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To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in opposition to the proposed health insurance rate increase.
We have maintained our current health insurance plan for 16 years, beginning with a monthly premium of approximately $400. Today, we are paying over $1,200 per month--more than three times our original cost - for a plan we have used very little. In total, we now spend over $14,000 per year on health insurance. This is more than our mortgage!
If I had to guess, we have made approximately 20 doctor visits in these 16 years, the majority of which were for preventative care - primarily routine annual exams. Despite being labeled as "preventive," these visits still resulted in hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket, leading us to seek alternative preventative care.
In the last two years, we've only visited the doctor twice. (Urgent care for a minor injury & a dermatologist to have a mole checked.). We live a healthy, active lifestyle and take personal responsibility for our well-being. Yet we are penalized financially year after year with premium hikes that do not reflect our minimal usage or low risk. On top of our already high premiums, we have a $5,500 individual deductible or $11,000 as a couple - which only adds to our out-of-pocket burden. We're essentially paying thousands just to maintain a policy that offers little tangible benefit unless we face a major health crisis.
This proposed rate increase would bring our premiums even higher, pushing an unreasonable cost further out of reach. Just for perspective, I recently reviewed our records and found that over the past 16 years, we’ve paid over $100,000 in health insurance premiums. That’s a staggering amount for a healthy couple with minimal medical needs. That money could have been invested toward our retirement, emergency savings, or future security. Many, many times, we have thought about cancelling our policy, but the "what if" compels us to keep the policy.
What’s especially frustrating is that, unlike auto insurance which rewards safe drivers with discounts, there are no meaningful incentives for individuals who maintain a healthy lifestyle and rarely use their health coverage. We’ve made conscious choices—nutritious eating, regular exercise, and preventive habits—but we’re treated the same as high-risk policyholders who engage in no preventive care at all. This one-size-fits-all approach discourages personal responsibility and does nothing to reduce the overall cost burden on the system.
We continue to pay these rising premiums not because the value justifies the cost, but because we fear an unexpected medical emergency could bankrupt us. We are essentially paying a high monthly fee for peace of mind- and nothing more. Compounding the problem is a deeply flawed and inflated cost structure of the healthcare system itself, where fees are manipulated and skewed through opaque negotiations between insurance companies, hospitals, and providers. The actual cost of care is nearly impossible to understand or predict, leaving consumers like us at the mercy of a system that seems designed for profit - not for health or fairness.
Adding to the burden is the reality that, as private payers, we are effectively subsidizing the costs of those on government programs who frequently use the healthcare system without taking personal responsibility for their health and fitness. While I support access to care for all, the imbalance is clear: individuals like us, who invest in preventive lifestyles and rarely use medical services, are paying inflated premiums that help offset the high and frequent usage by others who make no comparable investment in their own well-being. This dynamic is unsustainable and unjust.
We strongly urge you to consider the financial strain this increase places on individuals and families like ours, who are doing everything right and yet are being priced out of access to care.
Sarah J.
I am NOT in favor of any increase in base premiums. The price of everything in our country right now is so high that it is hard to fathom how people will continue to pay for things. An increase in base premiums will only stress the American public more-and probably cause more and more people to end their insurance policies!
Wellmark provides great insurance for our family. But we cannot continue to pay more for everything in our lives. At what point will people have to discontinue their policy because insurance premiums and everything else costs so much in society?!?
Is that really what insurance companies want? Policies costing so much money that people cancel their policies and do not have the healthcare insurance that they need and deserve? What good would that really do people in life? Is that really what the big insurance companies want? Less clients?
It is the every day Americans that are getting caught between the costs of doctors , hospital bills, insurance costs, big Pharma charging too much for medications….Where will it end? Does Wellmark really want to be on the negative side of those entities because their insurance premiums have gone so high? What type of reputation does Wellmark want to have?
Like I said earlier: Wellmark provides my family with excellent insurance! What does Wellmark want to be known for? Excellent insurance or too high of premiums that people cannot sustain them in their family budgets?
I hope you choose the right answer there… For a lot of peoples’ sakes. Let this be the court case that stops the big companies from oppressing their clients! And let this case show other big companies that they cannot just charge more and more to people, without there being repercussions. Let this be the case that stops them from overcharging and potentially ruining someone’s life because of financial hardships. Tell Wellmark that they should be a company that works for the people and with the people to help keep us all healthy and supported in case of bad times.
Please use this case to send the right message to Wellmark: increased oppressive charging to clients will not be allowed or encouraged!! Thank you for your time,
Nikki Z., Hull, Iowa