Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the heart of the 378-year-old university, voted overwhelmingly in November to oppose changes that would require them and thousands of other Harvard employees to pay more for health care. The university says the increases are in part a result of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, which many Harvard professors championed.

The faculty vote came too late to stop the cost increases from taking effect this month, and the anger on campus remains focused on questions that are agitating many workplaces: How should the burden of health costs be shared by employers and employees? If employees have to bear more of the cost, will they skimp on medically necessary care, curtail the use of less valuable services, or both?

“Harvard is a microcosm of what’s happening in health care in the country,” said David M. Cutler, a health economist at the university who was an adviser to President Obama’s 2008 campaign. But only up to a point: Professors at Harvard have until now generally avoided the higher expenses that other employers have been passing on to employees. That makes the outrage among the faculty remarkable, Mr. Cutler said, because “Harvard was and remains a very generous employer.”

In Harvard’s health care enrollment guide for 2015, the university said it “must respond to the national trend of rising health care costs, including some driven by health care reform,” otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act. The guide said that Harvard faced “added costs” because of provisions in the health care law that extend coverage for children up to age 26, offer free preventive services like mammograms and colonoscopies and, starting in 2018, add a tax on high-cost insurance, known as the Cadillac tax.

Richard F. Thomas, a Harvard professor of classics and one of the world’s leading authorities on Virgil, called the changes “deplorable, deeply regressive, a sign of the corporatization of the university.”

Mary D. Lewis, a professor who specializes in the history of modern France and has led opposition to the benefit changes, said they were tantamount to a pay cut. “Moreover,” she said, “this pay cut will be timed to come at precisely the moment when you are sick, stressed or facing the challenges of being a new parent.”

The university is adopting standard features of most employer-sponsored health plans: Employees will now pay deductibles and a share of the costs, known as coinsurance, for hospitalization, surgery and certain advanced diagnostic tests. The plan has an annual deductible of $250 per individual and $750 for a family. For a doctor’s office visit, the charge is $20. For most other services, patients will pay 10 percent of the cost until they reach the out-of-pocket limit of $1,500 for an individual and $4,500 for a family.

Previously, Harvard employees paid a portion of insurance premiums and had low out-of-pocket costs when they received care.

Michael E. Chernew, a health economist and the chairman of the university benefits committee, which recommended the new approach, acknowledged that “with these changes, employees will often pay more for care at the point of service.” In part, he said, “that is intended because patient cost-sharing is proven to reduce overall spending.”

Ray Jay wrote:My rates for this year are up 13.7% from $1,259 to $1,432. (That's per month for those of you who don't live in the US). It's for the same plan as last year as far as I can tell. That doesn't seem like bending the cost curve down to me.

My rates for this year are up 13.7% from $1,259 to $1,432. (That's per month for those of you who don't live in the US). It's for the same plan as last year as far as I can tell. That doesn't seem like bending the cost curve down to me

According to the McKinsey study, “In the 41 states releasing exchange participation carrier data, the number of health insurers increased by 26 percent between 2014 and 2015. In the 19 states with complete fillings, the number of products grew 66 percent, with most in the silver tier.”
While 65 percent of existing policies will see an increase in premium costs for 2015, the median increase will be just 4 percent

“Obamacare premiums, once predicted to skyrocket in the second year under the government’s marketplace, have risen about 6 percent for 2015, according to an analysis of preliminary state filings. While foes of the Affordable Care Act warned of double-digit rate increases, the costs of premiums seen so far is more modest for the new year. One reason may be that insurers who came in high in 2014 found themselves beaten out for enrollments. At the same time, 77 new insurance plans will be competing for customers in 2015, U.S. officials say.”

Beyond that
$1432 is outrageous.... what are your deductibles? Does this include dentistry and orthodontia and drugs?
In Ontario that would be about 2.3 to 3/4 of the total income tax of a $60,000 income and that gets you 100% health care insurance. (But not dental or pharma.) It even better in BC. But then everything is better there.

You appear to be an outlier. Or else your policy has changed somewhat...

Ricky's interpretation of the McKinsey study

Ricky, seriously, you do yourself no favours. Clearly RJ's premium went up, and while it's anecdote rather than data, you can't really disprove it by spouting studies

rickyp wrote:What carries more weight with you then? One anecdote or a rigorous study by a respected source?

It was the way you did it

According to the McKinsey study, “In the 41 states releasing exchange participation carrier data, the number of health insurers increased by 26 percent between 2014 and 2015. In the 19 states with complete fillings, the number of products grew 66 percent, with most in the silver tier.”
While 65 percent of existing policies will see an increase in premium costs for 2015, the median increase will be just 4 percent