Health Insurance Plans

[TonyStark]

I was wondering which health insurance plan you consider the best, and why?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Dunno, but mine just went from $296 to $808/mo -- AZ has been hit hard by the insurance rate hikes.

I'm currently investigating alternatives.

 

[TonyStark]

Dunno, but mine just went from $296 to $808/mo -- AZ has been hit hard by the insurance rate hikes.

I'm currently investigating alternatives.

That's insane....

 

[vinylawesome]

I purchased mine through ehealthinsurance.com a few years ago. A local insurance broker should be able to give you several quotes at no cost to you.

 

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[TonyStark]

Why would anyone want a higher deductible?

 

[Justin Gesso]

Dunno, but mine just went from $296 to $808/mo -- AZ has been hit hard by the insurance rate hikes.

I'm currently investigating alternatives.

Not as bad as AZ, but I'm in Colorado and my rates are going through the roof too. Self-employed health insurance has skyrocketed over the last few years.

Super high deductibles, ineligible for tax credits (income), and doctors dropping out of provider lists...oh my.

I'm exploring some organizations that offer group rates to self employed:

• http://www.nase.org/request-insurance-quote
• https://www.freelancersunion.org/health/
• http://www.nfib.com/member-vantage/personal-insurance/nfib-health-exchange/

Has anyone tried anything like these?

 

[EdKirby]

Why would anyone want a higher deductible?

Typically, the higher the deductible generally translates to a lower monthly premium all other things being equal. This is a way for the insurance company to offload some of the risk/overall cost to you if you get sick and in return they give you a better deal.

Now, if you know that you won't be hitting the policy too much because you are generally healthy you can risk it. It's all a numbers game. You can even go for a HDP (High deductible plan) that is HSA (Health Savings Account) approved by the IRS and fund it to cover any expenses you may incur. You fund it and in return the Gov gives you a tax break.

To answer your first question, there are so many plans and options on those plans that it almost unhelpful for anyone to tell what they have because it's very subjective. I have a family of 4 and we go to the Dr's on a semi-regular basis so I went with a PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plan with a lower deductible and set co-pays and script costs. But, I work for one of the biggest blues in the U.S. (they bought the company I work for, yay me!) so the cost to me is very very low.

Although, when I was consulting and had my own corp. I contracted directly with Blue Cross and I went with a HDP and had an HSA for the tax advantages. Even at that my cost was $1200/mo. or some crap like that. ouch!

Hope this helps and check all this with the paid professionals.

 

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[TonyStark]

I purchased mine through ehealthinsurance.com a few years ago. A local insurance broker should be able to give you several quotes at no cost to you.

Thank you!! This website is a LIFESAVER.

 

[YoungPadawan]

Dunno, but mine just went from $296 to $808/mo -- AZ has been hit hard by the insurance rate hikes.

I'm currently investigating alternatives.

I hear ya!

 

[RHL]

Rates are going to hell everywhere, and this is for people in their late 20's/early 30's with no hospitalizations since puberty and zero medical concerns. I can't wait to see what the party's like when you turn 50. This is an industry that is screaming for a huge disruption, but breaking in is going to take tens of billions and, sadly, a not-inconsiderable amount of that money is going to be spent buying off congressmen to make sure they don't kill off the better mousetrap for an inferior one that sent them on a cruise last winter.

 

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[funkj25]

Dunno, but mine just went from $296 to $808/mo -- AZ has been hit hard by the insurance rate hikes.

I'm currently investigating alternatives.

Just ouch. Mine's going from 175 to 250 and I'm complaining about that... (I'm currently 27, super healthy, but obviously get no benefit for that).

Which actually has me contemplating just lapsing the coverage period and paying the penalty. It isn't that I can't afford it (I'm doing fairly well at the moment), but I'm not sure if actually paying it is worth it for me.

Given that premiums are going up, people already lamented having a hard time affording them before, I'd anticipate some opportunities for someone to step up to serve people without health insurance. I can almost guarantee more people are going to start opting out and paying the penalty not because they want to or they think it's a better financial move (like I'm contemplating), but because they can't afford to keep paying premiums.

 

[OldFaithful]

My insurance is thru my J.O.B. at the present, and it's a mixed bag. For my family, we chose the HDHP with the HSA and our cost is $290/mo. (I prefer the highest deductible and lowest monthly premium.) If you can believe what the company says they pay for their portion of the premium ($1,780/mo), then the total cost is $2,070/mo!!! And it's just a HDHP...not a cadillac health plan. That's $24,000/yr!!! It's just ridiculous.

I would consider not having medical insurance to be my best plan, if it were an option. I'd prefer the company pay me more instead of offering the insurance, and save that $24k/yr to pay our medical expenses with cash. Sadly, it's just not permitted.

 

[IGP]

Up over 30% for my family of 4... Gonna pay over 15K in health insurance next year and they wont even cover all our visits... SIGH...

Still WAY cheaper than Obamacare though.

 

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[healthstatus]

https://www.gravie.com/individuals/

 

[ChickenHawk]

Our monthly insurance premium, for a healthy family of three, just went up to nearly $1,800 a month.

MONTHLY RATES: A brief history.

• 2014: $540/month (This was only a quote, since I was still on my employer's insurance.)
• 2015 Rate: $970
• 2016 Rate: $1,243
• 2017 Rate: $1,772

This is for basic silver coverage. Nothing fancy. Behold a scene from my last doctor's visit.

• The Front Desk Clerk: "Okay, I'll collect your copay now."
• Me, getting out my checkbook: "Great! How much?"
• Her: "Sixty-five dollars."
• Me: "Wow, seriously? How much is it WITHOUT insurance?"
• Her: "Well, um sixty-five dollars, actually."
• Me: "Good thing I have insurance, huh?"

After this latest increase, I researched different plans, looking to consider basic catastrophic coverage, since our silver plan wasn't paying much of anything anyway. Here's what I learned. For "only" $1,200 a month, I can get bare-bones catastrophic coverage, which covers absolutely nothing until we hit a deductible of $12,900. This means, we'd pay $27,300 before receiving a single benefit. (Is it rude to say, 'WTF????!!!')

I've been looking at alternatives, too, but am still wading through the muck. It just goes against my grain to pay so much for so little.

 

[Vigilante]

We use medi-share.

Might as well wait until 2017 though because it is all going to be dismantled.

You will see whole scale changes in 2017.

Sit tight for now.

@ChickenHawk check out medi share

 

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[ChickenHawk]

@ChickenHawk check out medi share

Thanks so much for the info! They were on my list to research, but I didn't know anyone personally who'd used them, so I was a bit hesitant. Coming from you, this is a high recommendation, and I'll definitely check them out.

 

[Vigilante]

Thanks so much for the info! They were on my list to research, but I didn't know anyone personally who'd used them, so I was a bit hesitant. Coming from you, this is a high recommendation, and I'll definitely check them out.

We LOVE them.

After we were turned down for an exemption from ObamaCare (because they wanted us to pay for everyone else's insurance) we got MediShare. It works essentially like catastrophic coverage, but they have a 100% perfect track record since it's founding over a decade ago of paying 100% of eligible claims. Perfect.

Our premiums went down by 70%.

And one of the coolest parts of MediShare is they send you the information on where your money went. Specifically. And you can contact those people through the system with a word of encouragement for them.

It is better than ANY health care plan we have ever been on, other than the cadillac-type plans that don't seem to exist in the private sector any more.

We're REALLY happy with our plan through MediShare.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

We're REALLY happy with our plan through MediShare.

So who pays when you walk into a doctor's office?

 

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[Vigilante]

So who pays when you walk into a doctor's office?

It's basically catastrophic coverage.

Step 1. You go to the doc. Give them your card. Pay a co-pay.

Step 2. The purpose of the co-pay was to get the "insurance" discounted rate. So, the doctor still submits the bill to MediShare.

Step 3. MediShare looks to see if you met your "extremely high" deductible or not yet. If no, the bill is still your responsibility.

Step 4. if YES, MediShare pays the bill.

Here's how it looked for us (ballpark as I don't remember the exact amounts)

Before, on Obamacare :

• Family Premium was 1500/mo, and scheduled to increase for 2017
• Co-Pay was maybe $50 per visit for in network only (you could only see the ONE doctor you were assigned to)
• Out of network (meaning, you didn't see the doctor you were assigned to) = NO COVERAGE
• Travelling = NO coverage
• Deductables were several thousand dollars before 80/20 kicked in
• No eye coverage, etc...

Now, on MediShare

• Family Premium is $500/mo
• Co-Pay is $20 (?) and then the bill is submitted to Medishare for adjustment, and ultimately back to you to pay
• No "network" penalty, meaning you still have coverage if you see a doctor that is not on their PPO --- it's just that the doctor won't have preferred rates but you still are covered and it still counts towards deductible
• No specific doctor assigned to you (which was part of the whole Obamacare SCAM)
• Deductibles - high. Maybe same as what our Obamacare bronze plan was
• Affiliate discounts for vision, dental, more.

All in all, it is saving us a TON because even with the Obamacare bronze plan, with high premiums, we still had high deductibles. This way, we have low monthly premiums and high deductibles. You can actually pick your deductible just like normal insurance.

We are really enjoying it, and that's been a long time since I have been able to say that about any insurance policy.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

and scheduled to increase for 2017

Have you taken a look at what your cost will be in 2017? (Obamacare)

Make sure you're sitting down.

 

[Vigilante]

Have you taken a look at what your cost will be in 2017? (Obamacare)

Make sure you're sitting down.

Doesn't really affect me any more. MediShare gets a legal OPT OUT of the system. We have no requirement to buy Obamacare nor pay the tax fee. MediShare participants end up with a legal exemption for religious purposes.

I should have stated up front that MediShare DOES require a profession of faith in Christianity for membership. That's how they get the legal system exemption.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

We're REALLY happy with our plan through MediShare.

Wow, that sounds exactly what we're looking for. THANKS for the additional info!!!!

It's been a real frustration these past couple of years, because cost aside, I've had issues with the whole system, and hated the idea of supporting it in any way. I just didn't see a good way around it, not without risking my family's well-being. But now, thanks to you (and of course, this amazing forum), I'm finally seeing a real way to avoid this whole cluster and maybe, do some good in the process. This is such a load off my mind, seriously!

 

[Vigilante]

It's amazing to drop a note to the recipients of your insurance funds. It makes it very real, and personal.

As a recipient, you can opt out of that, but I think the people are generally thankful for the notes of encouragement that come through the Medi-Share account to them in some of their darkest hours.

 

[CycleGuy]

I was hit with a brick a couple weeks ago when I got my letter from BCBS.

My wife and I are both mid to late 20s, non-smokers, in good physical shape. We eat with moderation and drink maybe 6 times a year. We also workout 4-5 times a week.


Our bronze plan premium just went from $487 a month with a $6000 deductible to $817 a month with a $6500 deductible.


I think I am going to take the tax penalty in '17 and keep insurance on my wife. The cheapest option I found for her was $321 and the deductible was over ~7k.



My question to those with more life knowledge, what would you do in my same position?

 

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[MRSSuply]

My insurance is thru my J.O.B. at the present, and it's a mixed bag. For my family, we chose the HDHP with the HSA and our cost is $290/mo. (I prefer the highest deductible and lowest monthly premium.) If you can believe what the company says they pay for their portion of the premium ($1,780/mo), then the total cost is $2,070/mo!!! And it's just a HDHP...not a cadillac health plan. That's $24,000/yr!!! It's just ridiculous.

I would consider not having medical insurance to be my best plan, if it were an option. I'd prefer the company pay me more instead of offering the insurance, and save that $24k/yr to pay our medical expenses with cash. Sadly, it's just not permitted.

I'm extremely new here and to the MF way of thinking, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. BUT last year, MrSupply and I got in a car crash on the interstate. Insurance has been a bitch (this is why PI attorneys have jobs), but overall, so glad we had coverage. It's not like you can prevent getting in a 6-car pileup (well, I suppose you can if you never get in a car. But there are equivalent examples for car-free lifestyles). Just the surgery to repair my collarbone would have been $25.5k without insurance.

So, that's one thing to keep in mind - medical expenses are way more than a person would think, and they aren't all preventable. For an example beyond car crashes, cancer has a lot of contributing factors that can be avoided with lifestyle (see: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/pro...ommon/@nre/@hea/documents/image/cr_082588.pdf), but you can't do anything about genetics and cancer treatment is incredibly expensive. On that .pdf we see that there aren't any documented incidences of preventable prostate cancer, for instance.

Plus, when you're sick like that, you can't exactly hustle or push out new passive income streams to cover the costs because your body isn't up to it. Depending on the severity of your illness/injury, you may not be able to think about money or signing up for Obamacare (if you're in the U.S.). I'm in favor of risk and good debt to a degree (trying to become more so), but medical insurance is one area where I think it pays to be risk-adverse.

 

[OldFaithful]

medical insurance is one area where I think it pays to be risk-adverse

IMHO the medical industry is no different from any other service provider. Please just tend to freak out because of their personal biases or past experiences.

Every product or service that the government regulates tends to have a reduction in supply and an increase in costs. I prefer free market solutions.