General > General info Somewhat hot tub related
Health Insurance
Brewman:
No hard feelings at all. Don't worry about it.
Good discussion stems from those with differing opinions.
8-)
dkersten:
So what are you getting for $100 a month or $400 a month for your family? I would imagine major medical only with personal deductibles at around $2000 or $3000 and family deductibles at $6000 or $8000.. I also imagine this is strictly medical with no dental or eyesight..
Dont get me wrong, major medical is the bare minimum anyone should have considering ANYTHING involving a hospital can drive you into bankruptcy. A friend's daughter fell at the school yard and broke her arm.. cost was $4800 to set the bone and put on a fiberglass cast. Same friend needed braces for one daughter.. cost was $18,000. Another friend shot himself in the chest.. cost was $498,000 for 4 months in the hospital.. he had to pay that one after the insurance didnt cover it.. My uncle got thrown from a horse about 5 years ago.. broke his neck and he is in a wheelchair now.. initial hostipal stay with surgeries was around $750,000. My mom's second open heart surgery cost around $200,000 ($50,000 was doctors cut, rest was hostipal). 41 year old employee had to have 3 stints replaced around his heart.. 45 minutes in a cath lab.. cost was $23,500. Those are just a couple examples.. Oh.. how about this: My last child (seven years ago) cost $14,000 for delivery and one night stay, no major complications, wife and baby home within 24 hours of delivery. (child 18 months earlier was $8,000).
Around here, an emergency room visit with only a nurse seeing you and taking vitals and releasing you is around $300.. add xrays and it goes up a couple hundred.. add an IV and it goes up.. add a catscan and it goes up another $600.. Go in for a simple kidney stone and walk home with a $1200 bill.. thats all out of pocket costs on a major medical plan..
A 28 year old friend in excellent health was quoted $1200 a month for full medical with $400 personal deductible, co-pays for every visit, full eyesight and full dental coverage. Dental was standard 80/20 with deductible and eyesight was $300 per year allowance.. max out of pocket was $1000 for year with 100% coverage after that. This is about as good as insurance gets, and was typical of what I saw around here from businesses back in the 90's. Yes he could have shopped around and probably could have gotten that coverage for less, and a young healthy person has no reason not to go for minimum coverage. But I think it is important to see the difference between premiums in good insurance and poor insurance. Keep in mind, I am not an insurance expert by any stretch, but I have had a little experience from all facets starting as a single person to a parent with mutiple children, and including as a small business owner providing benefits for 95 employees.
My advice to the OP here is to go to work for a huge corporation that is filled with young healthy single people that are all in the insurance plan.. that way you will get really good insurance for practically nothing, assuming the CEO doesnt just pocket the money. Of course, they will fire you once you are 40 because you will no longer have the efficiency of the 20 year old that will work 15 hours a day and show up the next day ready to go.. :P
imp etc:
--- Quote ---So what are you getting for $100 a month or $400 a month for your family? I would imagine major medical only with personal deductibles at around $2000 or $3000 and family deductibles at $6000 or $8000.. I also imagine this is strictly medical with no dental or eyesight..
--- End quote ---
Well not quite, and of course I hope I never get ill or unfortunate enough to prove you wrong . . . however my plan has a $1500 deductible with an annual out of pocket max of $3500. Let's even add in the premium I do pay ($2400/year), plus the MAX $350 I pay per year for contacts and glasses (exams included). I'm doing the math here and it looks like worst case I'll pay $7500/year for medical coverage and treatment.
Now being 43 if I went for deluxe private insurance route, my guess is I'd be paying significantly more than your 28-year-old's $1200/month or $14.4K annually, just for the privilege of being insured.
Again, heavens willing, that's the worst that can happen financially at least, and I get to pay my other bills with the other $7K. Whoa that's a lot of dental work, or even almost enough for a hot tub! :o
Brookenstein:
Sorry, I dissappeared for a bit, it has been busy and I sometimes forget to check this the BS section when I check the boards real quick. For those PMing me, I'm not ignoring you or being rude, but ever since the upgrade it is hit or miss for me being able to send PM's 9/10 times I get an error message and my message gets deleted and doesnt send. Anyway, I thank you for the information.
So... here is an interesting update. We got an email from corporate yesterday. They are dropping our current provider for 07 (J has worked there for going on 10 years and have always had Mutual of Omaha and provided less and less coverage each year) and they are switching to Great-West. We will have a choice (first time ever) between a PPO and a CDHP. We have not been given details on either plan, just a preview/explanation of the CDHP and I'm guessing we will stick with the PPO, but I will have to see the details first. Fingers crossed in network deductables are less than $500, copays are less than $30, they cover more than 65% in network, and scripts are less than $30 and all will be good. :)
Brewman:
We just got the details on our benefits for 2007,and they once again chipped away at what used to be premier coverage.
They used the same old excuses about medical costs spiraling out of control, blah, blah, blah.
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