Health Insurance questions

[expat]

I would like to reduce my medical coverage if possible. As a teacher in a private school I don't have any company coverage. Currently I pay in excess of US$800 mnth. for myself, wife and the two children. This is on a PPO plan.

What type of coverage ($$$ only) do you pay and to what company?

I know there will be a whole host of different plans being subscribed to, but am I am curious what you guys are currently paying.

Could you indicate whether your coverage is for a family or single.

Thanks,
Mark

[Burnin' oil]

Five young'uns and a belly warmer: Nationwide PPO, $45 copay, big deductible and very limited prescription coverage = $800 per month and going up 15 - 20% per year

[CamB]

I pronounce this as evidence that your health system is ****ed.

$9600 per annum - no wonder a large percentage of the population is uninsured.

[Moneyguy1]

Cam:

And no one wants to say "why."

Oh, the cost of reserch, the cost of malpractice insurance.....

Both are true, but they are the effect and not the cause. Until the country (yeah, at the fed level) deals with and clamps down on the drug companies, the legal profession and the insurers, things will not be improving. Today, on TV there was an item about the drug companies creating markits for unneeded drugs through their advertising campaigns. As one commentator said "They come out with a new drug for this or that, and people go to the doctor saying "I want that". The Doctor, wishing to make the patient happy, writes the perscription." Then, in many cases, it is discovered that the drug, designed for one malady, causes something else. And, in some cases, one also in the news, the company did not divulge the results of tests for one such medication. Here come the lawsuits........

Kinda sums it up.

[CamB]

IMHO - the higher the premium, and the greater the cover, the more **** you get "fixed" and the more claims you make.

Insurance companies just link premiums to claims (they actually have an incentive to encourage higher claims because it raises the premiums over time). Basically, I reckon you end up with an even worse situation than a gold-plated state funded service (which is not normally the case with state funding).

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Freakin' AUTO insurance is outrageous here also. I checked on the price of a policy for a new Subaru WRX Sti that I was mulling over - almost $5,000 a year!!! AND I have a clean driving record and I'm 33 (not under 25). Un-be-freakin' lievable. Needless to say, I lost interest in that one right quick.

All that just so you can put money in the pockets of fat cats and get nothing in return other than protecting another fat cat (the bank). Ridiculous, our system.

I'm sticking with my 15-year-old 944 and its $700-a-year policy thank you very much.

The insurance companies and lawyers are killing this country perhaps more so than any two other factors combined.

[osidak]

I pay $23 a month for a PPO
$15 copay dr visit
$1000 deductable
$50 ER visit copay
$20 prescription

That is medical, dental and vision for me, my wife and my son. I am not complaining

[expat]

hmmm......

[campbellcj]

Yeah but osidak who pays the rest of the premium??? I think Mark's point is that he is paying full-boat, not just the employee contribution. Even the cheapest HMO plans are a few hundred bucks for a typical family/month in SoCal and it rapidly escalates from there. And personally I don't want to wait 10 weeks to see a doctor who will spend 7 minutes with me (at risk of being fired and/or going bankrupt) if I actually become ill enough to seek medical care.

The plan we are on costs roughly $1200/mo for two adults and one toddler. Yes our health system is completely f*ed and largely because of that I feel it is prudent to carry the best -- and unfortunately most obscenely costly -- coverage that we can obtain, as long as it is financially sustainable/justifiable. We do have significant prescription and office visit claims and so dropping to lower coverage does not offer non-trivial savings compared to the downside risk (i.e. out-of-pocket exposure in case of serious incidents.)

[350HP930]

Expat, what you are paying sounds fair if your deductables are not high.

Don't switch to the HMO over the PPO IMHO.

Welcome to the US.

[osidak]

My company pays the rest. It is part of my payment package. If I chose to turn down healthcare I would get a bump in my pay.

I don't have to wait 10 weeks to see a doctor. I have stopped into the office because my allergies where bothering me and got in that day.

I have no fear of getting booted if I get really sick. Haven't seen it happen to anyone yet. Coworkers wife had a really rough delivery (2nd child) ran up almost 60,000 in bills and he is still here. Plenty of cancer survivors.

Yeah health care in this country is a bit crazy and in need of some work. I am happy with what I got and from what I had in previous jobs.

[motion]

My son and I have Blue Cross PPO with a $2500 deductible. $234 per month. I'd imagine adding a wife and another child would bring it to $400 or so. It goes up around 15-20% each year. Since we never, ever visit the doctor... haven't really in the last 10-12 years, I think of it as catastrophic health insurance. Its there in case something really bad happens... the rest I just pay out of my own pocket.

[Purrybonker]

Healthcare cost?

Why I think it's $40/month (Cdn) for me & family with zero deductible - oh, and my employer pays it.

But, crap - the premium paid by my employer gets treated as a taxable benefit.

I wouldn't live in the US for all the tea in China - (well except for those few winter months in Hawaii - but they don't really count, do they?)

[Moneyguy1]

Purry..You could always go to Bermuda......(non US, beautiful weather)

BTW...Just remember if you ever plan on relocating. HMOs are regional. Even on long trips if aid is required there can be difficulties.

[84porsche]

I am paying about $66 a month for a medical and dental PPO and a basic vision package and I have a flexible spending health plan for anything the insurance doesn't cover. By the way this is for a single person.