Health Insurance

[LunaMoth]

Always has been, always will be a SORE subject. We are paying $850 per month because we are self-employed. This is catastrophic only! Pretty much everything comes out of pocket because we don't meet the deductibles. Because of pre-existing conditions, the two of us will probably never get coverage again, maybe the kids could, but not us.

What happens to the uninsured? If you have big medical bills, can they take your home away? I've gotton conflicting info about this, and I don't know how to find out for sure.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts."

[gr8tful1]

We ran into this before my husband got employed. He was excluded from every plan we tried due to pre-existing conditions. I got accepted at one--Humana--with premiums about 200.00/month. My understanding is that if you have low income you could get governement insurance, if you make too much to qualify for that, most states have a high risk insurance policy. Here in Colorado it would have run about $1000 for each of us. The only other option i ever found is if you could qualify for a small group or group of one if you have your own business. Some pyramid plans let you buy into things like this and so do some trade associations.

Good luck!

[catspaw]

Whether or not they can take your home depends on your state law. Texans and Floridians are the big winners here (see OJ), but you have to check your own state laws.

Bankruptcy reform changed a lot of your options there too.

[skysmom]

We just had to cancel our health insurance due to an increase in the cost. We realized that even if we had to pay out of pocket 100%, we weren't spending as much as the premiums were a year. We use natural rememdies that insurance doesn't cover anyway. And the deductible for chiropractic was so high, we always paid that 100% out of pocket. And when I had my daughter, insurance wouldn't pay because I chose a homebirth. So, what we decided to do is, start an HSA. And we are considering getting a backup policy with high deductibles. They are a fraction of the cost of the insurance offered through my husband's work. But I still don't like paying out all that money when we don't use tradition medical care. It is just very rare for us to go to a doctor. But, my husband is afraid of unforseeable major issues or accidents. I don't have a problem with doing an HSA though. And they are tax deductible, so that's a plus.

Anyway, if you absolutley need to keep your insurance, maybe you could start an HSA to cover all your out of pocket expenses... just an idea...

[Heat71]

We are also self employed. Hubby wanted to cancel and just pay all out of pocket..as we rarely go to doctor. We were scared of some type of emergency tho, as he is a farmer, and works around equipment all the time. BUT then I ended up having an emergency surgery w/ ambulance ride, blood tranfusions, hospital stay....not expected one bit..we still had to pay a few thousand out of our pocket due to decductibles and copay but if we didnt have insurance....we really would of been driven in a hole. We try to go w/ the highest deductible plan to at least save money when its not being used.....
Heather

[LunaMoth]

The plan we have is already a high-deductible plan. And for this, we pay $850 per month for four people. Hubby has never been happy about "throwing away" money like this, and threatens to get rid of it. I would prefer to go to more natural remedies that aren't even covered, but what about accidents and injuries? We do have Agriplan/Bizplan, which helps with the end of year tax credit, but it's still an enormous strain.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts."

[Heat71]

We are with Continental General....we are paying about $250 to $300 a month for hubby and I...(no kids yet)....and we are not on the highest deductible plan yet. We have been happy w/ them so far (prob 4 or 5 years)...no problems, paid when they should.....of course they keep raising their premiums every year (like any company does:(
Heather

[RoseTapper]

When my husband and I owned our own businesses and were paying $800 per month back in the 80's, we considered many "out of the box" solutions. The one that finally worked for us was for me to get a 20-hour-a-week job working for a public educational institutional that paid full benefits. Yes, this took me away from my business and added hours to my workday, but we were ahead $800 a month and were fully covered by a governmental employer. It was a sacrifice, but when you have kids, anything can happen. Only two years earlier, when I was leaving a job and my husband's employer had already begun paying for our medical insurance, we had one month of double coverage. During that entire month, our son had to be hospitalized in intensive care for contracting infant botulism from airborne spores--very rare. Had we not had DOUBLE coverage, we would have gone bankrupt. After that, we were very careful to find a way to be covered by the best medical insurance we could find.

Laura H. (RoseTapper)

[LunaMoth]

Years ago, we had met a couple that had major complications with their newborn. The costs were in the stratosphere. We asked how they managed it, and they said there was no way they would ever be able to pay it all off, that they simply made payments each month. This stuck in Dh's head, and I believe that he thinks that's a good reason to dump the insurance. But yet everyone everywhere says you MUST have it and it must be good...so what is the truth...

A 20 hour per week job that has health benefits??? Never heard of such a thing!!!

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts."

[Kitala]

Lunamoth,

Down here in Texas a part time job with the school district gives FULL benefits and has the added benefit of being off when your kids are off (if you are in the same district). A friend of mine took a position as part time in the office and works from 7:45 - 11:45 AM and has full medical coverage. In OUR school there is also a part time library person and a part time gym assistant as well as a few part time teaching assistants.

Another friend of mine who is starting a boutique said that the Small Business Administration offers health insurance fairly resonably but I haven't checked into it myself because - although I'm self employed we get our insurance for me and the 2 kids through my DH's job and while it is not cheap it more than pays for itself because my youngest has OT and Speech Therapy and just since last May that would have been around $9,000 alone!

Best of luck to you all - if anyone finds a good inexpensive plan I would love to add some supplimental.

Kitty

[abzoeh]

Odds and ends:

Starbucks offers health insurance to its full and part-time employees.

Health insurance has become a real mess that can be resolved legislatively if people would write/phone/email/fax/accost on the street their elected officials.

This link: http://www.naic.org/state_web_map.htm provides a map of all states. By clicking on your state, you should be taken to its website for its office of insurance regulation. This is called different things in different states but somewhere on that website, you should be able to look around and find access to your state's health care laws and various options regarding state-subsidized plans.

Just keep Tapping...just keep Tapping...

Ally

[LunaMoth]

You know all these ads you see all the time that say "affordable" health insurance? They're lying. We had a policy with NASE (National Association of Self Employed) and it was NOT "affordable." Would have to get with some group now, because individual policy would touch us with a ten foot pole. Among other things, we've both taken antidepressants.

Thanks for all the info. I'm looking into it. Would LOVE to work for Starbucks and smell coffee all day!!!:)

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts."