My response was to above where someone said coverage is running $1,000. You can get decent mid-level plans for less than half that here. Board/training at the show barns run over three grand therefore I would think/hope/pray their employees are decently compensated and can afford health insurance.
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As someone who lives in the nearby area of WA state, this is encouraging. So it is helpful for her to post her experience.
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We can pin a lot on the 1%âŠbut the reason we have the current administration is because so many of the non-1% voted for this administration.
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Yep. I know someone whoâs been on government assistance for years and hasnât held a job for more than a couple weeks the entire time and they voted for this. Many people vote on single issues and donât feel that larger decisions will affect them.
The ACA enabled barn owners and trainers who previously winged it on health care to find affordable insurance. It created a stop gap that allowed us to continue underpaying them.
Ignoring barns taking advantage of people without proper documentation also allowed us to keep costs down.
MANY people do not think of the way our system is currently set up, or the long term consequences of changing that system. For better or for worse. People are interested in single issues. They do not want to pay their barn owner or their barn staff more money. But they also donât want people who âdonât deserve itâ to receive government assistance or to pay more taxes so people can have affordable health coverage. They do not connect tariffs with impacting showing. They do not connect those things because wide spread change happens slowly and by then the system we have relied upon may no longer exist.
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Great post and you touch on some important points.
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The farriers, body workers, techs, feed store employees, hay farmers (along with barn owners, tack makers, etc.) are all going to be equally impacted by the tariffâs effects, and the provisions and laws in the new BBB. We will need to wait and see how impactful they are. Itâs fair to say that in the âblue statesâ like Washington, the cuts to medicaid and the ACA will perhaps be less impactful due to many factors, but they will be felt by horse professionals. Even a small increase in a marketplace plan will likely be passed on to clients. Trainers/assistants, etc. will perhaps go back to being uninsured if that threshold gets too high. I donât know about your area, but horse show attendance here in Oregon is shrinking, and not just in the H/J world. Rebecca Farms has no waitlistâŠfor the first time.
Thereâs no way to put a positive spin on this mess of a bill. There are so many parts that havenât even been discussed yet, because it was so BIG and full of porky pork and hurtful items. Iâm keeping my wallet closed and my eyes and ears open as this unfolds because Iâm worried about my own income. Iâm very close to retirement from education, but I told my financial planner that I may need to continue working longer and he didnât disagree. With the hold on $6.8B in education funds for after school programs (among other things), schools are going to be impacted and that means families will have to make some decisions around spending.
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Calvincrowe, âwallets closed and eyes and ears openâ is a perfect way to describe it.
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My plan on the exchange was very expensive, with a high deductible and out of pocket. But for me the scariest part was knowing I had no coverage outside of the state I lived in. I was also very grateful to go on Medicare. Ironically, now that I donât have to worry about coverage when traveling in the US, I havenât been healthy enough to go anywhere.
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So youâre aware:
- Zip codes make an enormous difference in the rates. If you live in an urban area with many providers and many health plans, the rates can be much lower.
- Age is a factor
That said, Iâm honestly shocked that youâre seeing a rate that low. Are you sure you are unsubsidized? If you bought on the exchange and entered an income level you might be getting a subsidy in a way thatâs not obvious.
Further, if you buy health insurance individually for Reasons That Are Stupid but largely have to do with how little Congress understands about the world, itâs not tax deductible, but if your employer buys it, itâs pre-tax.
As a comparison, if I buy on the exchange I have the choice of two plans that are each 1400 per month per person, your choice of Blue Cross or Blue Shield. One county south and Iâd have many more choices.
Before the Exchange, and after my daughter was born, I could not buy individual health insurance at any price for any member of my family, because our health histories are âtoo risky.â Thatâs true even though I donât think weâve ever needed more medical care than the annual cost of our policies, aside from the year that I was pregnant.
Google says the average annual cost for health insurance in the US per person is around $9k.
When people arenât covered for their health care, one of two things happens.
- The enormous bills cause life-changing financial hardship for the person plus any dependents. (My spouse has stories about his asthma and being unable to breathe and his mom saying, are you SURE you need to go to the ER, with the clear understanding that going to the ER was going to mean the siblings wouldnât get Christmas presents and also that they might run out of food by the end of the month.)
- The hospital and providers arenât paid, which means they canât cover THEIR bills, and close, and then when the people with insurance are in car accidents and the like, thereâs a longer wait and longer distance to get lifesaving treatment, which can mean itâs not available in time. At the same time, the system becomes much more expensive for the people who do pay.
(This of course aside from the possibility that people donât get care that they need, and get permanent health impacts including death and disability as a result.)
Yâall remember how in the Seabiscuit movie Charles Howardâs son died in an accident because there was no local hospital? (The hospital he then funded in his grief is local to me and has two gorgeous life sized bronzes of Seabiscuit on the grounds.)
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I suppose thatâs all subject to interpretation. Just because some donât like the truth doesnât make it less so.
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Our COBRA ends November 1, and DH and I have budgeted for $3000/month on an ACA plan, plus deductible around $6000. It sounds like we need to bump that up. We donât qualify for a subsidy, and yes we can afford it, but it will mean cutting something else. Sooner or later, the way things are going, the cut will be Feronia, and leaving Lola in Michigan. His hobby actually will earn a large amount of money, when he sells out. Mine is just a money pit.
Massachusetts is very strict about required coverage, so itâs expensive; thereâs none of those bottom of the barrel âcatastrophicâ plans available here, and theyâd be pretty useless for me anyway, because my expenses are all from several permanent chronic health problems.
The way the Medicaid thing is structured, most changes wonât happen until December 2026⊠Yâall are smart enough to know why.
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I remember choosing to stop my monthly IV Ig infusions because I had to pay my co-insurance upfront until I met my annual deductible, and it was about a grand each time. On top of that was the monthly fee for coverage. I know that scenario is played out over and over again with countless people in our country: having to choose between medicine and health care coverage, or paying bills and⊠existing.
It. Shouldnât. Be. This. Way.
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I am in a smaller town of 10,000 people, 45 mins north of Seattle, and 41 years old. Doubtful on subsidies but honestly who knows, low 6 figures here is considered paycheck to paycheck.
This is what I pay (47F, self-employed) in Kentucky, and I certainly wouldnât call my plan the best or most expensive. Better believe I choke when I read that that could increase by 75%⊠itâs just simply not in the budget.
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The US president has thrown another spanner in the works with a deranged letter to a number of countries, including Canada. He posted his letter on his social media platform.
Trade negotiations were being carried out between the two countries in good faith, with compromises being worked out.
Seems he doesnât want things settled amicably, but rather intends to continue to insult, lie, and bully.
He keeps bringing up fentanyl as his excuse, but the amount of the drug coming from Canada is very small, and has even decreased since PM Trudeau introduced new security measures⊠⊠Fentanyl is coming into the US from âotherâ countries, but he continues to ignore the facts.
Threats and bullying are not negotiation. PM Carney (who has a PhD in Economics, and saw both Canada and the UK through economic crises), in contrast, does not negotiate in public, and is staying diplomatic, but is determined to protect Canadian workers and industry.
I am wondering if this is a means of trying to deflect attention from the terrible floods and the Epstein uproar by the president.
Bottom line, things arenât getting better. 
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Itâs the boogey men behind the curtain speaking plus dementia is eating away at his brain
Why do we keep expecting rational, logical thinking here??
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