Vile and disgusting. Perhaps Mr. Burrells salary is a HUGE part of the problem. Noting Carefirsts net profit they should all be thrown in jail.
        Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 5/5/2017

Documents: None   

These rates are doing EXACTLY what the Obamacare designers had planned from Day 1. They will go up even more the year after if Obamacare is not stopped. Obamacare was DESIGNED to fail so that everyone would eventually beg for single payer which was always their ultimate goal. The Obamacare plan was to create a system where more and more healthy people would choose to go without insurance every year... leaving only sicker people behind still in the plan. Watch rates skyrocket. Then the next year... repeat the cycle when even more healthy people say... I am tired of pulling the wagon. I will go without health insurance that I cannot afford. I will just pay the penalty. My 2018 three person family premium will be 2696 a month. That is more than my mortgage and car payment combined. For what. A policy with a 6550 per person deductible that I will never reach. I do not need to keep pulling this wagon. What was my premium before Obamacare... 350 per month.. with a family of 4 and a 1000 deductible. Thanks Obama. Thanks Democrats. Sorry about the lack of punctuation. This stupid website does not allow any punctuation other than a period. Not even a comma. Nice.
    Submitted By: Emil H    Location: Ellicott City MD    Date: 5/8/2017

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There is no sound reason to raise the rates except to line the pockets of shareholders.
    Submitted By: Allison Weaver    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 5/25/2017

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I have two comments 1. I would like to know how the increase % is calculated. In reviewing the rates for off exchange individual rates, the PPO Silver and PPO Gold have significant changes in the deductible and out of pocket. PPO Silver in 2017 $2000 deductible with a max out of pocket of $6550. In 2018 that goes up to a $3500 deductible with a $7350 out of pocket maximum. The PPO Gold plan goes from a $4500 max out of pocket to a $6500 max out of pocket. Are these extra dollars that an individual would be responsible for included in their additional cost. It appears the comparison is not apples to apples. 2. Secondly I would like to review my 2 years past history with Carefirst on the individual market. In 2015 I paid a total of $10,104 in premiums and $1251 toward my deductible. CAREFIRST PAID $418 FOR THE YEAR, the balance of my total claims of $6516 was $4847 which was written off by the provider. Let me reiterate In 2015, I paid Carefirst $10,104, of which they paid out a total of $418 FOR THE YEAR. In 2016 I paid a total of $15382 in premiums, $5279 in deductibles. CAREFIRST PAID $589 FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR The balance of my total claims of $20115 was $14,247 which was written off by the provider. Again, I reiterate, In 2016, I paid Carefirst $15,382, of which they paid out a total of $589 FOR THE YEAR. In reviewing the above, it appears that I am supplementing others in the individual market pool. I FIRMLY believe those costs should be spread out among all of the plans offered. Yes, group plans may go up some, but that is a much larger pool and the impact would be minimal. It is sort of like a business having lost leader items not every item in the shop is a profit center, but as a whole the business makes money. Insurance companies are requiring all items be profit centers, which is as unrealistic in business as it is with insurance plans.
    Submitted By: Susan Porter    Location: Bel Air MD    Date: 6/2/2017

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A 58% increase? Are you kidding? Who is going to buy that? That's not an adjustment. It's highway robbery. Look at other options.
    Submitted By: Carrie Wajda    Location: Rockville MD    Date: 6/5/2017

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Please see the attached letter from the Maryland Hospital Association
    Submitted By: Maansi Raswant    Location: Elkridge MD    Date: 6/20/2017

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Please see the attached letter from Consumer Health First
    Submitted By: Jeananne Sciabarra    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 6/20/2017

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Please see the attached comments from Mr. Trocki.
    Submitted By: Martin Trocki    Location: Garrett Park MD    Date: 6/21/2017

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Please see the attached letter from the Office of the Attorney General
    Submitted By: Patricia O'Connor    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 6/21/2017

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Please see the attached comments from Dan Meszler
    Submitted By: Dan Meszler    Location: Abingdon MD    Date: 6/22/2017

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Most recently my premiums increased 43 percent last year. After several previous years of increase. Now I hear of a possible 66 percent increase. I will leave the State of Maryland, and advise all I meet to never move to Maryland because of these rates. PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE Tell me this cannot happen. I've never been more ashamed of my State. We in the individual market have been TOTALLY SCAMMED, AND TOTALLY TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF. WHAT ABOUT OUR RIGHTS? Hoping you will STAND UP for Marylanders that have unfairly borne the weight of health care changes.
    Submitted By: Kate O'Neill    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 7/20/2017

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We will be moving from this state as soon as we can. We own a sizable home, lots of taxes. I think many will be leaving Maryland with a 58% additional increase coming. I have followed the ACA since before its inception, and much delayed illegal implementation, I actually read the bill. What has been done to the individual market is sinister by design. Don't even dare to blame the costs on older sick people. I haven't used my disgusting card in years, I just pay through the teeth for it. I am ashamed of Maryland, ashamed of the insurance industry ashamed of the sinister design to entrench single payer government. ABSOLUTELY LIVID. I don't know how you can sleep at night. Don't give me the Medicaid EXPANSION fear of losing tears, we all know what happened there. Honestly don't know how you feel ok about what you done. Ethical humans would rework this disgusting plan.
    Submitted By: Kate O'Neill    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 7/20/2017

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Please see the attached comment from Louise Erlick.
    Submitted By: Louise Erlick    Location: Silver Spring MD    Date: 10/23/2017

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Please see the attached comment from Dana Schallheim
    Submitted By: Dana Schallheim    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 10/23/2017

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Pre ACA, over 3 years, We saw our family healthcare policy with CareFirst nearly triple in cost. Around the time our healthcare policy was becoming prohibitively expensive, our daughter began having seizures and was diagnosed with Epilepsy of a kind that she will not grow out of. I am not sure I can fully communicate what it is like to see your child going through a full tonic clonic seizure, but it is damn scary and it is a ticking time bomb that you never know when it will go off. The despair and helplessness is something shared by so many people who see their loved ones suffer and to make it worse for us, we were informed that it would never stop. So while we were processing that, healthcare was becoming more than we could bear financially, However, we were effectively locked in there was no way we could leave the insurance making it possible that our daughter would become uninsurable, due to pre existing conditions. We ended up taking decreased coverage for my wife and I and buying up for our daughter and were able to bring the premiums down to something we could at least hope to afford. With ACA the cost remained about the same, but now we had better coverage. But best of all, no more pre existing conditions to worry about. Now, with moves towards dismantling ACA and cold comfort in the form of high risk pools not only do we have to deal with this, but apparently the health insurance carriers have been given permission to yet again demand crazily high increases. CareFirst is LOWERING our coverage, practically doubling our deductibles and also doubling our monthly premiums. Our daughter is now on a combination of medicines that has kept her seizure free for 4 going on 5 years. You know whats coming next dont you? Without insurance, we would not be able to afford the medication. So healthcare, in our system, health insurance, makes all the difference for our beautiful daughter, an academic scholarship student, just about finished with her college, become a teacher and helping future generations of kids. Or she could become a dependent, costing a great amount of money to care for as she suffers debilitating, possibly fatal, seizures. I want to know where this all is supposed to end? If I could ask my employer to double my salary and decrease the amount of time I spend in the office, then what is happening with healthcare insurance premiums might make some sense, or at least be something we could keep up with.
    Submitted By: Chris Paris    Location: Sandy Spring MD    Date: 10/23/2017

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Please see comments from Consumer Health First
    Submitted By: Leni Preston    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 10/23/2017

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Please see the attached comments from Helen and John David Darby.
    Submitted By: Helen Darby    Location: Silver Spring MD    Date: 10/23/2017

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Please see comments from the Office of the Attorney General Consumer Protection Division
        Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 10/24/2017

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I was not in attendance at the rate increase meeting. I was given a retirement package at age 59. Had I not accepted it I am sure I would have been let go. There was a few of us in the same situation. I received 18 months of health care coverage. It ended on September 30, 2016. I have been paying my own premiums since Oct 1. My premiums for myself and my wife are about $1700 per month. This does not count all of the items that are not covered. I end up paying between $3000 and $4000 per month. At this rate I will deplete my retirement money very soon. I cannot continue to pay these exorbitant prices. I will have to drop my health care coverage in the near future. Why do I have to pay for maternity care, child coverage, and drug abuse therapy? I do not qualify for any subsidies. How do you think people in my situation can pay these rates? On top of this, I cannot deduct the bulk of this on my taxes. This is just unbelievable. You have got to stop increasing my rates. I need them cut. Please give me some relief
    Submitted By: Rob Stonesifer    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 10/24/2017

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As you must be aware, the pressure on some of us is intense re the cost of health care. I was and remain most appreciative for the ACA since it has saved my life twice already because the pre existing clause was non longer able to be used against me. I am a single 60 year old woman. I take good care of myself. I exercise, I eat well but despite all of this I became ill with lyme disease, a liver disease and most recently I had to have surgery to have a mass removed from my ovary. I am not sure if you are aware of this but it is documented that people who suffer stress, esp. early childhood stress have a greater chance of becoming ill later in life and that is true in my case. I suffered as a child in a violent home and had to leave that home at the age of 17. I struggle to make ends meet, am growing my business, will do everything I can to stay vertical and a contributing member of this society. I wish to remain well in order to be a contributing member of this society. I treat children who have suffered a trauma and wish to do my job and to be able to pay my bills. Making insurance affordable must be a priority for all citizens. We all know that people higher on the income chain are raking in lots of money while the middle class is being squeezed. I, for one, will need to opt out of having health insurance if my rates go up. I am happy to say that I will be making more money next year and will need less of a subsidy but if the premium is too high, i will not be able to make my monthly nut and then add to that the out of pocket expenses of copays, meds etc etc. I also see a holistic physician once a year in order to have the accent placed on wellness instead of sickness. I have worked in health care for almost 40 years and I have seen with my own eyes the decline of quality of care and the increase in medicine as a business with the greed that comes with it. I am sickened by it and from that depressed state was then heartened when the ACA came along. Please help to represent us, your constituents in this matter by any means possible.
    Submitted By: Karen Flowers    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 10/24/2017

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Please see comment from Hap Anderson
    Submitted By: Hap Anderson    Location: Baltimore MD    Date: 10/26/2017

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