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.  

[JenniferG338805]

I am also appalled. Didn’t they make millions in profits?  Did they learn nothing when their CEO was assassinated and public opinion was unsympathetic?  Or are they intending to deny care less to those in MA plans, and are raising our rates to pay for it?  But we chose the costlier supplement plans and are being penalized with big rate increases. Mid-year, when we can’t change insurers. Appalling!

[m492773m]

In addition to the increases, my sister has both UH for her Medigap and prescription coverage. Last year her EPO was covered completely. This year, they want $750 per month. We cannot afford a medication that is necessary. Other drugs she’s taking—most generic—are now more expensive. I decided not to go with AARP when I turned 65 this year because the premium was too high. AARP should look for a different provider because UH has a bad rep for a reason. 

[GailL1]

@m492773m 

As a result of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2024, there were LOTS of changes to Medicare prescription drug plans for 2025.  That’s why there is an open enrollment period between October 15 - December 7 so that everybody on Medicare prescription Drug coveage or a MA plan with an included Prescription has a chance to review all the policy changes for the up and coming year and make changes according to their needs.

Did your sister review her plan and make sure her medication was covered for 2025 - she may have need to make a change.  Formularies changed as well as the total out of pocket seniors will have to pay.

She should read her explanation of benefits sent to her by her particular drug plan in the fall of last year.  Prescription drug plans change some every year - a little or a lot - it was a lot of changes for the 2025 plans.  This is why you don’t just pick one and let it ride - because the drug you need may not be covered in the formulary or it may have changed tiers and other type conditions could be added to a particular drug like step therapy or quantity limits or pre approval.

[RayM920964]

In response to all of the comments about UHC, the fact remains that there has been a continuous pattern of claim denials and increasing profits for this company.

Here are the facts.

1. UHC denies more claims than any other health insurer

2. UHC is a for profit entity and raises their premiums higher because of both health care costs and to increase their profits.

3. UHC also very aware that patients will sometimes need to jump through hoops to challenge a claim denial through legal means which means time and money. It can result an a reversed decision on the claim, but it can be a long, painful process.

4. UHC is using AI algorithms in determining a claim eligibility

5. AARP promotes UHC and receives royalties from them.

You can research everything I stated, along with UHC and their overall profit margin, and come up with a fair and educated understanding of the problem.

Here are possible and ways to address the problem.

1. Write or call your Congressman or Congresswoman. I contact my elected officials often, and I ask them what they plan to about about a specific problem and I follow-up. The more people who get their elected officials involved, the more things will get accomplished.

2. Contact AARP and have them rationalize their continued support of AARP. My own response to AARP is that they need to look for health insurers who better serve its members. Unfortunately, I am taking it a step further and will not renew my AARP membership. They are not looking out for our interests. Plus, I don't need the coupons and the articles they publish that I can find anywhere online.

IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP.

[kasyy]

I left back In mid year when they raised my plan n by 28%.  However the only way I could do that was because my husbands union has a plan with guaranteed acceptance for retired union members.  I was lucky to get into their plan F for the same premium as that plan n - and now I see if I had not switched I would have been in for another increase!!  What I am trying to say is if you have any union affiliations check it out.  And my last bit to get out of my system is these Advantage plans - they are the "best" scams to come along in years.  And the government and AARP is pushing them along.!  It is truly appalling - and when you do not have the help to navigate it many are falling victim to these "advantage" plans.  Shameful..

[CarolynBI]

Every state has a SHIP medicare office where people can get free advice on what to sign up for, how to change, get their questions answered, etc. These people are NOT agents so have no financial incentive to have you sign up for one program or one company over another, get no commissions, bonuses, etc.. Those having trouble navigating the "system" can call them for help. They can be called year round.

One of the reasons why there are so many people in advantage plans is that free agents (eg who do not work for one of the insurance agencies) get a higher commission (usually around twice as much) to sign people up for those than for supplements and D. So what do many (but not all) of those agents do?  They try to get people to buy advantage plans as then they make more money.

One argument agents use is that person is healthy so they will save money. Yeah while they are healthy. But when they are not healthy in most instances the out of pocket max is higher than any premium for a supplement and it's out of pocket maximum. And when they are sick they find that their limited network works to their disadvantage (in some of the largest cities with good health systems it isn't as bad as there as they do have access to top systems, however in most smaller cities, more rural areas, etc. that is not the case) and often then it is too late to switch to a supplement at an affordable price or at all (eg they will now fail underwriting and if they can switch they no longer qualify for tier 1 prices - the ones you qualify for when you first sign up, have guaranteed issue so can switch without having to undergo medical underwriting, live in a couple of states where you can switch each year,  or are healthy -  and instead are paying 2 and 3 times as much). 

Of course some people are lured by cash cards that many of these plans offer. Sure $280/mo sounds like a lot and if you just miss getting medicare plus medicaid (so have little to no medical costs) that can make a difference but if you get sick and you don't also have medicaid your out of pocket is usually higher than what those cards add up to. Not to mention when you want to be treated at a better health center you either can't because it is out of network and they won't pay a penny or find if you use an out of network center and they do pay the costs can be as much as $12-14,000. 

People also like they offer some money towards dental, vision and hearing aids but often what is offered isn't all that much. These benefits can change over the life of advantage plans as there is no law they have to stay the same. For example many advantage plans in 2025 only offer to pay for dental cleaning instead of what they used to offer which is to pay part of fillings, etc. up to a financial limit.

If you want high quality lenses for your glasses the chains that accept the advantage plans are often the discount ones who don't offer those. With progressive lenses the expensive ones give you a much wider area of clear vision than the cheap ones. The difference is only a couple of hundred of dollars. Yes if you are living on the edge that is a lot, but many who sign up for advantage plans are not living on the edge.

You want cheap hearing aids - pay $60 to join Costco and they are about half price there and they offer some high end ones. The money towards hearing aids with advantage plans does mean they cost less but  often they aren't as cheap as Costco And of course you can always buy vision and dental insurance separately.  

Starting in 2025 there is no advantage to drugs costs on Advantage plans. In both (advantage plans and D) there is a $2000 out of pocket. What matters is the formulary, the costs at each level, which drugs are in each level land whether or not the plan is an enhanced or basic plan

The basic plans you will pay the entier $2000, the enhanced plans the odds are you will not - this is more complicated so not going to explain the difference here and today is the last day to sign up for D so if you haven't yet read about it before you choose or compare on medicare.gov. Many agents will refuse to even let you know about D plans that aren't paying a commission. If you are taking few drugs the zero (some states it is a dollar or two a month) premium Wellcare may be your cheapest option but they don't pay a commission so you may never hear about it from an agent.

You do NOT need to sign up for any of these through an independent agent. You can do it on line or over the phone. 

If you have an advantage plan check out your drugs carefully and how the "extra" benefits have changed. You have another time period you can switch after today (today is Dev 7) starting in January. Don't just blindly stay in your advantage plan. And if you are healthy think about getting out of one and into regular medicare with a supplement the next time you are eligible to change (I am not an agent and don't know those rules for advantage plans and dates, if any, to switch to supplements. With supplements that you already have, you can switch any time a year unless you live in a state with special rules like birthday rules, etc.).

[kasyy]

What an excellent explanation - thanks for sharing.

[f748259h]

I agree this is disgusting! Last year, the increase was huge and, once again, we are being fleeced! So the very small COLA increase seniors are getting is completely being depleted by the Medicare and UHC increases. We are also looking to change. Sorry AARP, United Healthcare needs to rein it's cost increases in and since you are affiliated with them and are constantly saying that you are trying to help seniors, try doing something about this!!

[CarolynBI]

The thing to remember with premium increases is that when you get older your "discount" decreases until 75 or until, I think it is, 80 depending on whether you turned 65/signed up initially for medicare before or after 1/1/2020. As a result increases are steeper initially and once you run out of the declining discounts then they are smaller as there just the "inflation" rather than that plus the increase due to the declining "discount". It is sort of like we have age signed up or age attained rates initially and then switch gears into community risk pool rates. Sucks in the sense of steeper increases initially but if you ilve to a ripe old age you will be paying less than those in actual age attained or age signed up risk pools. In 2025 the max G plus benefits is $276/mo (per a phone call to UHC yesterday for someone who signed up prior to 2020 as is the case with me) however I am playing less than that ($224.93) as I am younger than 75; those over 75 would be paying that whether they are 76 or 96.

[JanetP305758]

What I've learned since the CEO was shot in New York is that UnitedHealthcare has TWICE THE AMOUNT OF DENIED CLAIMS. This company is valued at $560 Billion, expected to bring in $280 billion in revenue this year. That's denied claims folks! There's a lawsuit right now pertaining to an algorithm that makes errors 90% of the time because it knows that only 0.2% of policy holders will appear the decision to deny their claims. I am leaving this company, not to say they're not all in the same disgusting basket. You know, that basket protected by the very politicians who are supposed to be working for us, not them. But when you line politicians pockets with money, this is the result. No oversight and billions to the greedy corporate entities while politicians get richer and we get oh so much poorer

[TRL1111]

---

@JanetP305758 wrote:

What I've learned since the CEO was shot in New York is that UnitedHealthcare has TWICE THE AMOUNT OF DENIED CLAIMS.

---

Who cares.  We're talking about supplements here, and UHC has no power to deny any claims. 

Now, if you don't want to deal with UHC on principle, that's fine.  But at least get the principle right.

[CarolynBI]

That is true (supplements) however there may be people reading this thread who saw their advantage plans go up and agree with that the increases are problematic. Of course denials aren't a supplement issue but they are an advantage plan issue (and there is no way on earth I'd ever get one - networks for one, denials for another...). And some read threads and forget the actual topic details of the thread and post something related although it may not be totally on topic. This tread is pretty long and I can see people remembering increased premiums and forgetting supplements and so post about advantage plans. 

[JanetP305758]

The company, as a whole, is twice more likely to deny claims. They are not necessarily just advantage plan claims! 

Advantage plans as a whole, with all companies, have more claim denials, but denials are a huge part of their profit making schemes!

[CarolynBI]

If we are looking at just what affects medicare with UHC (whose business goes well beyond medicare - eg they do employee insurance too, and goes beyond insurance - they own a huge percentage of physician practices, etc. too) then denials are an advantage plan thing, not a medigap thing (law says if medicare approves it medigap has to pay). And yes the entire advantage plan business model across insurance companies involves a huge number of denials. They get paid more from the federal government (out of the medicare fund so this is contributing to depleting is faster than it otherwise would be depleted) than regular medicare A and B get paid. This is because they were claiming they were going to do a wellness model which would cut down on health care costs. So far the research documents this hasn't happened. As most of the companies that run these are for profit they take a pretty large percentage of of what they get to pay their stockholders (as does all the companies) which means less for medical care. Then you add on the free this and free that and that adds to the costs. That leaves even less for actual medical care. 

The entire for profit health care industry in this country contributes to our costs being pretty much the highest in the world (even if you count what the governments in countries with universal health care spends) and a far lower life span than most developed nations. We have tons of citizens without health care, about half the bankruptcies in this country are due to health care costs...

If you have an advantage plan and end up using an out of network provider the out of pocket for advantage plans can run as high as $12,000-$14,000 in my state. Even the out of pocket for in network is, on average, about $5-9000 (yes some are lower but many are not). That is far more, if you actually have to use your health care to any great degree, than paying for, for example, G and only having a (2024) $240 out of pocket. Sure advantage plans are cheaper when you don't use them and are healthy, but when you are not, for many of them it will cost you far more. And then, of course, you will likely fail medical underwriting and can't get a supplement (both to save money and get treatment out of the advantage plan's network- places like MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Mayo accept very few advantage plans) so are trapped in an advantage plan. 

[DavidS457101]

I'm in New York. My AARP/UHC Plan N medigap policy increased nearly $40 for 2025. I'm considering switching to Transamerica and dropping AARP altogether. I don't feel supported by AARP. It seems like they're just profiting off the premiums at our expense.

[BenjaminM550041]

I understand your frustration with the premium hike. Consider contacting your state's Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for advice on switching plans without excessive underwriting hurdles.

[zooeyhall]

With AARP's huge membership, they should have some real clout with negotiating with the insurance companies they sponsor.  And get us a better price.

That is, unless AARP itself isn't "benefiting" from the the increased premiums that its members are forced to pay.

[DavidS457101]

Everyone should see the article by Robert Kuttner in the American Prospect: https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-12-11-how-aarp-shills-for-unitedhealthcare/

[GailL1]

@zooeyhall wrote: 

That is, unless AARP itself isn't "benefiting" from the the increased premiums that its members are forced to pay.

======================

They don’t benefit from premiums - premiums are based on the risk, usage and rating method as any other insurance product.  

AARP.org - Medicare Related Options 

(copy & paste from the above link )

AARP and its affiliates are not insurers, agents, brokers or producers. Providers pay a royalty fee to AARP for the use of its intellectual property. These fees are used for the general purposes of AARP.

[DavidS457101]

See the article I cited: https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-12-11-how-aarp-shills-for-unitedhealthcare/

They DO benefit. At our expense.

[BenjaminM550041]

I'm truly sorry to hear about your frustrations with the price increases.

Your concerns are valid and it's disheartening to face such substantial hikes. I understand your decision to seek more affordable options and hope you find a suitable alternative soon. If there's anything I can do to assist you in this transition, please let me know.

[RDor]

My wife and I have been in the plan for 17 years.  Our combined rate just went up $75 per month, or 14%.  At our age, there's really nothing we can do and they know that.

[lguy]

3 increases in 12 months. May 2024 $20, August 2024 $20, May 2025 $12.

UNC paid $22 million in ransom to hackers and it looks like we are footing the bill, I will be looking for another plan

[tl68594730]

 I am in disbelief at a mid-year 12% AARP United Health Care supplemental plan monthly premium increase.  I understand that AARP does not control this premium increase.  Nevertheless, since United Healthcare is an AARP endorsed product and is the reason why I selected United Healthcare for my Medicare supplemental plan, it is imperative that AARP intervene on our behalf.  It is simply unacceptable for United Healthcare to significantly increase our premiums, and implement a significant billing change for couples in the middle of the year.  AARP I implore you to leverage our membership or terminate the United Healthcare contract and get us a new provider.

[GailL1]

---

@tl68594730 wrote:

 I am in disbelief at a mid-year 12% AARP United Health Care supplemental plan monthly premium increase.  I understand that AARP does not control this premium increase.  Nevertheless, since United Healthcare is an AARP endorsed product and is the reason why I selected United Healthcare for my Medicare supplemental plan, it is imperative that AARP intervene on our behalf.  It is simply unacceptable for United Healthcare to significantly increase our premiums, and implement a significant billing change for couples in the middle of the year.  AARP I implore you to leverage our membership or terminate the United Healthcare contract and get us a new provider.

---

I doubt if they can do that - last agreement they signed was in 2017 with each other last until 2025 and potentially thru 2030.

PressRelease 07/17/2017 - UnitedHealth Group, AARP Extend Relationship Focused on Improving Older Am... 

They have been together over 20 years according to the Press Release info.

I also believe they are the LARGEST writer of Medicare Supplemental plans.  I also think that their rates are only guaranteed for 6-months when 1st signing up.    Pass that, it is renewable as long as you pay your premiums and no false health declarations were given in the application - but they can raise premiums at any time - read your contract - explanation of benefits.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have any need of a Medicare supplemental plan - For many beneficiaries, all that would take is to establish a Medicare annual out of pocket limit.  Cause for many, that’s all they want is some financial protection for a catastrophic accident or illness.

The other day a friend of mine signed up for a Plan G - their cost was going to be $ 203 a month for the Plan G - they started doing some figuring and decided to go with the HIGH DEDUCTIBLE Plan G - 2024 deductible is $2800 but once that is met - it is the same Plan G - premium cost for this HIGH DEDUCTIBLE Plan G was $ 47 per month.

Guess which one they picked? Yep, the HIGH DEDUCTIBLE 

Personally, I would rather pay the  $ 47 X 12  = $ 564 in premiums and the     $2800 for care IF I actually needed it than to pay $ 203 X 12 = $ 2436 regardless of if I even used it.   

[LilitdelianeG173597]

if you live in NYC, your Plan G premium is $306 per MONTH!!! sob. I am brand new- and signed up 10/01/2024 (no deductible version of plan).

[GailL1]

@LilitdelianeG173597 

The reason why you pay such HIGH premiums for a Medigap plan (Medicare Supplemental plan) in New York is because NY has passed some very liberal rules of guaranteed issue for their beneficiaries and thus you all have to share in the risk of switching or picking up plans without underwriting at just about anytime.

There are only 4 states that do this - CT, MA, ME and NY.

A few others have passed laws where a beneficiary can switch plans of equal or lesser value at a certain time per year - but unlike NY and the other 3 states - you can just change plans, you can’t pick one up after one’s initial enrollment period without underwriting.

The rest of the states just go by the Federal rules on guaranteed issue.  

So be it a curse or a blessing - that’s the way NY wants to do it.

[LilitdelianeG173597]

!   !! I just wanted to say Thank you, Gail! for responding-- I don't think I've ever been responded to online- in any kind of chat/on any subject-- (-:

I an not sure I understand your response yet (all the legalese is still a bit of a maze---) but I am going to read it again- until I do.

maybe this AARP website is at least good for a community comment section where people can actually learn!   !!

on another note, based on Plan D comments, above.. I signed up for the $0 Plan (because I found out, at least for now, that my 2 medications are generic/pennies..) and.. ha: 1) the $0 plan is really ~$3.80 for 2024 and.. 2) will be going up to ~$38 per month in 2025!     !!

but yes.. I then realized that, if Biden's success at capping insulin-- and other meds-- to $2,000/year? the only way that can happen is if the cost of this is spread out amont many, many, many more..

I am one of those who would gladly (gulp---) pay more taxes if it meant EVERYONE had health care (including the unemployed).. but that's still an impossible dream.

thanks again!

[DavidS457101]

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-12-11-how-aarp-shills-for-unitedhealthcare/