On Jun 7, 2007, at 1:59 PM, Tim Case wrote:

I've got a plan with my day-job to cover my wife and I, then an  
independent policy for our two kids as it works out to be $200  
cheaper.  Silly United Healthcare.  Ironically, the independent  
policy is with a subsidiary of United.

What I found, over the few days I researched it, is that almost all  
of the independent policies include a co-insurance clause of 20%,  
meaning that regardless of what they cover you're going to get stuck  
with 20% of the bill.  United was the only company that had plans  
which covered 100% of the bill after the deductible, but their 100%  
plan does not include a co-pay for doctor visits so you're going to  
pay the deductible before you see any return on the investment.

Over the past year my family have gone through about $60,000 of  
medical coverage - I had an appendectomy, my wife broke her thumb on  
my head while playing tag (!!), and then an emergency c-section -  
this would have bankrupt us and is ultimately why I will have a  
regular day job for a long time to come.

--
Damien McKenna - Husband, father, geek.
dam...@mc-kenna.com - http://www.mc-kenna.com/