General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"I just got my 2026 (health premium) benefits info and I'm floored"
I just got my 2026 benefits info and Im floored. : r/HealthInsurance https://www.reddit.com/r/HealthInsurance/comments/1nwtci1/i_just_got_my_2026_benefits_info_and_im_floored/
In 2025 I was paying $593.03/month for a Blue Cross Blue Shield EPO plan (employee + children). For 2026, my company is no longer offering the EPO in my area and the only option is a PPO. That jumps my premium to $898.80/month.
Thats a 51.6% increase (an extra $305/month or $3,669 a year). Theres just no way I can afford that. I cant keep my two adult kids on my policy anymore.
Ill probably have to drop down to employee only coverage just to survive financially. It makes me sick that something as basic as health insurance can suddenly become unaffordable like this.
I havent been sleeping because of this. I am a cancer patient still in treatment. I can barely pay for my marketplace insurance now. I dont know how Ill pay for it if the premium jumps up and the tax credits are axed. I havent gotten my renewal notice yet but I know its coming and it feels like hands around my windpipe.
I am having to drop my insurance which feels insane given Im a nurse. I cant justify paying the monthly premium and never even get the benefit given that the only plan offered has a high deductible. Hard to stomach that those who put this in place with have a good affordable plan my tax dollars pay for (aka congress) and I will be the one caring for them when they are ill yet Im not able to afford care myself. So much for the American dream, I graduated in 09 and its been more of a nightmare seeing it all be such a lie

Bread and Circuses
(1,231 posts)Hi,
Im sorry that the premiums are skyrocketing. You mentioned that you have two adult children on your policy.
Before you remove them from your employee policy , do a bit of analysis:
1) ask your adult children if they can chip in $100 or more . Perhaps they can if they work part-time
2) have your children check the cost for insurance through the ACA health exchange or your staates portal
3) if your kids are in college, have them check if their college may have some options to suggest.
Best wishes to you and your family.
LilElf70
(1,118 posts)that the magats and their party are out to destroy the middle class and our democracy.
I wonder what is going to happen to people on medicare?
What is it with these fuckers that they don't want US citizens to have affordable healthcare?
BlueWaveNeverEnd
(11,508 posts)Bread and Circuses
(1,231 posts)NJCher
(41,619 posts)They were required to, and when the ACA came along, there were some requirements for it. I dont' know if the policies are reasonably priced or not.
That person should just put in the search term for their state and "health insurance student."
DFW
(59,044 posts)My employer has us enrolled with Blue Cross, but I have found it pretty much useless, as they deny all claims I submit as being "out of network," which DUH Europe obviously is. When I moved here, I looked into getting German health insurance and was quoted $35,000 a year in premiums by the Germans--for just myself. I had pre-existing (heart) conditions. Since my employer is in the USA, I enjoy zero of the advantages that people with German employers enjoy, PLUS I have to pay both US and German taxes (comes out to, in my case, about a 73% income tax rate).
My wife is a German citizen, so except for the five years when she had no health insurance at all, she was covered here. For the time she was not covered, I bought her the rough equivalent of COBRA, which was about 550 ($650) per month. That was fortunate, as her second round of cancer happened during that time, and it didn't cost me anything more than the insurance premium. I paid out $39,000 over five years for her, and she got the best oncologist in Germany for her (rare) kind of cancer. It is almost always fatal. The diagnosis alone usually means "get your affairs in order without delay." She was that one in ten thousand who survived it due to an accidental early detection. The Operation, post op follow-up and month at a cancer patient rehab spa were all covered. In Germany, rehab spas exist for all kinds of cancer, and a month's stay there is covered by insurance as an integral last part of cancer treatment. Without the Cobra-equivalent, she was not covered at all from age 60 (when she became unemployed) to age 65 (German version of Medicare kicked in).