Individual Health Insurance Rates/Plans
Bob F
between the three "Evolve HSA" plans. They have one that pays 50%, one that
pays 80%, and the HSA 100 plan that pays 100% after the $5000 deductable. All
three plans have $5000 maximum out-of-pocket. The 50% plan was $258/mo, the 80%
$375/mo for $3500 deductable, and the 100 plan was $485 for $5000 ded. I just
spent a hour on the phone, talking to 3 people to find out what the "HSA 100"
plan had that the others didn't to make it worth the extra money. The final
word - nothing. For the extra money, you just don't get paid anything until you
get to $5000 out-of-pocket. After that, all the plans pay the same. So the
cheaper plans pay significantly more. The 3rd guy I talked to at Regence said he
could get no answer to explain the high cost of the HSA 100 plan from his
management.
Additionally, Calculating the extra cost of the lower deductable plans, it turns
out that the cost difference is higher than the difference in what they would
pay me, worst case. So lower deductables just make no sense in my case.
I decided against their "Evolve Core" plans because the maximum out-of-pocket is
twice as high as the HSA plans - a $7500 "coinsurance max" plus the deductable
of $2500-$10000.
I was told I had, by law, till the end of this month to make a change after they
came up with these new plans. I just faxed the form in for my change. Maybe
others should look at their options
h
"Bob F" <bobn...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ihpto4$aek$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>
> I was told I had, by law, till the end of this month to make a change
> after they came up with these new plans. I just faxed the form in for my
> change. Maybe others should look at their options
You're lucky. I don't know anyone with health insurance except people on
Medicare. Most of us have no "options". Of course, I haven't seen (needed) a
doctor in 27 years, so I wouldn't have insurance even if I could get it.
Bob F
No luck involved. I pay for it. You all have the same options as I do.
I hope you've been saving all those dollars you've not spent on insurance. If
not, one of these days, you'll get in an accident, or have a severe illness, and
the next thing you know, you'll be bankrupt. It's the way our American system
works.
h
>h wrote:
>> "Bob F" <bobn...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:ihpto4$aek$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>>
>>> I was told I had, by law, till the end of this month to make a change
>>> after they came up with these new plans. I just faxed the form in
>>> for my change. Maybe others should look at their options
>>
>> You're lucky. I don't know anyone with health insurance except people
>> on Medicare. Most of us have no "options". Of course, I haven't seen
>> (needed) a doctor in 27 years, so I wouldn't have insurance even if I
>> could get it.
>
> No luck involved. I pay for it. You all have the same options as I do.
>
Nope. Not everyone can get insurance and the one place I can find it
(self-employed), they want more than I make in a year, and it doesn't pay
for ANYTHING until you meet the $5,000 deductible. As if. It doesn't help
that my state has decided to "protect" me by requiring all insurance to be
all-inclusive. So it's not possible just to get hospitalization or major
illness coverage, you have to have HMO coverage. So no, not everyone has the
same options you do. And no, I simply won't seek treatment if I become ill
or have an accident. I can't afford it. I accepted that fact years ago.
Bob F
Too bad the polititions can't figure out how bad it is and do something about
it.
I origionally bought my insurance many years ago when I became self-employed.
The cost has gone up astronomically since then. I keep switching to higher
deductable, less generous plans to keep it reasonable. I know I need it because
of my "pre-existing" condition, and maintain it to handle major problems which
can be horribly expensive. I'm glad I "got into the system" while the getting
was good, if what you say is true.
vjp...@at.biostrategist.dot.dot.com
which is what I wanted.
I only found $2k and $25k.
- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
h
was 100% self-employed. The premiums went up about $800 every year, then
$1,000, and then they started with deductibles. When the premium went up to
$12,000 a year (one non-smoking adult with no medical problems) with a
$5,000 deductible, I cancelled it. Since I never used it, not even once, I
flushed about $70,000 in premiums down the toilet. That's about twice what
my retirement account is currently worth. And...since business is so
terrible, I no longer make enough to qualify for the "Small Business"
insurance plan anyway, so even if I could afford it they wouldn't let me buy
it.
So not only can I not afford any medical care, I will probably never be able
to close my business and retire.At least I can get Medicare in 12 years.
Yes, politicians really do not get how bad it is for many of us.
Bob F
>> I origionally bought my insurance many years ago when I became
>> self-employed. The cost has gone up astronomically since then. I keep
>> switching to higher deductable, less generous plans to keep it
>> reasonable. I know I need it because of my "pre-existing" condition,
>> and maintain it to handle major problems which can be horribly
>> expensive. I'm glad I "got into the system" while the getting was
>> good, if what you say is true.
> Oh yeah, I got insurance in the early 90s when I finally quit my day
> job and was 100% self-employed. The premiums went up about $800 every
> year, then $1,000, and then they started with deductibles. When the
> premium went up to $12,000 a year (one non-smoking adult with no
> medical problems) with a $5,000 deductible, I cancelled it. Since I
> never used it, not even once, I flushed about $70,000 in premiums
> down the toilet. That's about twice what my retirement account is
> currently worth. And...since business is so terrible, I no longer
> make enough to qualify for the "Small Business" insurance plan
> anyway, so even if I could afford it they wouldn't let me buy it.
>
> So not only can I not afford any medical care, I will probably never
> be able to close my business and retire.At least I can get Medicare
> in 12 years. Yes, politicians really do not get how bad it is for
> many of us.
Those rates sould absurd. At the worst, I paid $850/mo before I finally bailed
on the "do everything" policy. The one I am in now as described in my origional
post will be $258/mo. Before I made that previous change at $850, my rates had
gone up 368% in 7 years.
Fortunately, I put the maximum into my Keogh and earlier IRAs, in addition to my
regular savings.
Bob F
> "Bob F" <bobn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I was told I had, by law, till the end of this month to make a
>> change after they came up with these new plans. I just faxed the
>> form in for my change. Maybe others should look at their options
> in a "Medicare Advantage" plan have a brief "re-enrollment" period
> (we're in it now) during which they may make changes. This the last
> time that will happen.
I'm not old enough for medicare yet. 3 more years.
h
Wow. Really cheap. I was paying $3k a year back in the mid 90s. I can't
legally buy anything except a "do everything" policy because I live in the
Nanny State. And I make $500 a year too much to qualify for the state
sponsored plans, and I don't have kids. In my state, if you don't have kids,
you don't exist.
Lou
"h" <tmc...@searchmachine.com> wrote in message
news:ihsebn$f6e$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
>
(snipped)
> Of course, I haven't seen (needed) a
> doctor in 27 years, so I wouldn't have insurance even if I could get it.
>
Maybe you're fortunate, healthy through and through. Or maybe you're like
me. I didn't see a doctor for pushing a couple of decades, felt fine. One
day, walking from the commuter train to the office I felt chest pains, two
days later I woke up in a hospital room after having a triple bypass. It
cost only $60,000 a dozen years ago, probably would be more today.
Fortunately, I did have health insurance, and I didn't pay a thing for the
hospital stay, operation, rehab, etc. I don't know if seeing a doctor
periodically would have prevented the need for a bypass. I do know that,
given the need, insurance makes a whale of a difference.
I still have follow-up visits every six months, the bill for each is around
$1,200, and I don't pay for them either. Annual medication comes to around
$10,000/year, and the insurance pays that as well. I do have to pay
co-pays, it comes to a few hundred bucks a year.
I woke up one night with discomfort in my lower back. Over the course of
the next hour or two, it became excruciating pain. An ambulance ride to the
emergency room, a doctor, a cat scan, I had a kidney stone. 59 years old,
not a hint of such a thing in my medical history, or in the history of my
extended family. A day in the emergency room, lots of pain killing drugs,
and it passed - smaller than a grain of table salt. Bill came to several
thousand bucks - covered by insurance. It's happed two more times, the last
time I spent three days in the hospital, had to have a "procedure" (that's
what they call it) to get the stone out. Have you priced a day in a
hospital lately? Me neither, but insurance covered it all. And now I see
an urologist every six months because I don't want to go through that again.
Guess who pays for those visits? The insurance, not me.
My granddaughter was having "stomach aches", it turned out she needed her
gall bladder removed (at sixteen). This year, she had an ovarian cyst (at
eighteen).
Don't see a doctor if you don't want. But life can turn on a dime. You
might be healthy, but maybe not, you can be injured through no fault of your
own, things just go wrong unexpectedly. You're playing Russian roulette.
m...@privacy.net
getting your own health insurance!
Impossible in this country
m...@privacy.net
>I think it depends on the state. I have read that 32 states have some
>form of high risk pool, which means 18 states don't have them. Does
>your state have a high risk pool?
HAHAHAHAHA!
Just because a state has a "high risk" pool does NOT
mean you will be able to afford it!!!
Get sick and you will see what I mean
Bob F
That'll change in 2014 with the new health care bill, unless the Repubs get
their way.
Vic Smith
Even normal big company provided health insurance is basically
unaffordable for low wage workers.
Not even talking about "high risk."
Family coverage, which still has deductibles and other costs if you
use the insurance, typically runs $100 a week.
So for a $10 an hour wage earner, that's 25% of his/her gross pay.
My wife is a chef in a large corporation (+120,000 U.S. employees) and
makes about $13 an hour.
Employee +1 insurance costs about 20% of her gross.
Except for her manager, she's the highest paid team member in the
kitchen.
She works there, and is locked into that job mostly to provide us with
insurance.
That's okay for us. I'm getting SS and have retirement savings.
And she's young and healthy enough to still enjoy her work.
We figure the 20% of her gross is "keep your house" insurance.
But none of the others on her team can afford the insurance.
They all take their kids and themselves to the emergency room for
medical treatment.
Of course they don't get normal yearly check ups either.
When I was working, the same $100 week insurance was 4% of our income,
and wasn't even noticed.
It's really funny when I see a bunch of TV talking head millionaires
sitting around and saying "The U.S. has the best health care in the
world," and "We have to cut Medicare and SS benefits for all old
people," and "The retirement age must be raised to 70."
At the same time they have huge hissy fits about raising taxes on the
wealthy by a few points.
But the funniest thing is how folks like them get voted into office.
Check out the wealth of the members of Congress.
Pretty much says it all about why lower income folks are going to the
emergency room and losing their houses.
But Americans can vote, so they get exactly the politicians they
deserve.
There's a sucker born every minute. Truer words were never spoken.
--Vic
m...@privacy.net
>It's really funny when I see a bunch of TV talking head millionaires
>sitting around and saying "The U.S. has the best health care in the
>world," and "We have to cut Medicare and SS benefits for all old
>people," and "The retirement age must be raised to 70."
Bingo! Agree!
These people are clueless!
The average wage for most people in south central
Missouri is less than $15 hr....
m...@privacy.net
>That is absolutely the last option available to me, but I have to have
>it to protect my life savings as best I can. You would not do this?
No I cant.... that is almost the cost of my rent
m...@privacy.net
>That'll change in 2014 with the new health care bill, unless the Repubs get
>their way.
I'm afraid the Repubs will get there way and the only
system we have will be " I'm rich and have mine so fuck
you" healthcare