$ 1,200 for health insurance

hiitdogs

hiitdogs

Cathlete
Yes, $ 1,200 per month in health insurance, that is what COBRA will cost us and it's just DH, me and two kids.

If I hear politicians of a not-to-be-named party talk again about giving us a "generous" tax credit of $ 3,000 to 5,000 a year, I am going to shuff an enema up their butts. The stinkin' insurance is almost $ 15,000 a year, all of those clowns should be forced to live in the real world for a while, maybe that's gonna stop them from making stupid proposals :mad:

How ridiculous is that? DH employer paid less than half of that for the same insurance. Good grief!
 
Meanwhile some airhead with a shopping problem is Medicaid eligible. Saw that on MTV and after speaking with the very negative chick in the medicaid office last year such things are not at all uncommon. Meanwhile people who have worked hard but just can't make ends meet get the shaft. :mad:
 
I can really get into this rant also--everytime I hear that "generous" tax credit I want to scream where do you live--in what world?! Not only do they have incredible health coverage which they are busy denying to the rest of us so that these insurance companies can reap huge profits but usually they have made lots of money while supposedly serving the public interest. I saw a program on PBS the other night where non profit hospitals were turning over their bills to businesses that are now calling patients "consumers of medical care" so that they can charge usurious interest rates on their outstanding balances. These are people that have been paying off huge medical bills with monthly payments. So we are going from being patients to being consumers of medical care!
 
Because it is just husband and I and we are self employed we just opt ot pay as we go. Esp. with prices like that we would be better off just paying from the savings instead of shelling out thousands for nothing. :mad:
 
Beavs said:
Meanwhile some airhead with a shopping problem is Medicaid eligible. Saw that on MTV and after speaking with the very negative chick in the medicaid office last year such things are not at all uncommon. Meanwhile people who have worked hard but just can't make ends meet get the shaft. :mad:
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If I may add my own insurance rant, it used to drive me crazy at my last job that DH and I paid the same amount for insurance as the people who had families, regardless of how many people that family had on the plan. Apparently the plans would be too expensive if families were charged the actual cost to have everyone on the plan, so those of us without children were expected to subsidize them. That still fries my bacon. Grrr...

DH and I have a health savings account.
 
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Have to say our self funded plan, medical, dental and vision is nearly $ 1,100 for our families, $800 for employee + spouse, $400 for a single.

If I was without and had no pre-existing conditions, I would possibly go as FourAM except I would purchase a High Deductible Health Plan with perhaps a $1,500 or $2,500 deductible just in case of a catastrophic injury or illness.

This is what most HSA's must be paired with. We tried to go HSA but it would have cost the company way too much 'cuz our self insured plan is working very well for us.

We do have a difference between # of people on our plan. Employee (EE) is paid for 100%, spouse and dependents are paid 65% by the company, 35% by the employee. We have 3 classifications, EE, EE + spouse, and EE + family (which includes spouse + 1 or more children).

Absolutely crazy the costs, but where it lies is in the charges from the doctors, clinics and hospitals. Absolutely amazing what they charge ! Guess they could charge less if they worked more than 3 or 4 days a week?
 
Yeup, been there done that. I have a family of 4 and my husband was in job transition and his new insurance didn't kick in for 2 months. We had to pay $1200 a month to keep our insurance through COBRA. It's so much more because this is what you would pay for your plan if your employer were not picking up some of it. In other words before your employee benefit discount. COBRA is generally for job loss or job transition. I can't even begin to gripe about how rediculous medical insurance costs for my family. Even now with my husband's job which he's been at for over 4 years we pay $850 a month, hardly a discount if you ask me. It sucks big time, because we're all healthy, but my son was diagnoised with Autism at the age of 3. He doesn't need any medical assistance for it and was rediagnoised Aspergers 2 years ago but heck when you have kids you can't go without insurance you never know. I only recently started seeing a Dr. about my sleeping problems, I have bad insomnia just because I told myself heck, I'm paying for medical insurance and this is what it's for. If it helps you can claim it as a medical expense at the end of the year for taxes but there are stipulations that may or may not allow you to do it. Keep every single medical reciept that you spend for in the year. It all adds up in the end, . . oh and dental and glasses count too.
 
At my new job, we'll be paying $850/month as a "benefit" package.

I didn't have insurance once, and we paid $1000/month premiums. $1500 deductible.

Have you looked into private pay insurance? You can get quotes at: einsurance.com

Good luck!
 
Did you catch Oprah today? It was a rerun, evidently, but she had a whole panel up there discussing health care, with stories of people who suffered or died when their claims were denied. It was very upsetting. I've been thinking about it ever since.
 
I meant to watch that Oprah, but I didn't make it to the TV in time today. I watched Michael Moore's "Sicko" a couple of months ago, and I have to tell you that I have NEVER, ever been more upset in my life. I was crying at the end and so absolutely devastated by what I saw. I still can't get it off my mind and I break into tears when I think about it! I know a lot of people don't agree with his politics, but if you're not completely disgusted by the state of healthcare in this country after you watch this movie, you have no heart whatsoever. Our founding fathers worked very hard to try to make sure this country was NOT run by filthy rich elitists in order to keep democracy in check, but that is exactly what has finally happened. As long as their pockets keep getting filled, they are thrilled that the citizens of this country are suffering. Better for business.
 
I'm an american who lives in England. After living here, I do not understand why the US doesn't have some type of national health service: the us has 'socialized' schools, roads, libraries, and parks to name a few. it's almost impossible to go bankrupt from health care bills here. I have a daughter who was born with an incurable eye disease (she's 20 months old now)and while she would receive excellent care in the US, if she (or we) ever lost insurance coverage, she could go blind which would set off a chain reaction for her of job loss, inability to get a job, no insurance etc. So, with that in mind, we'll stay here knowing she won't lose her vision no matter what happens.
 
At least as a USA citizen resident inthe UK you have benefitted from the NHS. On this site I have seen alot of bashing towards "socialised" European medicine. Europe may tax us to the hilt, but at least you have a medical service in place for the benefit of the nation state not the insurance company. Insurance companies answer to the balance sheet, profit margins and share holders. We ain't perfect but neither is the USA.
 
toffeedog said:
At least as a USA citizen resident inthe UK you have benefitted from the NHS. On this site I have seen alot of bashing towards "socialised" European medicine. Europe may tax us to the hilt, but at least you have a medical service in place for the benefit of the nation state not the insurance company. Insurance companies answer to the balance sheet, profit margins and share holders. We ain't perfect but neither is the USA.
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Unfortunately, most Americans are (and choose to be) completely clueless about what a "socialized" or "NHS" is or could be. Many are brainwashed by the politicians/lobbyists decrying: "You're taxes will go up and you'll have to wait months to see a doctor!!" blah, blah, @#$%ing blah...:mad:

If anyone gets a chance, check out Frontline's "Sick Around the World". T.R. Reid investigates universal health care in the UK, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and Taiwan. It's a good watch...not dry at all. You can watch it online here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/

They all do it differently, and no one is totally perfect. HOWEVER, NO ONE IN THESE COUNTRIES GOES BANKRUPT DUE TO MEDICAL NEEDS! It's absolutely shameful that this happens daily in the US.

IMO...that makes all of them better than the US system...by far.
 
As a Brit who has lived in the States and had an American husband live with me here in the UK - I can certainly tell you which is the better system - the state funded UK NHS, which admittedly I top up with my own private health insurance (which is certainly not as expensive as the American insurance) so that I can ensure I am not denied any drugs if I really did get seriously ill.

When I lived in the States, a few of the older people I knew were so totally against a socialized health care system, but yet they were also the ones who complained about the unfairness and cost of the insurance system - but they blamed that on the insurance companies and not on the Government. The younger people thought a state funded system was a good idea.

My view is that Government is there to make things better for the people - whether it be schooling, roads, or healthcare. To deny people access to the basic right to decent healthcare in one of the richest nations in the world is hard for me and others in Europe to understand.
 
cygnus1889 said:
As a Brit who has lived in the States and had an American husband live with me here in the UK - I can certainly tell you which is the better system - the state funded UK NHS, which admittedly I top up with my own private health insurance (which is certainly not as expensive as the American insurance) so that I can ensure I am not denied any drugs if I really did get seriously ill.

When I lived in the States, a few of the older people I knew were so totally against a socialized health care system, but yet they were also the ones who complained about the unfairness and cost of the insurance system - but they blamed that on the insurance companies and not on the Government. The younger people thought a state funded system was a good idea.

My view is that Government is there to make things better for the people - whether it be schooling, roads, or healthcare. To deny people access to the basic right to decent healthcare in one of the richest nations in the world is hard for me and others in Europe to understand.
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I can understand your point of view but it depends on believing that the government, which is just people, is competent enough/moral enough/willing/able to make things better for citizens, without regard to its own purse or special interests. In my view, it isn't any of those things, so I don't want them in charge of my health care, my education, my children, my food or lifestyle choices, or pretty much anything else that involves me making personal/private decisions. The current system is definitely not a good one but more government, IMO, is rarely the answer to the question "Gosh, what can be done to improve this situation?" Each to her own beliefs, of course.

Sparrow
 
Hey, I have you all beat with horrible insurance costs! We pay $1400 a month for basic major medical. Our deductible is so high ($1500 per person) we never meet it, so not only are we paying $1400 a month, we're paying out of pocket for every single doctor and dentist visit. This is for a family of three.
 
Oh and one more thing...

In that Frontline episode, the governments' costs of the universal health care systems in all of those countries was SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than what the US currently pays for its "system" (or lack thereof).

This cost was represented as a percentage of GDP.

Damn...I didn't need to get this riled up today...;)
 
The whole medical fee system is out of whack which leads to high insurance. Our first daughter was born 9 weeks premature (no one knows why...I had no risk factors and am in perfect health) and she had absolutely no medical problems, thank God. She did have to spend 28 days in the NICU. Her expenses were close to $100,000 without any major surgeries or things like that. I can't imagine how much some surgeries, etc cost. When the bills started rolling in it was a full time job to match the bill with the insurance statements. The doctors charged about $1000 a day but had to settle for "reasonable and customary fees" of about $200 per day. The hospital had their own charges on top of that, too. They charged about $1500 per day. She was transferred to a hospital closer to where we live after two weeks and the dr had to ride with her in the ambulance. He charged over $1500 for a 61 minute ride! Then you add in each test they run-and they do a panel of blood tests every morning. Each test was subject to a co-pay! However when you are in that situation you will have them do whatever is necessary for your child. By the way, when she was in the big university hospital I never saw a neonatalogist (sp?). The nurses relayed all info to us. They were wonderful. When we got to the smaller hospital the neonatalogist was there 24/7 and he was wonderful and we got to talk with him all the time. So as much as we hate to pay the insurance we can't imagine not having it. We have gotten our money's worth out of it.
 
I agree with you cygnus1889. I am American (and a naturalized Brit) with a British husband. I find it baffling when americans oppose government's involvment in people's health situations. The government is already involved. Afterall, americans have sewers, water treatment facilities, clean water, trash collection, fire services, a police force and a wide array of government services that impact the public's health for the better. The US government provides people with a safe highway system, stop signs, road signage, light rails, buses, cycle lanes - you name it, the costs for these items come from taxes. I use the NHS in the UK and also have private insurance to top it up because it only provides a minimal standard in some cases. that's fine. If we move back to the US ever, we wouldn't be insured until employer insurance kicked in because not even one insurer covers ppl who have lived outside the US. Expats constantly have this problem when repatting back to the US.

It grieves me when I read about how much americans have to pay out of pocket for basic care that should be their right. I'll stop right here cause I could go on and on.
 
sparrow13 said:
I can understand your point of view but it depends on believing that the government, which is just people, is competent enough/moral enough/willing/able to make things better for citizens, without regard to its own purse or special interests. In my view, it isn't any of those things, so I don't want them in charge of my health care, my education, my children, my food or lifestyle choices, or pretty much anything else that involves me making personal/private decisions. The current system is definitely not a good one but more government, IMO, is rarely the answer to the question "Gosh, what can be done to improve this situation?" Each to her own beliefs, of course.

Sparrow
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Well said, as always, Sparrow.
 
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