2026 ACA Healthcare Premium Shot UP....WAY UP

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11-1-25, 11:49am
SiouzQ.

2026 ACA Healthcare Premium Shot UP....WAY UP

Welp, that is what I was afraid of - I just went into my account at BeWellNewMexico (the ACA insurance exchange in New Mexico) and based on the income we had last year (which is really screwed up because K. lost his his really good job and has been on unemployment since July), my ACA payment for a BlueCross plan that has been $368 per month since I got it in August is now going to be $1,702.89, which literally swallows up my entire Social Security and then some...

2025 has been a year of change for us since K. lost his job at the end of June. So the loss of my subsidy is based on our extraploated income from everything thing that happened this year - 6 months of his really good paychecks plus my SSDI and a small IRA payment. Our income for 2026 will be vastly different, as K. will be officially retiring in December. So before I panic, I will call my insurance agent on Monday to see what can be done, see if our new 2026 income will be adjusted to reflect our actual reality.
Otherwise, I think I will have to wing it without insurance until I am eligible for early Medicare in May 2026...
11-1-25, 1:53pm
Tybee

Oh Siouz, that is horrible. I can see how you would want to wing it, and May 2026 is pretty darn soon.
11-1-25, 3:14pm
pinkytoe

I am sure there are many in the same boat scratching their heads on how to get by with the price increases. In your shoes, I would probably go without and pay out of pocket until you get Medicare.
11-1-25, 7:18pm
Rogar

Hard to say what I would do, but I might check out some sort of high deductible policy to cover major issues to bridge the gap?

I have used an insurance broker in the past and it was helfpul on another issue.
11-2-25, 6:54am
rosarugosa

I would never "wing it" concerning health insurance, unless it absolutely meant I would go hungry or homeless to pay the premium.
11-2-25, 9:23am
happystuff

YIKES! That is a huge jump! I hope things work out for you.
11-4-25, 8:39am
Tybee

My Part D premium is nine times what it was 2 years ago.
11-4-25, 9:27am
early morning

And here I was, grumping that our out of pocket increased like $500. I'll shut up now. SiouzQ, I did a high deductible / catastrophic plan for the period between leaving work and becoming Medicare eligible. Scrambled to get as much of my yearly testing in before my severance, as my insurance was covered thru that period. I contacted a broker to help me find a plan that was affordable but would kick in before we'd have to sell the house, lol. I'd certainly look into that before going without all together. Hope all goes well!
11-4-25, 9:42am
Tybee

I think that's great advice, Siouz. Going without is so risky, and I really like the suggestion to get as much done before the end of the year.
11-5-25, 11:06am
SiouzQ.

Crisis averted! I just spoke to my insurance agent and he ran our projected 2026 income numbers and it turns out that I now qualify for a NM BlueCross plan that is just $20 more than what I have been paying for the past few months. It also has a lower deductable and a MUCH lower out-of-pocket maxium.
I am so relieved but I worry for all those others out there that will have a really hard choice to make.
11-5-25, 11:09am
early morning

YAY!! good to hear, thanks for the update. I worry too.
11-5-25, 11:10am
Tybee

Yay you for calling the insurance person!! Hooray for the great news.
11-5-25, 12:47pm
iris lilies

Good news Sioux
11-5-25, 3:04pm
catherine

So great to hear, SiouzQ!
11-5-25, 3:58pm
frugal-one

I pay a lot for health insurance but not complaining. It paid out for me $450,000 earlier this year!:0!
11-6-25, 7:14am
rosarugosa

Glad to hear it, SQ!

Wow, Frugal-one, that's a lot of $$!
11-6-25, 8:49am
happystuff

Glad it worked out!!
11-6-25, 5:59pm
iris lilies

Today NPR had a segment about the ACA where they featured someone from the Kaiser foundation and the health reporter. A collar mentioned she was an ACA consumer and her premiums had been zero but she got a letter saying her premiums would now be $600.

The AC expert advised her to look further into it because that wasn't right, and those letters are going out the indicate the full cost of the insurance, but does not mention subsidies. I wonder if that's the letter that SQ got.

As an aside, I think it's useful that people who use the government's healthcare exchange are informed of how much the government is paying for their health insurance. We used to do that once every few years where I worked, a letter reminding employees how much their employer was paying to the insurance companies to cover their health insurance.
11-14-25, 8:41pm
bae

The insurer I’ve been using the past several years has pulled out of our County. It was the only remaining provider. We all got cancellation notices.

A new provider has stepped in. Nobody here has ever heard of them, and none of the local clinics, doctors, or the hospital over on the island that is our county seat take their insurance. If I sign up with them, my premiums will go up from $165/month to $1100-ish/month. For essentially useless coverage, and, it’s an HMO, so I’d have to find a primary care doctor a day’s journey by ferry away (and $80 in ferry costs, or $300 by plane).

Now, I have discovered I can buy insurance through my state’s Fire Commissioners’ Association. It is a reasonably-decent PPO plan, low deductibles, and ~$1200/month.

Yay? 2.5 more years before I can sign up for Medicare and all that stuff. My father’s insurance solution is Medicare + some important supplemental plan, but the provider of that plan also pulled out of the county entirely 2 weeks ago, leaving him, and every other senior, scratching their heads. He’s seeing what he can accomplish for himself through the VA.

Fun times.

If I move to Ireland or Scotland, my buy-in to their national healthcare would be a fraction of this.
11-14-25, 11:20pm
Tybee

That is terrible, that the insurers pulled out and the new insurance is so expensive.
Between Part B and my supplement and the drug plan I will be paying 580 a month for Medicare.
11-16-25, 5:50pm
gimmethesimplelife

I see a huge platinum lining here but only for some people. These huge increases in premiums - not only will they haunt the GOP for years as they are utterly non-spinnable-away, but they are a huge incentive for some of us to permanently put the United States behind us and not set foot here again. Health care is just getting too expensive and the United States is NOT BY ANY MEANS worth lower life spans when many countries with much less nightmarish access to health care exist. There is a part of me that is grateful as this will force more people to learn what I learned regarding this country years ago - given the learning such utterly destroys any loyalty whatsoever to this country, this can only be a good thing given that the Ship USSS Amerika is so rapidly sinking these days. My advice - look into leaving and don't waste time rearranging deck chairs on the USSS Titanic. Just some heartfelt humanitarian advice meant in the most humanistic way. And I do hope you'all find power against the evil reality of US Healthcare.

Anyone wanting referrals/recommendations to quality Mexican healthcare, PM me, I will be glad to pass on the names and contact info for trustworthy Mexican practitioners. And no, I receive no payment of any kind for doing such. I mean this in a save money/survive the United States and what it truly is all about kind of way. Rob
11-16-25, 6:06pm
Tradd

Dude, you're all talk and no action. I literally cannot take anything you say seriously.
11-16-25, 6:22pm
bae

When are you leaving, Rob?
11-16-25, 6:42pm
Alan

Quote:

Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife

These huge increases in premiums ...

I know you don't like to share informed opinions when it's so much easier to emote, but do you have any idea why the Affordable Care Act is so un-affordable?
11-16-25, 6:47pm
Rogar

There was a poll recently saying 40% of young women want to leave the country permanently. I think if I were young and interested in a science career or just wanted to get away from politics and social structures run by big money I'd be temped.

I suspect of the poll vs. the reality of moving away could be very different, but it would certainly make it rough on the young men who stay.

https://thehill.com/homenews/5606934...leave-us-poll/
11-16-25, 6:56pm
Tradd

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogar

There was a poll recently saying 40% of young women want to leave the country permanently. I think if I were young and interested in a science career or just wanted to get away from politics and social structures run by big money I'd be temped.

I could be suspect of the poll vs. the reality of moving away could be very different, but it would certainly make it rough on the young men who stay.

https://thehill.com/homenews/5606934...leave-us-poll/

The first thing to consider is if the country you want to move to will even take you. I’ve seen many say they want to move to Canada, and Canada is very strict about preserving jobs for Canadians. Then do you have money? Lots of countries have financial requirements, even Mexico.
11-16-25, 7:11pm
bae

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogar

There was a poll recently saying 40% of young women want to leave the country permanently. I think if I were young and interested in a science career or just wanted to get away from politics and social structures run by big money …

My own daughter has left the US permanently, and will not be returning except to visit relatives. And since her partner is a UK citizen, even that is problematic - we had to replan some of their recent visit this summer to avoid concerns over border issues here in the USA.

In my local island community, I know personally 5 women who have moved across the border to Saltspring Island in Canada, and who will not be returning. In discussions here, more are considering the option seriously.
11-17-25, 2:01am
KayLR

Bae, what are the 5 women's circumstances that allow them to make that jump? Are they professional people or independently wealthy? Or something else?
11-17-25, 2:33am
bae

Quote:

Originally Posted by KayLR

Bae, what are the 5 women's circumstances that allow them to make that jump? Are they professional people or independently wealthy? Or something else?

They each either had dual Canadian/US citizenship already, or an easy path to Canadian citizenship through descent (based on some recent 2023-ish changes to Canadian immigration law). Two of them are also healthcare workers, and BC is trying to lure immigrants who are in the healthcare professions.

A friend of mine who runs one of the fire departments in the Gulf Islands indicates there would be an easy path for me as well, if I simply take and pass the qualifying test for some of the first responder specialties I already have US certification in. Plus I have the language skills and capital to do things the old-fashioned way, if need be.

I'm still sorta kicking myself for not taking Iceland up on that deal when they offered it to me some years ago.

My own personal plan for the moment is simply to wander around for a while.
11-17-25, 7:01am
catherine

Quote:

Originally Posted by bae

My own personal plan for the moment is simply to wander around for a while.

That's a good plan.

While I love being rooted in one place, there have been a few places I've regretted leaving and I always thought it would be fun to spend 3 months a year in each of 4 places: New England, Ocean Grove, NJ, the Southwest, and the UK.