Curious about what people are paying for Health Care or what kind of coverage you are getting

[Quixote1818]

from your employer?


My employer (a small business with about 50 employees......only about 8 of us are covered) covers my HC but the deductible is $5,000 which seems terrible. I know the average for company sponsored HC is around a $1,300 deductible. Any guesses on what small businesses pay when your deductible is $5,000 and they have around 8 employees to cover? Any opinions on how good or bad this sounds are welcome. Wondering if several of us need to complain.

If your company doesn't cover you then give premium and deductible. I understand this is personal so it's entirely up to you obviously if you want to give any of this info.

Also, feel free to mention if you have Obama Care and how you like it?

[unblock]

1. my company has about 3 dozen people in the u.s.

i pay about $4,700 in premiums annually (don't know what my employer share is, i assume it's at least as much) for a family plan with a $5,000 deductible and $7,000 maximum out-of-pocket.

it's ppo plan so i can go anywhere but the out-of-network coverage is horrible, something like a separate $10,000 deductible.

my employer makes all this a whole lot more palatable by contributing $4,700 to my hsa. they originally did this to lure people off the traditional plan we were all on and which was costing the company quite a lot. everyone came out ahead by switching.

i imagine they will probably get rid of this contribution, or scale it back, the next time we have a bad year and have to "cut costs". for now, though, this is a comparatively good deal.

[drray23]

2. i am one of the fortunate people

Who have a very good plan. My employer pays the bulk, i pay 120 or so a month with no deductible and no out of network restrictions. I work for a big research lab. Most of us are scientists and its competitive enough that they are offering outstanding benefits to attract people from all over the world.

[Lefta Dissenter]

3. I have my own policy through the ACA

I pay $300/month for $1,500 deductible, $4,500 max out of pocket. It's the same network I've been in for many years. The policy isn't quite as good as what I had last year for about the same premium, but they changed the policies and phased out the one I was on. I could have paid about $90/month more in order to have $0 deductible.

[R.A. Ganoush]

4. I can only speak for the Western NY market

But based on the deductible you gave, it sounds like you have a bronze-level plan. I haven't seen any first quarter options with in-network deductibles at high as 5k yet though...those typically don't get pushed in this market. Usually 2500/5000 is the max we'll see offered.

The monthly premium will depend primarily on how the plan is structured after the deductible is met (co-pay vs. coinsurance).

Again, I don't know what state you're in, but small group employers (<100 ee's) in NY are community-rated, so the number of covered lives won't be a factor in the pricing. Around here an employer could expect to have a premium of about $300/month for single and $900 for family coverage.

[Yo_Mama]

5. A lot of big co plans have higher copays/deductibles now.

One brother (very big co) has about a $3,000 deductible for all expenses, then a 20% copay for a while. I think last year (one kid had to go to the ER, and so did his wife, both with D68) they paid about $6,500 in uncovered medical expenses. It's a good plan though - they can take the kids to good hospitals if they need to.

It's not just the copay/deductible - it's also the extent of network coverage and out-of-network. Sometimes a plan looks good, but if you go to use it you find out that you have no option but to be out of network, so effectively you are on the hook for 50% of most expenses.

[Kilgore]

6. I'm a small business owner and we pay

$973/month for a family of three with a $10,000 deductible. The premium is split with the employee and we contribute $100/month to an HSA.

Compared to our pre-obamacare plans, we had a slightly lower premiums but our deductable was only $1,500.

Generally our employees say it sucks and prefer the old plan.

[ChosenUnWisely]

7. about $2

figure I will just eat a .45 bullet if I get too sick

[Ron Green]

8. Premiums:0 Out of pocket:0 Coverage:100%

All my doctors are focused on my care; none ever think about billing or something "out of network."

I'm grateful for my membership in the VA system, and I'm working hard in my state to enact a single-payer system that'll bring the same peace of mind to everybody.