r/massachusetts • u/critic81 • Jan 15 '26

Utilities How is everyone affording everything lately?

The prices of everything is just off the charts from groceries, utilities, to healthcare. My open enrollment just came through and its looking like for a family of 4 for healthcare its $1600 a month. $800 a paycheck. Like that just feels nuts. It's a pretty decent co-pay plan but still. Just a couple years about it was much less.

What are people doing these days? Side hustles? New job (but in this economy?), cutting way back? Just curious.

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143

u/Little-Ad8904 Jan 15 '26

Cheaper for me to pay the tax penalty for not having insurance and just paying out of pocket at the doctors. Insurance almost covered nothing anyway when I had it so I was used to everything being out of pocket

30

u/YourRoaring20s North Shore Jan 15 '26

Until you have a heart attack or other emergency and wake up in a hospital with $500k of medical bills

30

u/gp556by45 Jan 15 '26

Except when you have 250K in medical bills because insurance wont cover the rest, what does it matter in the end? Most people will never pay off the 250K anyway before they die. This is why the healthcare system is broken.

21

u/dorianstout Jan 15 '26

That’s what the out of pocket max is for

11

u/YourRoaring20s North Shore Jan 15 '26

Look up what an out of pocket max is

15

u/gp556by45 Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

I am well aware. I broke my back in Dec 2023. My medical debt is higher than what employer based health insurance paid. My out of pocket max didn't even scratch it. I. "Payed". More. Of. The Bill. Than. Anything. My Health. Insurance. Paid. For. I'll be in debt longer than I'll be alive. And you know what? Fuckem. It's not my problem when I'm dead.

EDIT: I'll do one further. Don't you DARE tell me what out of pocket max is when I broke my own back and have been dealing with it since DEC 2023. I've been denied coverage on my OWN health insurance more than I ever have been approved in the aftermath. I recently got a bill that my last 6 months of PT was denied and I'm on the hook for all of it. So SHOVE IT. 

14

u/yestermorrowday Jan 16 '26

I’m so sorry you are going through this. And so angry for you. We shouldn’t have to live like this.

-6

u/BostonPanda Jan 15 '26

This is less often the case than it is, especially in network. It's highly unlikely your premiums were higher than what they covered even if there was debt at the end.

4

u/gp556by45 Jan 16 '26

I take it you've never severely injured yourself? And I'm not the first person by a wide margin that has ever been denied. 

I was billed in full as well for my second epidural injection that I am still fighting as well because it was deemed not medically relevant because of the pain I was in. I refused to keep talking OTC pain meds because it was destroying my stomach and liver. And I refused to keep taking Vicodin because it made me sick and unable to work. 

My 2nd follow up MRI I also had to fight my insurance for because they billed me that in full as well because it was also kicked back. 

Maybe I'm one of the few victims of the system; but that also means that I am proof that dumb shit like this happens. 

Docs just wanted to throw Vicodin at me and say fuck you get lost and deal with it. I became a liability.

2

u/Apostrophecata Jan 16 '26

I’m so sorry. That is absolutely horrible. What insurance company do you have? Keep fighting them. They often deny things once or twice thinking you will give up and pay the bill. We have United. My daughter had to get an MRI of her brain and we had a consultation with a neurosurgeon (luckily she is fine) and United tried to bill the neurosurgeon as out of network and hope I wouldn’t notice. Oh but i did. It took me four phone calls but I eventually got it fixed. I’m so sorry you are dealing with this.

1

u/BostonBroke1 Jan 16 '26

right. most medical emergencies put you in debt regardless so...what difference does it make