Recent premium increase for United Healthcare coverages

[jphorenci]

I am absolutely appalled at the just announced price increases for United Healthcare coverage. The increase in RX (over 90%) announced during the last open enrollment was enough force me to make a change and now the supplemental health coverage increase (22%) is astounding. As their primary selling agent, you should anticipate my changing to another, more affordable carrier at my first opportunity and hopefully a boatload of others doing the same. Shameful, unjustified, heartless, and ridiculous. Shame on both you and United Healthcare.  

[CBtoo]

And, again, it they need to use their health insurance, if they can't afford a supplement they sure as heck can't afford the out of pocket for an advantage plan since that is even higher. The max for G (supp and B deductible) is FAR CHEAPER than the max out of pocket for a supplement. In this state Wellcare has one of the largest formularies and a $0/ mo premium and a $12/mo premium version (which is the better choice if you tae expensive meds). BOTH D with an advantage plan and D with a supplement have the same, identical $2000 max out of pocket starting in 2025 so that is irrelevant in the comparison.

[GailL1]

The deductible nor the out of pocket doesn’t always have to be paid all at once in a MAPD plan  It is all based on the policy design.  There are many - HMO, PPO, POS

I know people that have had major surgery, stayed within the guidance of the MAPD plans and for a hospital/ provider bill of several hundreds of thousand, they paid less than $ 2000.  

You stay within the guidance of the policy, use network facilities & providers, pay the copays, and whatever else as they occur not all at once.  

I don ‘t care which people pick - it is all gonna go up in the long run - I foresee that traditional Medicare will adopt more managed care in the future to save health care dollars.  Medigap plans will still be around if people want them but CMS may continue to discontinue those with the more lucrative benefits just like in the past - No more Plan J, No more Plan F or Plan C to new enrollees - they will continue this with Plan G - probably around 2030 since they seem to be doing this about every 10-years.  

You know why - right?  To save traditional Medicare money.

As far as Part D - yes, the design is the same whether a basic benefit or an enhanced plan but the MA plan will always have a cheaper cost because it is combined with the rest of the plan in health care savings.

CMS.gov - Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Programs to Remain Stable as CMS Impleme... 

From the link ~SEE the heading of:  Lower Average Total Part D Premiums in 2025

The average stand-alone Part D plan total premium is projected to decrease from $41.63 in 2024 to $40.00 in 2025 (a decrease of $1.63). 

• After the application of MA rebates, which reflects what people in MA plans with prescription drug coverage will actually pay, the average MA plan with prescription drug coverage Part D total premium is projected to decrease from $15.56 in 2024 to $13.50 in 2025 (a decrease of $2.06). 

[CBtoo]

It doesn't matter if they have to pay it all at once or over time with respect to the total they are going to have to pay. IF you have to use a lot of healthcare G will be far cheaper than an advantage plan. And with original medicare the adjusted rate is far lower than the original amount billed too. That is how insurance works. There is the billed rate and then the adjusted rate based on the negotiated rate that the provider has with the insurance company. 

In this state with D we have a $0 premium, a $3, $12.30 too, not just the higher ones. 

With an advantage plan, the zero premium ones, cheapest out of pocket (in network only in this city is) is $4150 plus the B deductible that offers most of the extras advantage plans offer and includes drugs.

The rest of the zero premium ones with meds (around a third of them have no transportation, in home help and about two thirds don't have a cash card or it is $50 or less and almost all of them the B deductible is separate, by federal law the D out of pocket is now separate too and not included in the figures below) the in network out of pocket is:

4,500

5,900

4,400

5,600

7,500

5,900

4,900

6,700

4,900

5,400

7,900

9,350

6,751

5,900

6,900

Some of the above have no out of network coverage at all. 

Every single one of those is more expensive than my G+ premiums, D premiums, and B deductible together compared to the max with any of this states no premium advantage plans that include a drug plan.

[GailL1]

And if you have another Medigap plan other than G, you may have less in premium cost but more in out of pocket. 

Is $ 2870 (2025) too much to pay for health care?  That’s all one would have to pay for a High Deductible Plan G and the premiums would be MUCH, MUCH lower.  This deductible even includes the $ 257 (2025) Part B deducitble that everybody with a Medigap has to pay - Once that $ 2870 (2025) is met on the HD Plan G Medigap it performs just like any other Plan G.  So one has the best of both worlds.  If everybody had chosen this type of HD Medigap plan, premiums would be a lot lower - in fact even our Part B premiums would be lower because people would think twice before using the benefit for anything that isn’t necessary.  

[jo85336578]

I am currently on AARP/UHC Plan G but with the recently announced premium increases, the total cost of having this G plan in 2027  along with the annual Part B deductible will exceed the cost of a HD-G plan $41) plus the entire annual HD-G deductible (worse cases). In the best case, I would save literally thousands of dollars with HD-G. Details follow in a post that I made elsewhere on the AARP Medicare board:

Is the wealth / cash flow problem in America forcing seniors to pick Medigap Plan G over HD-G?

Once a senior sees that the total annual cost of Plan HD-G premiums  (around $495) plus the annual deductible (this year $2950) in my case exceeds the annual cost of Plan G's premiums (my actual announced $3270) plus the $283 annual Part B deductible and sees that in either the best case or worst case scenario, the HD-G plan would save the senior money, the only reason I can imagine for not choosing the HD-G plan is the seniior's lack of wealth or cash flow to support the irregular cash flows (but lower expense) of the HD-G plan.

Some have said that they fear being on HD-G in a future that they ima gine will bring higher medical expenses. That is simply illogical because the HD-G pays the same as G once the annual deductible is met. (And the deductibles actually paid are already included in the worst (or best) case scenarios described above.

Some have mentioned perceived fear of not meeting medical underwriting to get back to either G or N. To that I ask, "Why you ever want to return to G or N" after enrolling in HD-G?  In coming years and for the rest of your life, the monthly premiums of either G or N are expected to ilancrease much more than HD-G. 

So it must be a worry that you cannot afford to possible irregular cash flows associated with HD-G. May I suggest that before signing up for HD-G, you establish a separate FDIC-insured savings account to pay for your HD-G monthly premiums ($41 in my case) plus any deductibles that you might have. And if I were to establish a separate savings account to pay for a Plan G (for its monthly premiums of $3270 plus the Part B deductible), I would have to deposit a greater amount. So while the cash flows would be irregular, the cost of Plan G would , in my case for 2027, would be greater than the cost of HD-G.

The figures above the 2027 premiums of a HD-G plan I have found from N.C. BCBS (for NC residents only) and the announced 2027 premiums of $270 for an AARP/UHC Plan G with spousal and new member discounts. I would bet with a high level of certainty that future G premiums will rise faster and more than HD-G premiums. 

[CBtoo]

Your example is yet another reason why a supplement is cheaper than an advantage plan if you end up with enough health care to meet your maximum out of pocket (or meet more than you'd pay with a supplement). I was only comparing G+ and didn't bother to list all the rest of the supplements since G+ from AARP UHC has some of the extras that advantage plans include and it is closer (but not identical) to apples to apples for benefits. 

[kasyy]

  That's about the best condensed explanation of how it works!I have said so many times to the advantage plan users "Just wait until you get sick" because then you better have the money (thousands) put away to pay for all that time you had that "free" advantage plan.

[AARPConsumerCare]

Hi Nicole! We're sorry to hear you’re having trouble with one of our benefit providers. We are listening and would like the chance to help as soon as possible. Please visit https://help.aarp.org/s/article/contact-aarp to chat, text, or speak with a representative who can get you in touch with our Member Relations team. -Sue J

[SummerOnTheWay1]

➡️*** 3/18/24 WRONG NAME ***⬅️

Hey Sue J @AARPConsumerCare , LAURA @LauraA422032 is the person who posted a complaint TODAY. Thanks, Nicole

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[*** SUE @AARPConsumerCare wrote:

Hi  ➡️*** Nicole! ***⬅️  We're sorry to hear you’re having trouble with one of our benefit providers. We are listening and would like the chance to help as soon as possible. Please visit https://help.aarp.org/s/article/contact-aarp to chat, text, or speak with a representative who can get you in touch with our Member Relations team. -Sue J ***]

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[AARPConsumerCare]

Hi @jphorenci, we are also concerned by price increases that in some cases would double the cost of people’s monthly premiums. AARP knows that any increases, let alone ones on this scale, are difficult to manage – especially for people on fixed incomes. A major driver of these increases is the underlying prices of prescription drugs charged by pharmaceutical companies. It is why AARP has fought so hard to bring down those prices, including by allowing Medicare to negotiate for better prices on behalf of consumers. Thanks to the law that passed last year, Medicare now has that ability with the first negotiated prices taking effect in 2026.

The current Part D premium increases are not unique to the AARP-branded Medicare Rx Part D plans from UnitedHealthcare and are happening across the industry. UnitedHealthcare has informed us that their goal is to provide valuable, sustainable, and affordable plans for Medicare members. According to United, although premiums for most Medicare Part D plans change each year, it has worked hard to minimize those increases over the past few years. If you are interested in learning more about other available plans during open enrollment, please contact Medicare directly at: 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), or visit: medicare.gov/plan-compare/ to use the comparison tool. - Diana G.

[jphorenci]

Oh please. Your response is nonsense. I replaced United Healthcare/AARP RX coverage with a competitor's offer and got significantly better coverage for 1/4 the monthly premium. Yes I said 1/4 the United Healthcare premium. Plus, deductibles and copays are also 90% lower than they were with United Healthcare. One reason is the tier classification of our drugs are now much more favorable than UH. Your excuse is a joke. Maybe you should check the marketplace like I did to see for yourself. Just considering the RX plan, my wife and I are now saving well over $1,500 a year on identical medications.

[EvanW205162]

I noticed the increase when I added up the newly split premiums - and I searched to see anything about a rate increase - and found this thread.

I don't recall getting any type of notification of a rate increase.  I would think that a notification should have been sent out.  Not happy.