What Health Insurance You Have? Do You Like Them

journey11

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We have employer-provided insurance, so mine really wouldn't compare to yours as self-insured.

I worked for both Tricare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield in the past. Boy, have things drastically changed since then. My insurance would protect me from a catastrophe, but could easily set me back financially for a couple of years just for going for a series of regular diagnostic tests and maintenance of existing health issues, etc.

Doctors have to be so thorough in order to avoid malpractice, so they usually order lots of unnecessary tests. Unfortunately you can't know which ones are unnecessary until after the fact. A complete blood panel alone usually bills for over $900. That is a very basic diagnostic.

With the insurance I have right now we have to pay $2,300 out of pocket annually per individual or $8,000 per family before traditional insurance even begins to kick in! We had better Insurance last year, but my husband's company is struggling and they downsized their insurance plan to a high deductible consumer-driven plan. They do offer us a pre-tax health savings account in which we can put away up to $6,800 per year. Having just started this plan though, there's not much in there currently. The hope is that we can go healthy for at least a couple of years and build up a nest-egg to protect us. I have been having more severe and chronic asthma attacks here lately, but do not feel like I can get to the doctor to take care of it without really hurting us financially. So I guess I'll have to wait until I either turn blue or my inhaler Rx runs out. It is not controlling it very well anymore.

We postponed Savannah's next heart check-up until next January so that we would not touch the health savings account this year. Her check up with the specialist always runs over $4,000. With our old insurance last year we were only responsible for about $350 of that. Now we will have that $2,300 out of pocket to look forward to every year. :\ For a young family, that really puts the hurt on your hopes of getting ahead in this world. The American dream is definitely dead. Tighten the belt. I am paying for insurance that I cannot afford to use.

At least the $6,800 pre-tax savings account puts me down a tax bracket...

Savannah's heart defect at birth billed for over $200,000. With our old insurance we only had to pay for about $3,000 of that. And they will take small payments until you get it paid off.

My dad has very good insurance thankfully. I am hearing that more and more companies are going to consumer-driven plans like ours to cut costs. I have to get him signed up with COBRA now that FMLA has run out, but if his company decides to change group plans he will lose that insurance. He cannot get Medicare until two years after his date of disability. He will be lucky to still be alive by then. Social Security Administration...bleepin' gov't. Don't even get me started.

You might want to look into a Medi-share type plan. You pay a regular monthly premium, but costs are covered/shared across the board by members contributions. I need to look into it further and see if that is an option for us or not.
 

journey11

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They make such a big deal out of preventative check-ups and catching things early, but fear of being broke and in debt is worse for me. I can go once a year for annual check-up office visit paid 100% by the insurance, but heaven forbid they actually send you for any diagnostic tests.

We have worked hard to pay off all debts and set back money in savings. Only thing we owe on right now is our mortgage and we don't owe much. It took 3 1/2 years to pay off Ava's hospitalization as a newborn, then 2 years to pay off Savannah's. It is really upsetting to realize how quickly we could be put back in the hole again. :(
 

ninnymary

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We pay about $400 a month for 3 people. My husband's employer pays the rest. We have Kaiser. I know Bobm isn't happy with them but we are. We love our doctors. They take their time with us when we go for physicals every year. They are very thorough and answer all our questions and give you lots of information. At first I was leary because of how hugh they are. But I can see whomever I want and able to get quick appointments. Emails from us are returned by our doctors within 12 hours. Our prescriptions are mailed free to us in 10 days. Or you can go to the pharmacy and wait in line.

Mary
 

bobm

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The issue that I had with Kaiser was the transfer of my health records from Cal. to Wa.. Then when they switched to a new and improved computer system for their pharmacy, they had some really fun issues. Now, those have been adressed and working fine. Here I had really good service regarding medical and hospital services. Our monthly premium with Kaiser for the 2 of us is $ 230 / month with a co-pay of $5 / visit $ 100 co-pay for surgery and $0 .00 for any and all diagnostic workups such as blood work, x- rays, ultrasound, ct- scan,anything the doctor orders as a diagnostic aid. Alex since you are a business owner with employees, it may serve you well to look into the posibility in establishing a group as if in asking for information from insurance providers and price a number of health insurance companies for their costs and coverages. There are some tax advantages that you could then have too. So check with your CPA regarding this too and they just may have done research on what insurance conpanies are best at the least cost to you. :old
 

Larisa

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  • My Broker is working on it. @Larisa what kind of health care do you have in Russia?
There are free and paid. Now free medicine is formed from our taxes. But it is reduced. It may be changed. We have to pay extra for some medical services. You can be treated for the money. This is not always the best treatment. It is expensive and the doctor prescribes a lot of excess.
I think if it's not a private clinic, and the state, which gives free and paid medical treatment, it is better not to pay in officially and give the money to the doctor.
 

Rhodie Ranch

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When I broke my knee cap tripping over a border collie, it cost me $12,000 for the first round (it was in November 2010) and then another $10,000 for my 2011 costs. That was with private fabulous insurance (for which we paid $800 a month thru USAA) before the ACA was enacted. I hope everyone has savings......
 

Smart Red

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Sheesh, murphysranch! That's a lot for someone with insurance to pay out of pocket. My new cardiac device shouldn't cost me anything after Medicare cuts the hospital and doctor's charges to a pittance and my insurance pays the remaining 20% of that.
 

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