In July of this year, we received the e-mail below from Liberty announcing an increase in monthly prices as well as an increase in the Annual Unshared Amount (AUA) for members. Monthly share amounts increased by $50 to $499 for our family and our AUA would not be $2,250.
I can’t say we were shocked to receive this e-mail. As we documented in an earlier post, Liberty proactively reports their numbers and there were multiple months in a row in which monthly medical needs exceeded the amounts paid by members. This is a pattern that can’t last too long before a price increase is necessary.
The increase in price would not have changed our original financial analysis much and we joined Liberty because we respected the concept. I appreciate the way Liberty is transparent about their obligations to members and actually viewed this increase as a prudent way to improve their operations.
