare but at a lower cost. But I don't think it'll cost less and because Americans are fat ass and unhealthy, wait times will go up. I don't think just copying European style healthcare is the best idea. But they need to control cost and make it affordable to all. which they can do. They can lower cost, set prices. Make healthcare not for profit and compete with pharmaceutical companies to make drugs if necessary. No shareholders, just money that goes back into public coffers.
God forbid you have to wait rather than just immediately not getting the care you need!
OP very obviously means free health insurance, which can literally be free to the individual. Get off your soapbox. Also most of what you said is quite biased. Wait times in the US aren’t significantly better than other western countries. Western countries with socialized medicine also pay less for care overall (even if it comes in the form of a tax vs an insurance payment) vs the extremely high cost of care in America.
try to apply for medicaid, if youre approved this is your best bet.
It's part of the Affordable Care Act
Vermont's attempt at that imploded like 10 years ago
Shitty attempt by a shitty governor*.
Also presumably anybody talking about universal healthcare is talking about it on a national level.
It's worth remembering that when Shumlin canned single payer in 2014, the report he waved around at his infamous press conference said the opposite of what he claimed: even in the worst-case scenario, the overwhelming majority of Vermonters would have come out ahead under single-payer. The media, even VPR, just transcribed his lie and repeated it over and over. Meanwhile, the case for single-payer is even better now, since costs have roughly doubled since 2014, making the choice to maintain the current system even more fiscally (and morally) irresponsible.
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"Free" is relative- someone, somewhere, is always paying. Also, even if you have health insurance, you're not out of the woods if you need to use it. You'd think, with what we pay, that it could at least be a bit easier to use.
The someone somewhere paying for everything in the US is Janet Yellen. As long as the money printer is on creating money from nothing and people allow her to assign it a value and trade it for goods and service everything is free if we want it to be. Janet could just print and extra 500b into the system. That’s how everything else works… bank bailouts, auto industry bailouts, Covid relief, foreign aid, military budge. It’s all just Janet YOLOing that printer till China calls and ends the party.
Welcome to America, the only first world nation with no universal healthcare, coupling inferior coverage and results with #1 in the world costs
Inferior coverage AND May higher cost!
Japan has single payer and the overall cost is HALF of what we are paying. aND better outcomes.
Anyone who argues against si for payer is sucking at the corporate tit.
You should really do some research into how well nationalized healthcare is doing in Britain and many other countries. The reality is many people rely on private hospitals in those countries because systems like the NHS are so backlogged and overwhelmed. Not saying America's system is doing great for poor people, but many of these idealized nations systems are not ideal if you just scratch under the surface a bit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-60305502
I spent the first 27 years of my life in the UK. I know the NHS well and I still stand by my statement, as does the WHO
Yes but I watch Fox news religiously and have never left the country. I think I'm a little more knowledgeable than you regarding UK healthcare. /s
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Thanks Obama!
Actually, it was the Republitards who blocked the public option that would have actually controlled costs. Specifically Scott Brown.
That's hilarious.
You’re being facetious right?
Well, yeah. He's the one who squandered his parties brief supermajority on a milquetoast rehash of a Heritage Foundation policy paper, giving us a policy to the right of the Republican counter-proposal from the 1990s. He's the one whose staff admitted years later that they never wanted a public option, and certainly not universal healthcare, and that the Obamacare insurance mandates - massive corporate welfare for the useless, parasitic insurance industry - were where they hoped to arrive at via negotiations all along.
Marry a Canadian!
Go on…
I could only hope!
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Apocrypha.
And what’s your point, anyway?
Here is the good ol USA I have an appointment next week that took me six months to get, and I’m on their “priority list” because of my previous diagnosis.
All the shit for profit healthcare boosters say will happen with single payer already happens with the current system.
So, I’m not convinced. Even if you do follow other subs. Dummy.
Look, I’m pro socialized healthcare, but I am NOT for the Canadian system. Downvotes be damned, this is how I feel.
Hahaha we wait that long here and end up in 1000s of debt.
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> Look if the people under the systems say it’s bad I believe them. It’s simple for me.
Same here. That's why I believe the ~90% of Canadians who want nothing to do with the American system.
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Um, I can do and am doing that right here in the US of A. Ear still clogged up after a sinus infection that started end of August, ENT at UVMMC can't see me until January. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s the sticker price but you should get a significant chunk subsidy from the state to knock that price down unless you make a lot of money
This! Make sure you fill out the application correctly so you can get your health insurance plan subsidized.
You will get a big subsidy. Call them and talk it through with them. You will be paying a LOT less than $650 / month.
Good to know. I'll shop around then!
If you’re making a relatively modest salary, your subsidy should be at least 400-500 per month, definitely look for some advice from a pro!
1 person income (up to $118,000) will receive some level of subsidy.
If you’re in the Burlington area, I highly recommend going to UVM Medical Center and talking to their Financial Assistance Program. They can help get you through the insurance process in the least painful way possible and find options that actually work.
Calling the state run insurance call center would be just as easy. I called once and thought I would be on hold forever, ended up being only like 5-6 min.
Good to know! My only experience with them happened to be while my (now husband) was at UVM, so it was easier to deal with it in person. But if phone is an option, that’s awesome!
In addition to what everyone else mentioned about the subsidies, if your parents work provides healthcare you still qualify to remain on their plans until you are 26. This continues to apply pretty much regardless of any other life circumstances too. Obviously not everyone is so lucky, but I figured I should mention it.
I work for a national employer and our heathcare plans are over $800 a month with a family plan. It's nuts. Considering that's with a 5k employee plan.
Also Cigna is shit in VT
It is a ploy to make healthcare as complicated as possible
Both parties ensure that we will never have socialized medicine. We have a garbage system set up and written by big pharma. The guy that helped write the ACA them immediately left to go work for big pharma. They used to be the bad guy
Go through the process of signing up it will apply the subsidy you qualify for as others have said. My plan is like $900 a month but its literally like a three dollars a month after all the ACA stuff is applied.
Someone already posted it, but I’m posting it again for more visibility: the posted prices are the full price. When you purchase a plan you give income data that then makes you potentially eligible for a subsidy. If you’re in the right bracket, you can potentially pay nothing. The full retail price is for folks who in theory can afford to pay that, and paying the high prices funds the subsidies for others.
Welcome to adulthood in the US. Wait until you add dependents, or figure out that teeth and eyes aren't part of healthcare. Don't get sick, don't call an ambulance, and prepare a good sob story for your gofundme.
Enjoy making health decisions based on financial considerations like nowhere else in the industrialized world.
This bubble will have to burst, but because no one has a choice but to stay alive, we'll have to weather many more years of gouging. In the meantime the U.S. life expectancy will keep declining, like nowhere else in the industrialized world.
I used to work signing people up for insurance through the Vermont health connect. If you qualify for Medicaid it is free. When you apply they look at your income. If you are a low income family I would make sure they have everything correct in the system. Mistakes are very common.
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You’ll find better plans through your employer.
I am not familiar with the Vermont Health Connect but do know that there are frequently many problems and they often get the amount of subsidies (for lower income people) wrong - can lead to hours on the phone to sort it out. My parents have had luck with Vermont Legal Aid when they have gotten to a point that VHC just will not work for them though my parents have found somewhere what they should expect to be getting based on income.
Watch out for the copayments and deductibles on the lower priced plans. Paying a bit more for the plan for a lower deductible is sometimes a bit more worth it. I suggest calling and asking someone to go over the exact coverage with you. They can be very confusing even for me who used to work there.
This is a shame. I remember paying $290 a month in the early 2000's with no deductible / 100% coverage! I also had dozens of insurance companies to choose from. They need to let competition back in. No competition= stupid high prices and the screw you high deductible plans.
Also with a deductible that high you mind as well go uninsured unless you regularly spend 9,000 a year in health care. You will never end up using that coverage. I have kidney disease, hypermobility and spondylolisthesis and spend under $2,000 a year for care without insurance. Granted I'll have to get insurance once I need dialysis or back surgery... I'll figure that out when the time comes.
I paid about $150 a month for a great plan, with income of about $25K - it was MVP. Then I went on Medicare.
Insurance means crap up here when there isnt enough Doctors to see anyone.
I have insurance and have to pay 1000s out of pocket to see a dentist because nobody takes the right insurance and most won't even take new patients even if they did.
that sucks to hear. I haven't had proper insurance in years, so I hope I can find one that's accepted in the area.
If you’re low income you may be able to qualify for subsidies on the public marketplace. Gold plans are going to have lower deductibles. If you’re healthy enough to qualify you might want to talk to an advisor to go over your private options.
From what I could tell, I couldn't qualify for subsidies unless I made >$19k/year. I am waiting for my renewal application to be processed, so maybe I'll see a difference when that's finalized.
At this point I think I'm just aiming towards Medicaid
Even so, $650 a month with a high deductible is ridiculous especially for a 24 year old. No obligation of course, but I am a licensed agent and I can show you some other options if you’re interested.
If you’re pretty healthy and don’t have the need for frequent appointments, I’d recommend looking into a health share (there are some that don’t require religious affiliation). I pay about $200/month which includes my health share (that includes one 100% covered per year and shared costs for other medical needs) and a DPC membership with a local doctor, which gives me unlimited visits throughout the year with her. This ended up being cheaper than insurance for me with way more coverage
No subsidy plans in CT are up 25%. Actually they eliminate the old plan so nobody can complain about a rate hike on their existing plan. Just for reference no subsidy in CT about $1,100 up from $800 with similar high deductible.
Vermont sucks for health care. It’s a situation where if your work doesn’t have a health care plan through it, you better just never need to see the doctor ever again
That's America in general
That’s just not true. The state exchange has great support and offers subsidies for a huge number of individuals.
DaddyBobMN t1_iutxcl4 wrote
If you are eligible for a subsidy it will greatly reduce your cost. My coworker literally pays $0.11 a month after his subsidy.
Plan costs and subsidy values vary, but you will most likely end up closer to the 11 cents than the $650.