Check Your Open Enrollment Oklahoma, Health Insurance is Spiking

As we roll into the end of a year that has been utterly brutal on most families, there are more surprises in store for us all beyond Christmas gifts.

Insurance rates have grown even higher than predicted months ago, and most Oklahomans are feeling a little blind-sided by them.

It's a shame that America survived the COVID-19 period of pandemic and economic hardship, and just when things are mostly back to normal, this happens.

News and media outlets started talking about a potential health insurance increase back during the closing days of summer.

• Reuters predicted a 5-8.5% increase
• CNN published a prediction of 8.5%
• KFF settled on 6%, but as much as 10%
• Mercer predicted a 5.4%

So far, the average health insurance increase across Oklahoma has been a sharp 32% in premiums plus a steep rise in deductibles in most plans. Even the ACA/Obamacare has jumped substantially beyond early predictions.

Ironically, that's right in line where my own health insurance landed on the inflation scale this year. As bad as that is, it is even worse for others I know who saw an increase of 48% for the same coverage as last year, but with a nearly-doubled deductible.

This is the hidden cost of working for small companies.

That's what my HR buddy said when we talked about these rate increases the other night.

Working for larger companies like UPS, Walmart, large oil & gas companies, etc... comes with an advantage. Those companies typically handle and fund their own insurance programs with shockingly low monthly costs.

It makes sense. Even if the pay from the outside looking in isn't the most attractive, billion-dollar companies can afford to retain good employees through great benefits beyond take-home pay.

Earlier in my career, I worked for the biggest radio company in America and you'd be surprised how often the benefits with them come up around the office. Extremely low monthly premiums, zero deductibles, zero copays, etc... But that was fifteen years ago, and a betting man would hedge it's probably not that way anymore under that banner.

The Fallout.

The lingering effect of this massive jump in health insurance premiums will likely be felt for decades. You know how these things work, nothing ever gets cheaper. Even when costs shrink, rising profits boost the bottom line.

If you're the type to leave your open enrollment on autopilot, because most of us do, it'd be worth checking your benefits before it's too late to make changes to your plan. It's going to hurt, but at least we don't have to read mean tweets.