Health Insurance...

[enzo1]

Big Pain In The Ass....

[Tobra]

Expensive too

[Baz]

Self-insured.......and happy.

[Brando]

It seems to be less expensive than being uninsured, now.

[Evans, Marv]

Expensive and has been downgrading for many years. Before retirement, my insurance coverage was for the whole family. After I retired, we went onto my wife's insurance which covered a whole family but had more associated costs. For instance, the dental insurance I had covered 80% of things like crowns, etc. When we went onto my wife's insurance, hers covered only 50%. We paid for insurance when my wife gave up her job. Now she has accepted another teachiing job. The medical insurance only covers the employee with the option of covering additional family members at the employee's expense at the going rate the district pays.

[Nickshu]

Last year I paid: $14,500 in premiums

Last year I drew: $45 in benefits.

You're welcome.

[Hugh R]

But, but RWebb/Ziggy and others who have never had a medical degree, never did years of residency, never took out a loan to open a medical practice and never billed a medical insurance provider KNEW it would be better and cheaper. What don't you understand?

[t-tom]

Kinda funny this comes up now. On Friday night a tore a muscle in my calf. I'm self employed and just can't afford health insurance. My wife and kids are covered by her works plan but to add me would be pushing 750.00 a month. So I go to the urgent care Saturday morning and the doctor is asking me about insurance. I told her I couldn't afford it and she asks me if I had checked obamacare. I told her I had and that it was really unaffordable and even if it was it wouldn't cover anything until I hit 10 grand anyway. She then tells me that she sees more patients that obamacare doesn't cover than she was told there would be. Goes on a 20 minute rant about obamacare then tells me I'll be fine and won't need surgery!

[Arizona_928]

I think I'm lucky. I'm around 80k in benefits this year. Two major procedures and all the associated costs...

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

Last year I paid: $14,500 in premiums

Last year I drew: $45 in benefits.

You're welcome.

Ouch!

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

I think I'm lucky. I'm around 80k in benefits this year. Two major procedures and all the associated costs...

Ouch!

[porsche4life]

BCBS paid out close to 400k on my mom over the last year, and dad is due for dual knee replacements, they are getting their monies worth!

[jyl]

In my prior corporate health plan, the premium for my family was about $1600/mo (I paid half of that), the family deductible was about $5K, and we usually got about $200 a year in benefits paid. I'm now on a privately purchased (not corporate) plan now for about $920/mo, the family deductible is about $6K, and we will get about $200-300 in benefits paid this year. Really not a whole lot of difference.

It's INSURANCE. You pay premiums and shouldn't expect to get much - until and unless something pretty serious happens. Tearing a muscle in your calf is not serious - I'm talking about getting hospitalized, surgery, very expensive procedures, $25,000 in four days, $100,000 in a month, that sort of thing.

Baz, how does your self insurance work?. I mean, what's the plan if you suddenly face $100,000 in medical bills?. $200,000?

[ficke]

In the mid 80's I was young and starting a family I had the option of health insurance or buying a house, I went with the house and then another and parlayed the money I would of spent on health insurance ( all my disposable income when I was younger) into some real assets that I enjoyed.
My figuring is if I lose everything in a financial medical crises I would be in the same place as if I had bought health insurance, with out a house or any real assets.
But I do believe in good health care (not to be confused with Health insurance), so I do not smoke, I watch my weight and exercise.
I have paid out of pocket all along for my families medical cost, broken bones, check ups, shots, dental. The most I every spent on medical costs in a year equaled two months insurance premiums.
I think medical cost would go down substantially if more people did that.
Now I am taxed for not having Health insurance, but by the time the tax equals insurance premiums ( a few years?) I will be old enough for Medicare, another burden on the backs of the youth, sorry.
I really feel for younger people today who have less of the option's we had and have to carry the load of the past generations.

[Kannif]

I wish there were rollover benefits if dollars weren't used from year to year like phone data.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by t-tom

Kinda funny this comes up now. On Friday night a tore a muscle in my calf. I'm self employed and just can't afford health insurance. My wife and kids are covered by her works plan but to add me would be pushing 750.00 a month. So I go to the urgent care Saturday morning and the doctor is asking me about insurance. I told her I couldn't afford it and she asks me if I had checked obamacare. I told her I had and that it was really unaffordable and even if it was it wouldn't cover anything until I hit 10 grand anyway. She then tells me that she sees more patients that obamacare doesn't cover than she was told there would be. Goes on a 20 minute rant about obamacare then tells me I'll be fine and won't need surgery!

You are going to want to put compression on the torn calf muscle. You may find that if you put a lift in the heels of your shoes, it will help, but put a lift on both sides, or it will give you an effective limb length discrepancy. After it heals up, you are going to need to stretch out your calf muscles, because they will have tightened up from the heel lifts I just suggested you use. I like ice initially, 15-20 minutes at a time initially, but at this point do contrast. !ce, 4 minutes, heating pad on LOW for a minute, then back to the ice for 4 minutes. Repeat to total 20 minutes, start and finish with cold.

[t-tom]

Thanks, That's what I've been doing. I keep it wrapped during the day at work then Ice & heat at night. It's swollen up pretty good. I got pretty lucky.

[Tobra]

You can use a support stocking too, if that is more convenient, for compression. Jobst is a good brand, you will want the fairly high compression ones for what you have, 30-40 mmHg

[jyl]

Originally Posted by ficke

In the mid 80's I was young and starting a family I had the option of health insurance or buying a house, I went with the house and then another and parlayed the money I would of spent on health insurance ( all my disposable income when I was younger) into some real assets that I enjoyed.
My figuring is if I lose everything in a financial medical crises I would be in the same place as if I had bought health insurance, with out a house or any real assets.
But I do believe in good health care (not to be confused with Health insurance), so I do not smoke, I watch my weight and exercise.
I have paid out of pocket all along for my families medical cost, broken bones, check ups, shots, dental. The most I every spent on medical costs in a year equaled two months insurance premiums.
I think medical cost would go down substantially if more people did that.
Now I am taxed for not having Health insurance, but by the time the tax equals insurance premiums ( a few years?) I will be old enough for Medicare, another burden on the backs of the youth, sorry.
I really feel for younger people today who have less of the option's we had and have to carry the load of the past generations.

A young person can get individual health insurance, in OR anyway, for around $300/mo. Or less, if their income is very low. That doesn't seem so burdensome to me.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by ficke

My figuring is if I lose everything in a financial medical crises I would be in the same place as if I had bought health insurance, with out a house or any real assets.

When you are young and don't have a lot of assets, you don't have a lot to lose. It may make sense to go uninsured.
What if you sold all your possessions in time to pay medical bills on time and still owed doctors and hospitals? Bankruptcy? Some creditors do treat medical bankruptcy differently than BK due to other reasons. When I was on the credit committee at our local CU we did approve some secured loans when there was a medical BK in the recent past.
I wouldn't want to depend on all my current and future creditors giving me a pass because I got sick and couldn't pay my bills.

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

Last year I paid: $14,500 in premiums

Last year I drew: $45 in benefits.

You're welcome.

That is absolutely ridiculous.