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Calling all rentistas under 45 years old. I am considering applying but the potential monthly caja costs are a cause of concern.
Have you recently been through the application process?
Under 45?
Wife and Kid(s) with you?Please can you let me know what Caja bill you were hit with in your application process.
I have been told to expect anything between US$ 80 and US$ 450 so some first hand testimony would really help. Thanks.
This should give you some idea …
http://www.costaricantimes.com/costa-rica-caja-health-insurance-ups-rates/24947
As a rentista, you will start at the $2500 level and the pain only increases from there.
Lower rates are sometimes available through retirement associations … like ARCR.net
Remember, the CAJA requirement isn’t about making sure that everyone is covered. If that was the case, private insurance would be acceptable.
This is about wringing out the Gringos to bail out a failing system.
In the process, they are only making CR a far less desirable expat destination.
Add to that other Gringo Taxes like the Luxury Tax, etc … and other, far more expat friendly destinations, start to become attractive … even if that means dealing with existential risks like a Daniel Ortega govt or having to fly a few more hours south … to get to a similar latitude on the other side of the equator.
I don’t think there are enough Gringos here to make a difference, meaning bailing out the system. But that’s just my humble opinion! Also, ARCR no longer accepts any new members into the Caja system. And I think I read somewhere that it was the Caja itself that told ARCR they wouldn’t take any more members into their discount program.
Thanks Cheryl,
I didn’t know that. But it does make perfect sense. Once something becomes a regulatory requirement, where is the incentive for CAJA to discount it to anyone? That said, I expect that all discounts will be going away soon and rates will only go up and up. Lol … it’s sort of like watching Obamacare … without the “choice” …
Take care,
Bill
Yes, we were disappointed to learn that. We were told no new Caja discounts through ARCR at their seminar. Oh, well. What can you do? Just go with the flow.
The hubby and I got private insurance through INS, and once we get our residency approved, I think we’ll keep our INS insurance. Of course, that could change in time as the price goes up.
As far as Obamacare, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, although it needs some readjusting. I forget what it would cost the 2 of us when I looked into it. I believe around $350/month for a bronze plan.
I don’t think that’s a terrible price, but since we are paying for insurance here, there is no point in getting that insurance, too.
[quote=”CHERYLJK”]
As far as Obamacare, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, although it needs some readjusting. I forget what it would cost the 2 of us when I looked into it. I believe around $350/month for a bronze plan.
[/quote]My wife and I (both ~55) have the equivalent to a Bronze Plan through a private group. It’s a small bit less than what I see on the exchanges and costs around $550/month and pays for practically nothing until you’ve paid a $6,600 deductible ($13,200 family). We had far better coverage, for less, pre-Obamacare.
I haven’t checked the numbers lately so forgive me if my info is a bit dated but the last time that I looked, there were roughly 13 million Obamacare enrollees with about 9 million of those on Medicaid. The reimbursement rate for Medicaid is so low that most doctors will not take any ( if not “any more”) Medicaid patients. So, now they’re insured but can’t see a doctor except for the emergency room. About half of the cooperatives formed to provide health insurance under Obamacare have gone broke. In my state of 100 counties, there are 23 that don’t have a single exchange insurer option. Most of the others only have one … Blue Cross. They weren’t profitable and insurance companies are in business to make money .. like any other business, I suppose. The number of major health insurers nationwide has fallen from 5 to 3 through mergers attempting to gain economies of scale to offset huge loss runs from Obamacare. Late last year, one northeastern state talked about a bill that would compel doctors to take and treat Medicaid patients. The governor received an electronic letter signed by nearly every doctor in the state promising to leave the state or stop practicing if it passed.
Many things sound good in theory … communism for instance …
We’re all going to work hard for the common good … eat dinner together every evening … and then sit cross-legged around the camp fire holding hands and singing Kum-Ba-Ya …
Only one problem … it just doesn’t work.
And as Maggie Thatcher once said of socialism … “The only problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples’ money.”
This plays into the post about The Persecuted 1% …
They’ve had enough ! They are ready to move, or just sit down, to watch the welfare state collapse around them. About 1 in every 2 Americans receives some type of govt payment … whether that be SS, SNAP, WIC, Medicare, Medicaid, EIC, or any other of a plethora or govt programs.
Now how’s that going to work?
A few numbers to mull over …
Out of a country of about 317 million people … the IRS receives only about 137 million returns with an Adjusted Gross Income of $1 or more …
Of those …
The highest earning 1% pay about 40% of the total collected …
The top 5% pay about 60% of the total collected …
The bottom 50% pay about 3% of the total …
So, let’s put all of that into perspective …
5% of 137 million carry 60% of the total load …
That’s less than 7 million people …
That’s less than the number of people that a recent poll stated that they would permanently leave the US in the next 5 years …
Cheryl,
I was way off on my insurance costs. As I sit here tonight (practically the last minute) trying to key enough info into tax software to kick out an extension (so that I can procrastinate a bit longer), I find that the cost of my health insurance is now reported on my W2. It averaged $937.15 for each of the 12 months of 2015. So, out of curiosity, I popped over to healthcare.gov to get a competitive quote. Not one of those fancy plans, mind you, just a bare bones Bronze Plan like I have now. It turned out to be $1,058/ month.
Did I mention that it paid for practically [B]NOTHING[/B]?
Take care,
Bill
What we would have to pay for a Bronze plan is very similar to the insurance we had when we lived in the States. It was through my husband’s employer. I can remember when we paid roughly $15 for just about any prescription and peanuts for a doctor’s visit. But that was many years ago. I found the Bronze plans to be comparable to what we already had. So for us the coverage was roughly the same. At least with Obamacare pre-existing conditions are covered. Our private insurance here? No. And the bill is due at the end of the month, but I don’t know how much it is for yet. Can’t wait to find out!!
If you wouldn’t find it too intrusive, would you mind posting the approximate cost and coverage when the bill comes ?
Here is a piece of news that bears on our conversation …
[QUOTE]
The country’s largest healthcare company is getting out of the Obamacare business.United Healthcare, which currently covers the most Americans in the US (pending the proposed Anthem-Cigna merger), said in its quarterly earnings release on Tuesday that it is removing its offerings from almost all Affordable Care Act exchanges by 2017.
“The smaller overall market size and shorter-term higher risk profile within this market segment continue to suggest we cannot broadly serve it on an effective and sustained basis,” said CEO Stephen Hemsley in the company’s quarterly earnings conference call.
“Next year we will remain in only a handful of states, and we will not carry financial exposure from exchanges into 2017. We continue to remain an advocate for more stable and sustainable approaches to serving this market and those who rely on it for their care.”
The company had previously said that it was reviewing offering plans through the ACA exchanges, but this is confirmation that the company will remove nearly all of its products come 2017 to remove any financial impact.
The exchanges are state-by-state marketplaces that allow Americans to compare and sign up for now-mandated health-insurance coverage.
Hemsley said that the cost of offering coverage was too high, as those who gained insurance through the exchange were less healthy and thus the company paid out more claims.
“So as we look at it, the early indications on the health status of the members appears to be a little bit worse,” said UnitedHealthcare CFO Daniel Schumacher.
In total, the company expects to lose $650 million on people covered through the exchanges in 2016 after losing $475 million in 2015, according to Schumacher.
The company has also noted that younger people, who are healthier and on net pay into the system to help cover older, less healthy members are not signing up through the exchanges. This is hurting revenue and making it less attractive to the healthcare companies.
According to Hemsley, the company covers 795,000 people through the exchanges as of the end of the March 2016 and at the end if the year he expects to cover 650,000.[/QUOTE]
Take care,
Bill
[QUOTE]Get ready for huge Obamacare premium hikes in 2017
Amid rising drug and health care costs and roiling market dynamics, the spokesperson for the nation’s health insurers is predicting substantial increases next year in Obamacare premiums and related costs.
Without venturing a specific percentage increase, Marilyn Tavenner, the president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), said in an interview with Morning Consult that the culmination of market shifts and rising health care costs will force stark increases in health insurance rates in the coming year.
“I’ve been asked, what are the premiums going to look like?” she said. “I don’t know because it also varies by state, market, even within markets. But I think the overall trend is going to be higher than we saw previous years. That’s my big prediction.”
If Tavenner is right, Obamacare will jump dramatically—last year’s premium for the popular silver-level plan surged 11 percent on average. Although Tavenner didn’t mention deductibles, in 2016, some states saw jumps of 76 percent, while the average for a 27-year-old male on a silver plan was 8 percent.
The warning to consumers from Tavenner, the former administration official who headed the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and oversaw the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, the Obamacare website, comes at a time of growing uncertainty about the evolving makeup of the Obamacare health insurance market. With many insurers struggling to find profitability in the program, the collapse of nearly half of the 23 Obamacare insurance co-ops and this week’s announcement that giant UnitedHealth Group intends to pull out of most Obamacare markets across the country, anticipating future premiums and copayments is largely risky guesswork.
Premiums for the current 2016 season rose on average by 8 percent over the previous year, [B]with 12.7 million Americans enrolling for coverage and government subsidies[/B], according to CMS. Federal officials stress that the average rate doesn’t tell the whole story, and that in many cases after consumers shop around for the best price and government subsidies are applied, the actual premium increase is lower.
The Department of Health and Human Services did a study looking at what consumers were estimated to pay based on initial filings compared to what they actually paid. The study found that last year, the average cost of Obamacare marketplace coverage for people receiving tax credits went from $102 a month to $106 per month, a 4 percent change — despite warning from some of double-digit hikes.
Tavenner’s prediction may well be an opening gambit in the negotiations between the industry and insurance regulators about the 2017 premiums. As Morning Consult noted, many insurers have begun submitting opening bids on raising their premium rates and copayments, which will then be reviewed by the government and finalized this fall.
With a major presidential and congressional election looming this fall, the administration is doing all that it can to tamp down fears of major hikes next year in Obamacare insurance premiums and related out-of-pocket costs. Benjamin Wakana, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson, said on Thursday that changes in health care insurance rates are “not a reliable indicator” of what typical consumers on average will pay. “Marketplace consumers would do well to put little stock in those initial numbers,” he said in an email.
But Tavenner outlined several factors that she could put considerable pressure on premium prices next year. Those include:
— A general rise in the nation’s health care tab. Overall, U.S. health care spending grew by 5.3 percent in 2014 – [B]reaching an historic level of $3 trillion[/B], after years of relative cost stability. Medical costs rise from year to year and will certainly affect the next round of premium hikes.
— Soaring prescription drug prices. Insurers as well as government health care programs have been struggling to keep pace with rising drug prices, especially newer specialty drugs to treat [B]the Hepatitis-C virus[/B] and cancer. Pfizer Inc., Amgen Inc., Allergan PLC and other companies have raised U.S. prices for scores of branded drugs since late December, with many of the increases between 9 percent and 10 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal .
The combination of market forces and limitations imposed by the Affordable Care Act will put enormous pressure on insurers to up their premiums. Under the law, there is a cap on insurers’ profits, [B]companies are obliged to insure anyone regardless of their general health or pre-existing conditions, and the insurance plans must be structured in a certain way that often lead to losses.[/B]
— [B]Finally, two of three federal “risk mitigation” programs created under Obamacare are due to expire in 2017.[/B] Those programs were set up to protect insurers from huge, unexpected losses from providing health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. UnitedHealth and other major insurers have found it difficult to accurately anticipate their costs in providing coverage to sicker or older Americans, and set premiums that were inadequate to cover their risks. Without those programs to fall back on, many companies likely will seek to jack up their premiums.
“It’s kind of a myriad of factors,” Tavenner said in predicting rising premium costs. “It’s not one factor.”
Clare Krusing, director of communications for AHIP, said in an interview on Thursday that health insurance companies “are working through” these factors right now in setting rates for the coming year and deciding whether to participate.
“Plans are just beginning to file their rates, and it’s a long process with state and federal regulators, until those are approved,” she added. “Certainly plans are going to evaluate market conditions and regulatory approvals, and that will all impact their participation overall” in Obamacare.[/QUOTE]
A few interesting elements in this article …
(1) $3 trillion is nearly as much the IRS takes in from all sources …
(2) The course of injections that essentially cures Hep C costs around $84,000.
(3) Imagine trying to run a company where the govt tells you that you have to take a job even if you know that it is going to result in [B]HUGE[/B] losses.
(4) Once the risk bands expire, the rest of the cooperatives will surely fall.
2017 will likely end with only 3 major insurers …
US Healthcare – who has already served notice of it’s Obamacare exit.
Anthem(BCBS)/Cigna – which has generally been the most expensive option in any market.
Kaiser Permanente – which pretty much founded the preventive/managed care model in the US … even incentivizing doctors to limit care so that they could split a percentage of the actuarial cost estimates that were not spent on the patients.
In a short time, the US will have it’s own [B]Liverpool Care Pathway.[/B]
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