Healthcare Marketplace Strikes again

This will be Betty's last year to endure the swampy water of the Healthcare Marketplace. Ever since 2011 she has had to put up with the same crap....misinformation, provider lists that are wrong, fewer choices. and higher prices.  In 16 months she will be Medicare-eligible....we can hardly wait.

Like last year, there is one company in Arizona offering plans for the individual market through the marketplace. Predictably, prices went up 20%. That included a higher deductible, lower hospital cost coverage and a switch to a different hospital system. Whether her primary care doctor or any of the specialists she sees will be under contract for next year is impossible to know until sometime in January, or too late to do anything about it. We do qualify for a monthly subsidy from the government that keeps the total affordable, even with the large monthly bump in price. But, this turmoil every year is taking its toll on my wife.

With lawmakers in Washington unable to either kill the ACA outright or come up with a viable bipartisan alternative, the approach now seems to be to let it slowly twist in the wind, becoming more unattractive and workable until....who knows what? The Republicans don't have the unity to repeal and replace; the Democrats don't have the power to fix it or present an alternative with enough support. Frankly, both parties share the blame in this mess so if there is any finger-pointing it has to cover everyone.

The insurance companies have no idea what to expect, meaning the customers are left to guess what their future holds. It is hard to imagine a scenario where the American health care system could be worse than it has been...well, welcome to the jungle.

At the moment Betty has decided to postpone a needed foot operation until she has Medicare coverage. While we certainly could handle our share of the costs, she refuses to give into a system that is deeply flawed and has made her health care coverage such a painful experience (pun intended). 

What about you? Are you stuck between whatever coverage you had while working but don't yet age-qualify for Medicare? How are you handling the health care problem? Have you explored the H.S.A. option?

Have you finally entered into the safety of the single-payer system after 65? Did you delay medical treatment until then? 

We can't do anything about the mess our system is, but sometimes it helps to vent.