My healthcare premiums used to be so low that I did not even really think much about them. Recently, double digit percentage increases every year have made the monthly premiums a crushing burden, the largest monthly expense I have.
My current policy and company are no longer available for 2017.
In fact, on the exchange, the cheapest plan, the CHEAPEST, for 2017 is 35% higher than what I am paying now.
I flirt every year with the 400% line (self employed) so I never know if I am going to receive a subsidy or not.
What idiot thought it would be a good idea to charge me, a guy who hits the gym 6 days a week and eats and extraordinarily healthy diet, the exact same premium as some diabetic Aids infected fat slob ]MOD EDIT: Come on.] who sits on the couch all day eating processed wheat based desserts? It does not take a Nobel prize in economics to predict what was going to happen to my premiums in that scenario, but this is exactly what the ACA did.
It would be like charging the exact same monthly premium for car insurance to a safe driver with no record and a guy with several DUIs and accidents. Complete lunacy.
In my area there is only one provider left on the exchange. All of the others have fled. They are losing money even with the higher premiums.
You have to love government interference in the marketplace.