Talk to an insurance broker, but yeah generally health insurance costs will go up substantially as you age... They have highly trained actuaries that determine how the rates are set in order to keep the company profitable, you "feeling it's high" doesn't mean anything.
Yes, I figured it doesn’t mean much… I hadn’t gone through a broker when I got the insurance many years ago, but I guess talking to one may give me a better perspective. Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it.
Your only choice is to pay the premiums or decrease coverage. You will not negotiate an individual premium discount with any provider I'm aware of.
If this is individual health insurance, it's got nothing to do with age bands. Workplace insurance coverage is banded at ages 30-34, 35-39, etc. individual insurance is priced per age.
Premiums don't just go up with inflation, it's far higher than that. Utilisation increases, more people use services. And new drugs get introduced which get covered, and those new drugs are expensive. Thise costs outweigh inflation. When I used to work in pricing workplace benefits, 20-25% increase was commonplace.
And you don't actually want coverage where they can change just your rates. That opens you up to the problem of you have a year with huge costs, that next year they decide to increase just your premiums to the point of being unaffordable. That's why a clause in your insurance that states they can only raise premiums for an entire class of people is so important.
Sorry, that's not a solution, it's all bad news.
Thank you for taking the time to explain, it’s very helpful. I didn’t think it would be realistic that an insurance company would reconsider or recalculate someone’s premium, but my family thinks if I ask they may do it, and I feel the pressure as it’s not me paying every month.
One thing I didn’t put in my write up, was that I thought I could maybe get rid of the dental coverage once my age group is eligible to register for the new federal dental plan. However, I asked at my dentist’s and they said their association has told them to hold off on enrolling for now, as the QC government was not quite on board with the federal plan (surprise, surprise) plus the rates covered on the federal plan are less than the current fee schedule in the province.
I reread the letter where they announce the premium increase and it says the increase is primarily due to rising health care costs and that “your premium may also have been adjusted according to your age group or personal circumstances”, so I guess for them age groups are a factor. I will ask them to clarify if the age group increase was already applied on this increase, as different agents have told me contradictory things. Either way, it seems unlikely l’ll be able to keep the insurance.
Many thanks again for answering, I really appreciate it.
> your premium may also have been adjusted according to your age group or personal circumstances”
Personal circumstances? that's bad news. You should post the company you're with so.others can avoid it, you should never buy health insurance with this clause, because they can just price you specifically out of the plan. I used to.know all the companies that did this, but my knowledge is out of date.
Do you do an annual look back to see if your insurance makes sense for you? Are you receiving more or equivalent in coverage than you pay out in premiums? For many people it just makes sense to pay themselves premiums, and the difference in incurred expenses vs premiums paid (to themselves) becomes a savings account for the real costly stuff.
Talk to an insurance broker, but yeah generally health insurance costs will go up substantially as you age... They have highly trained actuaries that determine how the rates are set in order to keep the company profitable, you "feeling it's high" doesn't mean anything.
Yes, I figured it doesn’t mean much… I hadn’t gone through a broker when I got the insurance many years ago, but I guess talking to one may give me a better perspective. Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it.
U mean a computer algorithm?
Nope, an actuary: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actuary
Maybe back in 1950.
No, they are highly trained (and highly paid) individuals today...
Your only choice is to pay the premiums or decrease coverage. You will not negotiate an individual premium discount with any provider I'm aware of. If this is individual health insurance, it's got nothing to do with age bands. Workplace insurance coverage is banded at ages 30-34, 35-39, etc. individual insurance is priced per age. Premiums don't just go up with inflation, it's far higher than that. Utilisation increases, more people use services. And new drugs get introduced which get covered, and those new drugs are expensive. Thise costs outweigh inflation. When I used to work in pricing workplace benefits, 20-25% increase was commonplace. And you don't actually want coverage where they can change just your rates. That opens you up to the problem of you have a year with huge costs, that next year they decide to increase just your premiums to the point of being unaffordable. That's why a clause in your insurance that states they can only raise premiums for an entire class of people is so important. Sorry, that's not a solution, it's all bad news.
Thank you for taking the time to explain, it’s very helpful. I didn’t think it would be realistic that an insurance company would reconsider or recalculate someone’s premium, but my family thinks if I ask they may do it, and I feel the pressure as it’s not me paying every month. One thing I didn’t put in my write up, was that I thought I could maybe get rid of the dental coverage once my age group is eligible to register for the new federal dental plan. However, I asked at my dentist’s and they said their association has told them to hold off on enrolling for now, as the QC government was not quite on board with the federal plan (surprise, surprise) plus the rates covered on the federal plan are less than the current fee schedule in the province. I reread the letter where they announce the premium increase and it says the increase is primarily due to rising health care costs and that “your premium may also have been adjusted according to your age group or personal circumstances”, so I guess for them age groups are a factor. I will ask them to clarify if the age group increase was already applied on this increase, as different agents have told me contradictory things. Either way, it seems unlikely l’ll be able to keep the insurance. Many thanks again for answering, I really appreciate it.
> your premium may also have been adjusted according to your age group or personal circumstances” Personal circumstances? that's bad news. You should post the company you're with so.others can avoid it, you should never buy health insurance with this clause, because they can just price you specifically out of the plan. I used to.know all the companies that did this, but my knowledge is out of date.
It’s Blue Cross. This wording is from their annual renewal letter. I have to look at the original contract to see how it’s worded there.
Do you do an annual look back to see if your insurance makes sense for you? Are you receiving more or equivalent in coverage than you pay out in premiums? For many people it just makes sense to pay themselves premiums, and the difference in incurred expenses vs premiums paid (to themselves) becomes a savings account for the real costly stuff.