Health insurance

I live in Buffalo now, and will be considering retiring to Las Vegas in a few years. Presently I get health insurance from my employer and pay 10% of the costs. I never actually paid any attention as it was just taken directly from my paycheck. I just checked and for a family plan (my youngest son is 23 and will be on my plan until 26) costs me $1900 a year, thus the plan costs $19,000. I have what they call a 'middle plan', as there is one more expensive and one cheaper.

Fast forward to when I retire, my contract states I will be responsible for 25% of my health insurance costs. Since I will be retiring before I reach Medicare age, I went to HR and asked how much a plan would cost that is portable, meaning I won't need to limit myself to the doctors that practice around Buffalo. Since different employees pay a different %, they show the full costs then will multiply your % contribution to calculate your payment. For a family plan it was a mere $61,000 a year! Fortunately by the time I retire I'll just need a single plan, which drops to $20,000 a year, so I'll be paying $5,000. When I hit Medicare age it goes down to around $3,000 per year.

I just had to laugh when I saw the $61,000 figure.

What do you pay for health insurance? And what does your employer pay?

I pay $123.00/month for a non-comprehensive plan from EHealthInsurance.com.

I can't remember the last time an employer covered a substantial portion of my insurance.

I am completely DIY now. Previously, I had the ObamaCare "Silver" plan which cost $280.00/month.

Then the insurer informed me they were raising my premium to $320.00/month AND raising my deductible. See ya, ObamaCare. I will take my chances with the so-called "penalty."

I AM CANADIAN!!! Lol

Although my yearly travel health insurance costs about $150 :)

Inb4thxobama

Quote: teddys

Then the insurer informed me they were raising my premium to $320.00/month AND raising my deductible. See ya, ObamaCare. I will take my chances with the so-called "penalty."

ObamaCare is great for people that get insurance 100% free (paid for by the rest of us). Otherwise you get screwed. I think you're smart to drop it and pay the penalty.

All other liberal policies work the same way. Only the deadbeat losers win.

Quote: SOOPOO

I live in Buffalo now,...

My condolences.

Quote: SOOPOO

What do you pay for health insurance? And what does your employer pay?

$0 and $0.

Doing pretty well as my own PCP. I know I've got my pain management handled better than the previous 13yrs of drs. Put my own shoulder back in and it works pretty good. And I'm about 2-3 more tall boys away from performing my first self-surgery. I suspect I'll nail it.

My eleven years with the Nation they paid 100%, health and dental. I was too ignorant to recognize the boon.

Quote: teddys

I pay $123.00/month for a non-comprehensive plan from EHealthInsurance.com.

What does that actually cover?

Quote: Face

I'm about 2-3 more tall boys away from performing my first self-surgery. I suspect I'll nail it.

Nope!

This Canadian p!ss water isn't strong enough, and I doubt I can pull this off whiskey drunk. If only I knew *cough* a local anesthesiologist with *ahem* a lidocaine hook up...

Quote: teddys

I am completely DIY now. Previously, I had the ObamaCare "Silver" plan which cost $280.00/month.

Then the insurer informed me they were raising my premium to $320.00/month AND raising my deductible. See ya, ObamaCare. I will take my chances with the so-called "penalty."

I don't understand, Obama promised us decreasing healthcare costs & you could always keep your old insurance plan & it would only affect employers with more than 50 Ee's. All of these promises have not been kept...what a shocker, Obama didn't even know what was in the 2700 page bill!!

$40 taken out of every paycheck (get paid twice a month).

$575 deductible. $3250 yearly out of pocket maximum.

I like my health insurance.

#ThanksObamacare

Quote: HowMany

Only the deadbeat losers win.

Wouldn't that make us deadbeat winners?

Went from $565 to $905 this year for my wife and I. 3rd year in a row I had to find a new policy based on the insurer no longer offering the policy I had. Also this is a $5000 deductible per person.

One of the few times where hard worth and sacrifice does NOT pay off. We make too much to qualify for subsidies and have yet to be Thanked by those who have benefited by Obama's redistribution of wealth.

You all realize Obamacare is a con job perpetrated by insurance companies right?

Quote: SOOPOO

What does that actually cover?

$1000 deductible with decent copays and a decent PPO network through Aetna. Does not cover preexisting conditions. Two doctors visits a year. A fairly good policy, IMO, although I have has the chance to use it yet.

It was cheap because I am a good actuarial risk and it wasn't an ObamaCare approved Marketplace plan.

Ambulance ride to one of the local hospital emergency rooms after putting out my back last year $45
Seen by a ER doctor 2 shots in the back +prescribed a bunch pills.............................................................................$0
Cab ride home 8 hours later...............................................................................................................................................$21
Recent medical to obtain my AZ license in Ontario (truck license)...............................................................$80!!! not covered

thats by far the most I have spent on medical visits in my lifetime...sucks not having coverage after getting laidoff


good thing over here is filling scripts at COSTCO for $3.89 per script plus pill costs ..... not sure what it would cost an American to get scripts written by a walk in clinic doctor over here $40 maybe...... but the cheaper cost of pills here plus the 40% on the dollar would be recovered many times over..... btw you DO NOT NEED A COSTCO membership to get scripts filled at COSTCO over here another plus

$250 /month.

Maybe, the same as before Obamacare.

My thoughts:

1. With healthcare people will not watch what they eat and die quicker. This aligns with the depopulation agenda.

2. Medical records will help the new world order track people.

3. I am a tinfoil hat wearer.

4. Obamacare was motivated by commercial interests.

5. I am joking. But I think that there is some grain of truth to these theories.

Have a nice day.

Quote: teddys

Does not cover preexisting conditions.

I thought that was no longer something that an insurance policy could have in it? Or is that another lie foisted upon our tender ears?

I am retired with no connection to any health care plan from previous employment. I take a huge deductible to make it affordable, IIRC $6500. This means essentially I pay for everything routine, although I think I just found out that a colonoscopy I had will cost me nothing as it is preventative care. So nice to not know squat about what you are buying; insurance in general has been like this my entire life.

Not a family plan, just me, costing under $10,000 per year now but will soon go up to that and above no doubt as they are still allowed to discriminate against my age. It'll just keep going up each year till I am 65. And, predictably, the insurance companies are complaining that the regulated amounts they are allowed to charge need to be increased considerably on top of it.

The bright side is that for someone with no 'earned' income it is all tax deductible. And all that routine care I pay for is a deduction as well, since the health insurance helps jack me up over the otherwise too high hurdle they have.

Thanks all for answering. As someone who has been on "the other side", I can tell you the massive increase in the amount and number of patients with high deductibles/copays is driving a lot of docs out of business. Imagine you are the anesthesiologist who gets the lovely 2am call that Mr. Jones, with his $5000 deductible, has a broken tibia after falling drunk at home down the stairs. You take care of him from 3am to 5am, with the surgeon, surgical team, recovery staff, etc.... Surgeon sends a bill for $1200, radiologist who read his CAT scan $400. Anesthesiologist $600. Hospital $3800. Total $6000 (probably much more -- ER doc, ER visit, lab work.....) So patient gets those bills..... totaling $5000 if that is his deductible. What are the odds this now out of work for a few months guy pays any of his bills? So this guy who society thought had health insurance really had no such thing....

Quote: odiousgambit

I thought that was no longer something that an insurance policy could have in it? Or is that another lie foisted upon our tender ears?

I am retired with no connection to any health care plan from previous employment. I take a huge deductible to make it affordable, IIRC $6500. This means essentially I pay for everything routine, although I think I just found out that a colonoscopy I had will cost me nothing as it is preventative care. So nice to not know squat about what you are buying; insurance in general has been like this my entire life.

Not a family plan, just me, costing under $10,000 per year now but will soon go up to that and above no doubt as they are still allowed to discriminate against my age. It'll just keep going up each year till I am 65. And, predictably, the insurance companies are complaining that the regulated amounts they are allowed to charge need to be increased considerably on top of it.

The bright side is that for someone with no 'earned' income it is all tax deductible. And all that routine care I pay for is a deduction as well, since the health insurance helps jack me up over the otherwise too high hurdle they have.

His plan isn't approved by Obamacare, so they can offer as little or as much as they like. It sounds like he is still subject to the same penalty as not having insurance at all.

I currently have no insurance, but I'm not subject to the penalty due to "hardship". Anyone want to hire a chemical engineer? Hell, I'll do gaming math too. The latter might be of more interest to the forum.

Quote: tringlomane

I currently have no insurance, but I'm not subject to the penalty due to "hardship".

Care to explain? I certainly have hardships and double-certainly don't plan on paying f#$%-all in whack-a-doo "penalties".

Quote: ams288

$40 taken out of every paycheck (get paid twice a month).

$575 deductible. $3250 yearly out of pocket maximum.

I like my health insurance.

#ThanksObamacare

You like it because you aren't paying the true cost of it, your employer is....what a surprise!!

Prior to my retirement, I participated in a group plan through my employer, with the employer paying the majority of the cost -- don't recall the exact figures and didn't dig up the old numbers. In recent years, the plan has (had) been managed by Blue Cross Blue Shield, and I continued with that group plan in retirement.

When I became Medicare eligible at age 65, I went with a slightly different group plan for a Medicare supplement, still through my employer and still managed by Blue Cross. In 2015, a retiree-plus-spouse plan cost the employer $560/month and cost me $232/month.

Effective 1/1/16, the employer no longer offered a group plan for Medicare-eligible retirees. Instead, they funded a Healthcare Reimbursement Account (HRA) from which retirees could pay premiums for individual, private Medicare-supplement plans, deductables, co-pays, and other medical expenses. The employer's contribution to that account may or may not cover the costs of medical expenses for different retirees as well as the previous group plan. They also provided a company to advise retirees on insurance options and to manage the HRAs.

In my case, I purchased separate Medicare Plan G policies from Mutual of Omaha for my wife and myself and Medicare Part D policies from SilverScript for my wife and from First Health for myself. The Plan G policies cover the Medicare Part A (hospital charges) deductible, all of the Medicare Part B (physician charges) deductible except $166/year each, plus a bunch of other stuff not covered by Medicare. The Part D policies cover pharmacy expenses except for rather low co-pays.

I purchased the Part D plans through the company managing the HRA but found I could get the Plan G policies cheaper by going directly to the provider. I think this gives me very good coverage, at least comparable to what I had with the Blue Cross group plan.

I had lots of options as to how to apply the funds in the HRA to my medical expenses, and I found a very convenient way to use all of the funds available. This year, the HRA contribution from the employer will cover all but $310 of: my Medicare Part B premium, my wife's Medicare Part B premium, both Plan G policy premiums, and both Part D policy premiums. In essence, my costs went down substantially, since I had previously been paying not just the $232/mo. employee/retiree share of the group plan but also both of the Medicare Part B premiums out of pocket. This year, I think I will wind up paying out of pocket a Part B deductible of (up to) $166 for each of us, rather small co-pays on medicines (less than what I was paying before), and that $310 left after the HRA well runs dry.

Of course, I have no way of knowing what the Plan G and Part D premiums will be next year or how much will be contributed to the HRA next year, so this could just be a short-term windfall.

Quote: Face

Care to explain? I certainly have hardships and double-certainly don't plan on paying f#$%-all in whack-a-doo "penalties".

certainly interesting the USPS doesn't have a health insurance plan for you.

If you are plain old low income, no assets, obamacare should be free or close to it for you

as for paying penalties, if you are due a refund, the IRS is in control of that

Quote: Paradigm

You like it because you aren't paying the true cost of it, your employer is....what a surprise!!

Yes I agree.

I am about to start taking a medication that will cost my insurer $1500 a month, and I will only pay a $25 copay.

I cannot complain one bit.

Quote: Face

Care to explain? I certainly have hardships and double-certainly don't plan on paying f#$%-all in whack-a-doo "penalties".

Hey, guess what? The IRS is completely overextended and is having trouble enforcing the penalty. They really didn't do it at all last year. They haven't even responded to a letter I wrote them about 10 months ago. (Well, they did - twice - to tell me they "needed more time.") If you are getting a refund, they certainly have more leverage, but otherwise, yeah...I'm with you on the f#£€-all whack-a-doo penalties.

Quote: ams288

Yes I agree.

I am about to start taking a medication that will cost my insurer $1500 a month, and I will only pay a $25 copay.

I cannot complain one bit.

Sounds like you and Wall Street hedge funds are in the same camp then...both paying your fair share.

Teddy, be careful this year, Insurers are now required to issue a new form 1095-B which reports to IRS which months your were covered by health insurance...I agree that IRS is pathetically behind and the legality of being able to collect this, ahem, "non-tax" is a real question.

That being said, they are going to be able to get a handle on who has health coverage and who doesn't based on these new 1095-B forms.

I am interested to hear if you get such a form from your Ins. Co. If your policy doesn't qualify as acceptable Obamacare coverage. If you do get a form 1095-B, and potentially already have it by now, then you really are going to fly under the penalty radar :-).

Quote: Face

Care to explain? I certainly have hardships and double-certainly don't plan on paying f#$%-all in whack-a-doo "penalties".

My income is so low (as in near zero for 2015) that Missouri won't discount Obamacare plans for me since they did not expand Medicaid like Obama hoped all states would. Yay Republican land! You have to make something like $11k to be eligible for a discount here. So I can not take the insurance and not be subject to the penalty as an alternative from the IRS. So again...anyone want to hire me? I haven't been to a doctor this decade. :-\

Quote: tringlomane

My income is so low (as in near zero for 2015) that Missouri won't discount Obamacare plans for me since they did not expand Medicaid like Obama hoped all states would. Yay Republican land! You have to make something like $11k to be eligible for a discount here. So I can not take the insurance and not be subject to the penalty as an alternative from the IRS. So again...anyone want to hire me? I haven't been to a doctor this decade. :-\

If you are really making 'near zero' then you are probably eligible for Medicaid. I'm assuming you checked into that?

As far as getting a job, not having the slightest idea what the chemical engineer market is like, how wide (geographically) are you looking? I think if I haven't worked for a year I'd be pretty desperate!

Not everything in healthcare is the problem of insurance costs.

Quote:

Dec 30, 2013 - A California study published last year in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that after an appendectomy, patients received bills varying from $1,500 to $180,000. The average was $33,000, and the researchers "included only uncomplicated cases with hospital stays of less than four days," the Associated Press notes

If $180,000 bill was uncomplicated, yeesh.

http://www.businessinsider.com/redditors-appendectomy-cost-5502931-2013-12

How long have they done appendectomies? I realize the human body does not always present the same challenge -- but perhaps if a surgery turns out to be uncomplicated after it's completed, extraordinary pricing should be challenged. I realize that presents some challenges also though.

(of course there are also pharmaceutical costs out of control as well)

Quote: rxwine

Not everything in healthcare is the problem of insurance costs.



If $180,000 bill was uncomplicated, yeesh.

http://www.businessinsider.com/redditors-appendectomy-cost-5502931-2013-12

How long have they done appendectomies? I realize the human body does not always present the same challenge -- but perhaps if a surgery turns out to be uncomplicated after it's completed, extraordinary pricing should be challenged. I realize that presents some challenges also though.

(of course there are also pharmaceutical costs out of control as well)

Notice...the bill they present likely does NOT include the doctor's bills! The silliest one I noticed was $7500 for Recovery Room! Usual stay post appendectomy is around an hour. The $4500 bill for "Anesthesia" is likely the hospital's charge to offset the cost of the Anesthesia machine, monitors, and disposables, plus pay an anesthesia technician, etc.... Still likely 5 times a reasonable charge.

To play devil's advocate (not easy here), you go into a restaurant and order a hamburger..... I've been charged $1 at Wendy's and $19.99 at fancy schmansy place. You don't like what I charge, please don't come in! When you have any medical condition if you are concerned about the price, shop around. There are 10 hospitals in my town that would be happy to rip your appendix out! But the reason I started this thread was my shock that to get a policy that will nationwide protect you from these silly bills costs $61k per year.

I can say one reason to get health insurance is to get protection from insane pricing. If you have it and the outfit takes it, what they charge gets reviewed and adjusted down too, usually. Even if you otherwise pay for the entire amount.

Regarding $61k per year, on a family plan without deductibles, it sounds high but believable. I am on high deducible and pay nearly $10,000/yr for one. That makes high deductible for 3 people about $30,000.

Get rid of deductibles and what is it going to be? $45k? $55k ? well, maybe $61K

Quote: Paradigm

Sounds like you and Wall Street hedge funds are in the same camp then...both paying your fair share.

I feel like as a liberal, I should be offended.

But I just took that as a compliment.

https://youtu.be/wgrD-8b53AM

Peanuts clip.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

https://youtu.be/wgrD-8b53AM

Peanuts clip.

Reminded me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLdBrx-ijwQ

.....And I want an Obamaphone and I want an Obama Meal Plan and an Obamacar and an Obama minimum wage and Obamacare and a $10 tax on a barrel of oil to help pay for my fair share...if it walks like a compliment and talks like a compliment, how could you take it any other way?

Our insurance is a bargain. My wife's employer covers the entire cost, about $22400 for a family. The deductible is only $4500 and her company contributes $3500 to an HSA; I contribute the remaining $3250. Of course, the HSAs are depleted by the end of the year.

I'm 49 and single - so the costs may not translate well without some math.

I pay 35% of the costs of the premiums, which cost me 81.45 every two weeks.

$2117.70 per year. As far as cost goes, I can get a better plan for less money on the market place - if I consider my cost plus my employers. However, since he pays 65% of it, it's cheaper for me to pay my 35% than to pay for it all on my own. (I should probably see if he would just pay me the 2/3 cash and let me get my own...)

Quote: ams288

Yes I agree.

I am about to start taking a medication that will cost my insurer $1500 a month, and I will only pay a $25 copay.

I cannot complain one bit.

Those who take and expect more usually don't. The complaints only start when they are held accountable for life choices and someone suggests taking the free stuff away. Just look at the huge number still on food stamps even though we have the Prez saying unemployment is better than when he assumed the throne. Try suggesting that you want to reduce or take these benefits away and you will hear the complaints from those getting them and liberals saying how mean it is.