Sorry, you're now paying 50% more for your healthcare. Love, Obamacare.

Ok, where do I start? This is tough to share with you because it is pretty scary. I did provide some pointers to lessen the financial burden on you and your family, so try to make it through the bad news to get to the good.

With 2016 nearing its end, the American people have the upcoming elections on their mind, but open enrollment for healthcare is really something that hasn't been talked about in-depth enough to show how severe of an epidemic it really is.  

Arizona, Kentucky, New York, Tennessee, and Texas, to name a few, have all sought out rate increases of 50 percent or more for 2017. So, what does all of this mean for an average family? Well, the truth is grim. Either pay tens of thousands of dollars for less than exemplary coverage, or be penalized by the government that started this terrifying downward spiral.  Along with a new president, 2017 ushers in changes in the health insurance market. Such as United Health, Humana, and Aetna's decision to reduce or completely eliminate their presence in the Affordable Care Act reformed insurance market. The majority of these decisions were made as a preemptive strike to stem any further financial loss. 

While the Affordable Care Act was executed with supposed good intentions, it has done little if anything to reduce the number of uninsured Americans. According to The Washington Examiner, before the ACA there were a reported 42 million uninsured citizens in 2013. While the goal of Obamacare was to provide health coverage for everyone, nearly 33 million, or 10.4 percent of the population remained uninsured in 2014. The ACA has left major gaps in coverage, and those who oppose the law have made decisions that denies coverage to millions.  Of the remaining 33 million uninsured, 3.8 million were part of the "Medicaid Gap", 7.7 million were lower income young adults aged 19 to 34, and 7 million were immigrants, however that leaves an astonishing 14.4 million Americans who do not fall into any of these categories, yet still declined coverage through the ACA market. 

Dan Schumacher, CFO of United Healthcare, listed UnitedHealth losses at about $475 million on ACA plans for the 2015 policy year, while anticipating another $500 million in losses for 2016 plans. That would put UnitedHealth at close to $1 billion in losses in 2 years. 

Millions of American people who have always had health coverage are now stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place; either pay the outrageous monthly premiums, or be penalized for not having an ACA compliant health plan.  The copays and deductibles are skyrocketing so even though the rates are going up, the benefits are progressively getting worse for out of pocket expenses to the consumer. The average deductibles for a family are to reach over $13,000 for 2017. The major providers, like Blue Cross, who have decided to remain in the marketplace have seized the opportunity to request heinous double digit rate increases while the American people are distracted by the Trump-Clinton Circus that is dominating the media. 

Along with the rate increases that have been requested by major providers, the ACA penalty will be increasing as well. 2016's penalty was set at 2.5 percent of total adjusted income, or $695 per adult, and $347.50 per child, not to exceed $2,085. 2017's penalty, while staying at 2.5 percent, is now going to allow for inflation.  Our healthcare system is poised for disaster. With major providers unceremoniously removing themselves from the open market, the insurance industry is being opened up to the very likely possibility of monopolies forming, along with massive job loss, and consequentially diminished revenue going back into an already unstable economy. 

America, if you aren't scared, you simply aren't paying attention, and if you are scared, you've probably been of issues that aren't costing you an arm and a leg, like, who said what in the past 10 years or who deleted sensitive emails.

I would be a hypocrite to my 5 teenagers if I didn't end this with some solutions to the problems of this depressing article. Here are some tips from research and cost saving experts I interviewed in the industry.

8 SECRETS TO SAVING THOUSANDS ON HEALTHCARE COSTS

1. Negotiate a self pay at the time of service - From the research I have found and from my brilliant wife trying some of these tactics by just "asking", you can talk to the administrator at the E.R. or Doctors office to get a much lower rate than even if your insurance pays for it. About 75% of the time we have found that this process works and we save more than having the insurance pay the bill, because of the high costs and our deductible. If you're nice to the administrator you're speaking with you can usually get them to tell you the "secrets"and what to say or do to keep the costs down. Desperate times call for desperate measures, they are usually willing to help.

2. Use Telemedicine instead of going into Doctors or E.R. - Um, this is a no brainer. How many times have you said "Why cant I just get the doctor to call me in a prescription instead of going in and wasting half a day?" The American Medical Association states that 78% of the doctor and E.R. visits could be handled over the phone or video call with a prescription called in. If you are with a group plan check to see if you have this option, like Teladoc or MyHealthPass. Both have group plans and may be on your plan already, if not, they accept individuals and MyHealthPass includes the whole family at one flat monthly price and Teledoc charges $49 per incident.

3. Negotiate your bill - Yep, they're crooks so don't get taken advantage of. The government (Medicare) literally pays a fraction of what you do, so, why cant you? There are services if you have a group plan called Patient Advocacy or you can find them online or do it yourself. This service can help you by actually making the calls for you if you provide the information.

4. Shop around for medication - Services like GoodRX.com and RXValet.com lists cash prices for most prescriptions at about a 70% decrease in cost. There are other sites as well if you do some research. This is an easy way to save quickly on your expenses if you have prescriptions.

5. Use a Service that can do this for you - There are services out there that provide many of these Tips like MyHealthPass, you can call them and they will actively assist you with these issues, and usually do it for you. The cost is $24.95/month for your family and it usually cost double that. Other services like HealthSmartUSA and for seniors, MySeniorHealthPass, provide similar services at similar prices.  

6. Choose your Health Plan wisely - This is pretty daunting. You want a plan that includes your doctors and your medications, plus provides care for any chronic conditions. Information online can be incomplete or outdated, so call the doctors to make sure they’re still participating in plans you’re considering. Utilize an insurance agent that works with multiple companies to assist you with this. Unfortunately, it is becoming so expensive, it is hard to find a plan that fits your needs that's affordable. Note that most plans don't have cancer and other catastrophic coverage so you need to make sure you understand what you're getting. Unfortunately, you will see ridiculously high deductibles for the foreseeable future.

7. Dental doesn't have to bite - Ive always heard that dental plans are horrible and unless your with a big company they're not worth it. After some research, I found that there is some that look pretty promising, especially because I have 3 teenagers with braces. One is called Bright Idea Dental, It seems to have the most coverage for the best price. I'd recommend searching the web for options.

8. NEVER GET A PROCEDURE DONE WITHOUT SHOPPING AROUND - My wife needed an MRI and it was $2,800, I used a service and they called a few centers and got it down to $320. You can do this by shopping around yourself or using a service like MyHealthPass or HealthSmartUSA to do it for you. Never just do a procedure without getting the cost and seeing what deals are out there first.

I will follow up to this article with more details to the new pricing as it is announced. Make sure to follow me.

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Written by David Leoncavallo and Morgan York To contact for more information email [email protected] & [email protected]

David Leoncavallo is the Managing Partner of SilverCup Partners, an investment firm focusing on technology, franchising and healthcare industries, with a heavy focus on easing the burden of government regulations to the consumer.  He has appeared on Fox speaking about government regulation and how this relates to making Americans pay the bill at a heavy cost.

NO MORE COPAYS       NO MORE WAITING ROOMS      NO MORE DEDUCTIBLES