I got a notice in the mail this week that my health insurance is going up $90 PER MONTH for a total of $530 or $6,360 per year. That does not include Rx plus I have a $1,000 deductible. I have cut down on my meds and the cost is still over $400 per month for the ones I don't want to live without....I am still 6 years away from getting medicare... :cry: I am just sick over this but sure can't afford to go to the doctor's office.... :D

my jaw is dropping reading this. our homeowner's with state farm is less than $1000 for a medium size 3 bedroom ranch w/full basement and enclosed porch and deck, 2 car garage. that's for full replacement value in the NEW YORK SUBURBAN area, where building costs are through the roof.

what are they insuring for you? it must be an awful lot to cost that much, or maybe you made a major claim this past year? or live in a flood plain?

as someone else here said, there's an Office of Insurance and Fraud that you can call. they answer promptly. i called them when i changed health insurers and had a bad time. it's a State Office but they try to work with the state that holds your policy. most times they can. google XXXXXXX State Department of Insurance and Fraud (fill in your state}. notice how insurance and fraud go together?

I'm afraid to see what my increase will be. I'll find out in August.

WOW I know when hurricane katrina and the other one came through my insurance went up 300.00 and HELLO I live in OHIO. No claim in 13 years I've had the house and I had to deal with the increase. It seems like when disaster strikes we all pay. So I called to link car and home HA that was a joke and a half my home owners would have gone up 1000.00 to link them. There was no 10% decrease. hehehe My insurance company sent a copy of my home owners insurance to there head quaters and said look 1000.00 cheaper why are we so expensive. She got no response.

My mom and dad - who are retired on a fixed income - had their homeowners insurance thru State Farm for 25 years or more. They just cancelled them. Didn't raise their premium - cancelled it. Their agent died last year and they got a new one. He claimed it was because they had two claims in the past 2 years (lightning knocked out their tv and one small electrical fire that did very minimal damage). They moved the car insurance to a different company after that, but couldn't afford the homeowners insurance too. Right now, they're searching for a homeowners policy they can afford. I have nothing good to say about State Farm.

I used to work for a large insurance company, and my boss was a very honest person. He told me (and I have no reason to doubt him, and lots of evidence to support his claim) that insurance companies own most of the real estate (read "big buildings") in most of the large cities of the US. They make more money than nearly any other industry. They pay their employees the least, they have the most investments, they are the most stingey with their customers. Yet we are all "required" in one way or another to do business with these companies. We are on the hook whether we like it or not. I don't believe any of the explanations about "Healthcare" requirements causing increases. They want more money, and they will find ANY excuse to get it. I also don't like that they sell their company stock on the open market. Any company that is publicly owned only wants to make more money, any way they can. I don't think it's right or fair that they are public companies. I think all insurance companies should be non-profit, and prove that their expenses require premium increases. My .02, and MHO. :-)