<p>I don’t even know how to answer you Bay…</p>
<p>I look at subsidies as covering costs…</p>
<p>alh-we are on a group plan now with a regional carrier. I don’t know where you live or what exactly is available in your areas but I would suggest some of the other national carriers like CIGNA, Aetna, etc. or even just reviewing your BC/BS plan. They may have come out with a better plan, etc.</p>
<p>We have been on every kind of plan, major group plans, small business plans, and individual plans. They all have their pro’s and con’s. Our worst plan was with a company of over 54,000 employees, our best plan was with a company of 20 employees, Our individual plans were by far the least expensive premiums. Coverage was similar but deductibles were higher. The plan we had had first dollar coverage so we had 100% coverage for preventative care and 3 other office visits/year paid at 100%, then we had a $5000 deductible, then 100% coverage after that. We paid $558/month for that plan for 5 people, total, not each.</p>
<p>The problem with universal coverage is that costs will skyrocket and that will come back to you in the form of taxes. Also, there are less than 5% of the US population that doesn’t have ACCESS to health insurance. There are more that don’t TAKE coverage for many reasons but they have it available to them. Those 5% could easily be absorbed into a state plan or federal plan without any kind of rate increase, tax increase, etc.</p>
<p>When you offer “free” health care, people start going to the doctor for every sniffle, sneeze, twinge. Look back to when HMO’s were popular and that is what you get with a universal health plan, NO THANKS. I will pay for an individual plan and high deductibles before I EVER go on an HMO.</p>
<p>Nobody is offering free health care…when people say crap like that they lose credibility.</p>
<p>Steve…I don’t know where you live but individual policies cost more where I live in Nor Cal.</p>
<p>Do you live in Massachusettes?</p>
<p>^^Individual policies cost more where I live, too.</p>
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<p>Could you say what company this is and when this was? Thanks! I would love to save any health care $$ possible.</p>
<p>dstark–you are experiencing the same thing that employer plans do. Health care premiums have gone up for everyone. In 2014 your health carrier will no longer be able to charge a premium for your preexisting condition. Come back in 2015 and let us know how that is going because I don’t think it is going to reduce your costs, unfortunately. </p>
<p>The HSA plan, at the same premium, would reduce your taxes by whatever you contribute to your HSA. Unless you are 65 or older you can’t use those funds to pay for your premiums but you can use it to cover your medical bills. YOu would be able to deduct the $20,000 in premiums (or whatever they end up being) AND the money into the HSA $6250 if you are married, half that if you are not.</p>
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<p>If you don’t know you have it good with that and a $10 copay, you are in trouble. </p>
<p>I pay $625 per month for a family of three, with a $30,000 annual deductible. </p>
<p>That means EVERYTHING comes out of my pocket on top of that. And yes I pay double social security tax for being self employed (not that I wouldn’t like to be someone’s employee, I would).</p>
<p>The only reason Anthem gets my premium is so that I can try to hold onto my house in the event of a catastrophic diagnosis for me or one of the kids, or a bad accident.</p>
<p>When my DH retired from a fortune 100 co 5 years ago, he did independent consulting for a while and we kept the retiree health plan that was supposedly subsidized by the company. At that time our older s was working and on his own insurance. So we had a family plan for the 3 of us at… wait for it… $1857/mo. And that was supposedly subsidized!! That was 5 years ago too. It was more than our mortgage. And we had to purchase a separate dental plan. We are now in his new employers HSA plan and premiums are reasonable. When we had to get out own dental, he needed an implant and crown, and major dental stuff is usually excluded for the first year on these private plans. You bet your bipee he negotiated a discounted rate with the dentist/oral surgeon. I do the same with my patients. I discount for private pay.</p>
<p>SteveMA…Yeah…but my insurance company charges more for the HSA …so they kind of make the tax break…</p>
<p>I am going to reevaluate my insurance and and see if I can get around my pre condition.</p>
<p>I understand that businesses pay more for health insurance then they used to…</p>
<p>I mentioned this earlier…</p>
<p>Did I also mention that my daughter used to work for UNH?</p>
<h1>107 -I found out some hospitals will give interest free financing. I am paying off hospital bills at the minimum monthly amount for as long as possible. Usually I never keep a balance so this was a very new idea to me.</h1>
<p>UNH = United Health?</p>
<p>One of my kids’ friends was hired as a consultant somewhere, I don’t know where, and his sole job was to come up with reasons to deny claims. He’s in law school now.</p>
<p>alh, we did that with most of our sons’ medical bills the last couple of years. I think the providers are just thrilled to get paid, period! One ambulance company (my daughter had to be taken to the hospital after a sledding accident) let us pay back only $10 per month! That took a few years to pay off. This past year, we bit the bullet and paid everybody off, so that we got a big tax deduction for medical expenses.</p>
<p>We had an HSA plan through Anthem a few years ago. I think they figured out that HSAs were popular, so they raised the premiums enough that they aren’t cost-effective now. The one we can get now is NOT cheaper for us, even taking into account the tax savings.</p>
<p>Individual policies cost more where I live too and they can be problematic when it comes to rating you or deciding whether to insure you at all. And DH and I have minimal health issues.</p>
<p>In my state, there are only a handful of companies that provide small business insurance plans. We opted for the high deductible plan to keep down our premium costs (if you can call $14000 keeping down premium costs) and are taking the risk that our health care expenses this year won’t be any higher than they were last year.</p>
<p>That’s right, MaineLonghorn.</p>
<p>ALh, yes.</p>
<p>UNH, dstark? As in the university of New Hampshire? Or did you mean UHC or another scummy insurance company?</p>
<p>And btw qdogpa, the $10-20 OOP fees are copays, not deductibles. People get copays, coinsurance (a percentage of the negotiated fee) and deductibles mixed up a lot.</p>
<p>Its fascinating that I can negotiate a fee for private pay, but cant negotiate on deductibles when a contracted insurer is in the mix. Stupid stupid, but I didnt write the laws.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn is right. Our insurance agent told us that premiums on HSA plans have been increasing because insurance companies decided to cash in on their increasing popularity.</p>
<p>All my DH’s co offers is an HSA. No other option. And it is a huge, international company.</p>
<p>I negotated with the hospital when I was hospitalized…</p>
<p>I received a 20 to 25% discount for paying immediately. I can’t remember.</p>
<p>I was just looking at Ds health plan at her university. They pay $900 per year. There are co-pays of $50 to $100 depending on the service. But the lifetime cap is $400,000. A friend of my son’s was in a serious auto accident while a student and has been in ICU for a month. He has a university plan also. That cap is long gone I’m sure. </p>
<p>Frankly, I’d rather have insurance that covered that sort of catastrophe to the fullest. In exchange I’d rather pay for all my routine doctor visits, mammograms, pap tests, blood work, vaccinations and shots completely out of pocket. </p>
<p>Insurance is for the catastrophes not the routine. We don’t tap our homeowner’s policy for a broken window only when the place burns down.</p>
<p>Tatin: Insurance companies pay for routine doctor visits, tests, etc. because medical problems caught earlier in their progression are far cheaper to treat and less likely to become chronic. It is a net benefit to the health care system to ensure that preventive care is paid for.</p>
<p>By way of comparison: We already have universal health care, after a fashion. It’s called the emergency room, and it’s ridiculously expensive by any measurement. Encouraging people to get treated anywhere but the emergency room would significantly reduce health care costs. But uninsured/poor people can’t be guaranteed they’ll get seen or treated anywhere else… so they drive to the ER.</p>
<p>True universal health care would save this country billions of dollars in health care costs. But that’s OMG SOCIALISM so we can’t go there.</p>
<p>Companies are really pushing their employees into HSAs. For some, they can be a cost saver. I do think there would ultimately be an effect if more people had more skin in the game and questioned cost before medical procedures were performed. Currently, this is very difficult to do. Try asking your doctor or hospital what something will cost. Several hours and many people later, you probably won’t have an answer, and if you do, it probably won’t be accurate :(</p>
<p>If you do have an HSA as an option, read and understand the plan before signing. Please do not automatically drink the HR kool-aid. They like to put a positive spin on their health insurance options, no matter what the true cost to the employee. What they don’t tell you may be exactly what you do need to know.</p>
<p>Do you really think that most people wouldn’t get a vaccination or a pap smear if they had to pay more than just a co-pay? I don’t. </p>
<p>Using the homeowner’s analogy again, do you not pay someone to come out and investigate a possible gas leak in your home? Or do you just wait until a spark blows the whole place up?</p>