patrick.net

This is my first post, so let's try and take it easy. I work for small company (less than 10 employees) and Aetna is trying to jack up our premiums by 33%! To add insult to injury, that price increase would also qualify our insurance as a “Cadillac plan” (which faces a 40% excise tax come 2018 -- see above link for details). I'm wondering if other individuals or companies are facing similar increases? Call this an informal survey (please try to hold off on the mud slinging for a while). It looks like we'll be going to a plan with higher co-pays to try and reduce the premiums to a more reasonable level. The one third increase, though, still seems ridiculous. We had actually jumped ship from a different insurance company last year as they had tried the same thing. I'm assuming the insurance company can't just jack up our rates (thinking we are 'locked' into their company), but has to offer the same rates to all customers in their small business pool. I'm seeking comments from others on their plans. Is Kaiser facing similar increases? Or are they going to gain share as a reasonable alternative? Or are HSAs becoming more prevalent? What is happening to your overall premiums? Is the company picking up the increase or does it all fall to the employee?