For Many, Health Care Relief Begins Today

I have been forewarned by my company that my insurance premiums are about to go way way up or my coverage

I'm surprised to hear that, joe. Your company may have to go shopping for better insurance. The reality is that costs will go down a little bit for most of us. The difference is that, prior to HCR, costs were going up year after year. But, we are in the middle of implementing this reform. There will be an adjustment period.

5. The vast majority of people will not see significant declines in premiums. When President Obama talks about premiums going down, he usually means they won't go up as much as they would otherwise. For the 4-out-of-5 who get their insurance through their employer, the savings would land in the 0 to 3 percent range by 2016, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO. People who buy insurance on their own, but who don't qualify for government subsidies, could actually see their premiums rise by as much as 10 to 13 percent, but that's largely because they'll be getting beefed-up policies that would pay for more basic services, especially preventive care. Low-income people who qualify for new credits to buy insurance would see the biggest drops.

Source: Political Truths Link

I just know I have been warned that the policy options are all more expensive.

And I agree, that is a scary thought, especially in this economy. But, some of it, IMO, is posturing by the health care industry, until after the Nov. 2010 elections. The truth of the matter is that HCR will bring them more business - an extra 30 million worth. Their stocks are soaring because their stock holders know it.

You and I both know that our healthcare costs have steadily gone up over the last 10 years and the coverage has steadily grown less. I think we need to give this reform a try: we can't go back to what failed before. My overall costs have gone up almost 300% within the last 5 years. And we have GOOD insurance. My daughter gets allergy shots. When she first started six years ago, they cost $1.25 per shot out of pocket. Now they cost $15.59 per shot. My other daughter, now a Junior at college would have been dropped once she graduated. But now, she'll stay covered through grad school. I look at HCR as a positive for my family.

But saying that, I hear you - you know I do. I hope you don't get hit with a sky-high premium. And on a side note, I wonder how the health care industry would respond if companies started baling out of policies that treated them in this way. Sort of as a protest to these unfair hikes. Again, this type of thinking is a new concept towards healthcare, but they've been grossly unfair to their customers for too long.