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Medical Insurance - Help Needed!

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions: 2004 May - July: Health Center (ARCHIVES): Medical Insurance - Help Needed! users admin

Author Message
Resortgirl
Member

09-23-2000

Friday, April 09, 2004 - 2:40 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We have recently found ourselves without health insurance. We have come to the conclusion that we can only afford insurance that covers major medical and I'm wondering if anyone here has any advice. We talked to our local insurance man and he set us up on a plan that will cost us approximately $6000/year with a $5000 deductable (that's for the entire family) After looking at our medical history the insurance company added an additional $45/month because I've been treated for headaches (that gave me a whopper of a headache...lol!)... we just simply can not afford $6000/year that doesn't even cover anything until we pay the $5000 out of pocket... any suggestions?

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Friday, April 09, 2004 - 3:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We pay about that (dh had a stroke a few years ago and that dinged us!). We have Blue Cross/Blue Choice. It's a PPO, but had all our docs in it. We have a $500 individual deductible and $1000 family for hospitalization. It covers all doc visits and pharmacy. I have been really pleased with them since the last couple of years have been very expensive medical years.

Jan
Member

08-01-2000

Friday, April 09, 2004 - 4:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Move to Canada Resortgirl. We have lots of land with lakes up here in Central Ontario that you could get for a steal in US dollars! Up here you don't have to worry about that.

Maris
Member

03-28-2002

Friday, April 09, 2004 - 4:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Can't you deduct it as a business expense since you own a resort? Arent you employees of your resort? I have a friend who has a very small business and he joined some sort of coop with other companies and they negotiated better rates because they were negotiating in block?

I am shocked at how expensive insurance costs. I am fortunate since my husband is a govt employee we pay very little for our coverage.

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 5:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Maris, it's very expensive to be self insured! It was such a shock to us when dh retired and we had to get our own. Top it off with having "bad health" on your record and it really adds up.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 8:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
A small piece of advice. I also have individual health insurance with basically just hospitalization / major medical coverage. The diagnostic testing can be a big $$ factor -- and it's not covered. Don't authorize the doctor to do any testing that is not necessary. It was hard for me to speak up at first, but I learned to and stopped a couple of tests that weren't really necessary. Once when I spoke up to a doctor about something he went ahead with the test, but told his nurse not to have me charged for it. For that reason and others -- I very much like my general surgeon. And he got good margins when he cut out the lump!

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Friday, May 07, 2004 - 3:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
RG, sorry I didn't spot this thread sooner. I used to write marketing materials for all kinds of insurance products, so I know something about them, even if my information is now slightly dated.

One product you may want to consider is what is called a Short-Term Health Insurance Plan (or "Product"). It is normally for people who are in between jobs (such as a student coming out of school before gaining employment, or a person who has lost their job/coverage for whatever reason).

The downside to these types of policies is that you have to be very careful about reviewing which medical services are/are not covered, and be sure you can live with those stipulations. The other, as I see you have already noticed, is the deductible. Sometimes there are separate deductibles for medical vs mental health care. On top of that, there may be benefit maximums. So read the policies carefully.

They ARE usually good for major medical hospital coverage. (And that is what insurance began as, just that type of coverage. It is why most people get insurance in the first place. But now they are spoiled by thinking everything should be covered. Nice if you have that luxury. Expendable if you do not.) If you care about low copays for doc visits, investigate that benefit.

The other downside is that these types of policies are typically renewable for a limited period of time, say 3 times tops (= 3 years, or whatever the coverage period is.) So this is a short-term answer only. Of course you can always find a new short-term carrier (company) after you exhaust benefits in the first.

Individual health insurance is out of reach economically for most people. It is an option if you can afford it--til Medicare hits.

Group Insurance. Personally, I recommend that you join an organization --for the sole purpose of obtaining access to their insurance benefits. That could be a local Chamber of Commerce (open to members of the public just for paying a very minimal membership fee), for example. Or you might want to take a part-time job if the hours qualify you for medical benefits. Might be worth it in the long run.

Let me know how you make out. (Maybe you've already taken a step at this point, though.) Again, sorry I didn't notice this before. Hope this helped a little.