To expand on lowboys comment somewhat, excavation insurance is my biggest expense to me running my business on a per month basis, fixed cost to contend with weather I move a machine or not, health insurance is second on that list of expenses, and anything that costs me money affects my bottom line and is figured into the cost of operation somewhere, same as everyone else who's running their own business.
I'd like to know since this topic hasn't been discussed really at all that I know of, what's your monthly premiums done, gone up, down or stayed the same.
Around me, seeing how I live in the middle of nowhere really, I get answers all the time, and the next time I ask, I get a different set of answers, those informing my people keep being told something different every time they ask above them, not a surprise at all really, anyone can blame it on whatever they want to, it boils down to those making decisions don't have a clue as to what they are doing is what I get out of the media, true or not, someone can inform me differently. I also have a family member who works in accounting for a major hospital group, in corporate level and she claims they don't know from day to day what's going on, and the last I asked she's in charge of I think 12 hospitals in the chain and she deals with billing medicare and the government entities among many other insurance companies, as she tells me, the rules change daily as the days go along, shes about to quit her job, all she gets is a sophisticated run around, her advice to me was wait it out, till its in writing don't worry about your told, it'll change upteen many times before its in writing its not funny. I asked the local clinic I deal with and they just laughed at me saying, don't get excited, we'll shoot you, stick you, stab you and hold your urine cup and test you for anything, we'll deal with the rest as we are told we should, we basically don't know any more than you, unless you want to official version we're told to tell everyone, which amounts to your in good hands and we have all the answers...............today, tomorrow might be somewhat different but then that's the official version,,,,,,,,,,,just updated.
All I can say lowboy is today, nobody under my policy is sick, injured, hospitalized or being treated for basically anything, so to me its just premiums cost, I don't have a paperwork nightmare to deal with if my policy would change, coverage would change or anything else, I"m sitting on this subject waiting to be informed if my policy changes, premiums change or what happens, I asked all my customers over the last few months and that's their plan too, wait and see, do nothing till they are informed in writing something needs to change or be done differently.
To answer your other portion of your question, do you understand it, the answer would have to be "no" and since I've had major health issues in the past, with those under my policy, I hate insurance with a passion, always have, I'm also pretty sure there''s a hospital wing somewhere I paid for too, but its something I have to have to reduce liability issues and to be able to stay in business, no different than equipment and vehicle insurance, which the state and jobs I do require anyhow.
My plan is to wait till the smoke clears, all the different version have changed a dozen times, everyone's interpretation has been hashed over and someone knows for sure what the rules are and how they affect me, or I'm cancelled and then forced to make a change and deal with issues of misinterpretation that come along with them, if anyone has any better idea's please by all means go ahead and tell us all about them, I've heard so many already, a few more in the mix wouldn't hurt me a bit.
So while the moderators line up the gun sights on me or this topic, before pulling the trigger, I for one would like to hear how others have been dealing with this issue, or what they've been told, I also feel its a very big part of HEF and heavy equipment, without it, I'm not sure, but I'd guess most wouldn't be here to discuss anything, they'd be punching a clock at a factory job or somewhere else doing something else.