Are many here at DU covered by insurance that they pay for?

[michaz]

Just curious. We have insurance with a company that pays for about everything that we have done with a $15. co-pay and our drugs are covered any where from $8.00 to $15.00 no matter what the price of the drug is. We pay about $500.00 a month. My husband is a retired teacher in NYS and so a portion of it is covered by the school and the $500. is what we pay.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. My employer pays all of my premiums

I pay co-pays for doctors visits and prescriptions, etc.

[annabanana]

2. how's the plan's formulary?

We are always running into prescriptions that aren't covered... Pretty standard ones too.. like all the PPIs for reflux.. even generic..

[michaz]

3. Seems to be pretty good. My Prevacid is covered for the higher

co-pay of $15. There are a few I have seen that could go as high as $30. for a co-pay. Generics of any meds are never a problem.

[MercutioATC]

4. Mine's 2/3 subsidized by my employer.

$20 doctor visits ($30 for specialists), $15 prescriptions ($25 non-formulary). It's an HMO, so there's no deductible.

$315/month for me and my son (my portion of the premium).

[jaxx]

5. Single, $200 a month for premiums through workplace.

$750 deductible, $40 copay for name brand drugs, $25 for generics. We just got $35 copay for doctors office visits, before that it was 80-20 until the deductible was satisfied. Tests the same. It can add up to a lot when you get sick or go to the hosp.

[trueblue2007]

53. Married, Hubby gets VA Disability and I pay $183 a month for CRAP insurance.

For CRAP insurance. But it was all that I could afford. I had to have a colonoscopy, I paid the $183 monthly premium and had to come up with $500 more before they would do it. Insurance paid "the rest". I don't have eye or dental insurance and I need dental work done!!!!

[NorthCarolina]

6. We're self employed and buy our own health insurance...for now anyway

the cost keeps going up with each new statement we receive, and being a gay couple we do not have access to a family plan and so must endure the cost of two individual plans. With the economy as it is our sales have been few and far between of late so it may not be long until we won't be carrying any insurance at all.

[Vinca]

7. Your question should be who pays the full cost of their insurance.

That's what most of the uninsured are facing: bills that begin at $1200 a month for dubious coverage. IF they can get it at all. Any pre-existing condition (including advanced age) and you can't buy insurance at any price.

[JSK]

20. Describes my coverage exactly

You pay a fortune for coverage, the co-payments go up on a regular basis, and you have to fight them to get them to pay any benefits.

God bless America.

[sandnsea]

8. Subsidized state insurance pool

I have a plan Blue Cross provides for the state for people who have pre-existing conditions. It is also subsidized. Mine and my husbands share is $115. I also pay $10 to $40 for medication and there is a $500 deductible. No co-pays.

[mwooldri]

9. I'm one of the lucky ones: big employer health insurance coverage.

The company self-insures its employees. Sure we get to pick from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, etc. but they're just the administrators. They process the claims, they say yes or no. My bosses dictate what is and what is not covered. I may complain and moan that I have a $2300 deductible, and another $900 coinsurance on top of that... but my employers contribute $1000 towards the $2300 deductible. Every paycheck I have $110 deducted for the insurance and then I put $120 into the HSA that goes along with the health plan. I get paid bi-weekly. The insurance covers me, my wife and my son. When our baby comes along in the summer, our premiums will go up $20 a paycheck but right now the deductibles will not.

Couple this with a medical equipment supplier who figured out a way for them to pay the deductible for us this year $1000 not withstanding.... and we're sitting pretty. Deductibles' been met, by July we'll have definitely met the co-insurance.

Yep, I'm one of the lucky ones. If I lose my job now... then it'll be not very nice at all.

Mark.

[Historic NY]

10. I'm covered with a now $20 co-pay...

I cash in 165 sick days to get the coverage when I retired.

[stray cat]

11. My work pays for alot of it and I pay the rest

[alsame]

12. Self employed and I pay 100% of outrageously high premiums. n/t

[JSK]

22. Same here

And getting them (Aetna) to actually pay any benefits is excruciating.

I had a routine colonoscopy in November, payment of which still hasn't been
settled. Calling to talk to a customer service rep will put you in a hospital; maybe that's their plan.

[alsame]

24. Yep. We pay through the nose and the service sucks. I am

so hoping that we have the opportunity to buy into a Medicare type program soon.

[GreenPartyVoter]

45. Husband is self-employed, but we are on MaineCare. Last time we had our own insurance was

when he was teaching.

[RebelOne]

13. My insurance through my employer is about $85 a month

and also includes dental and eye care. Also, life insurance in the amount of a year's salary.

[tavalon]

14. One of my friends is employed by Microsoft,

and he pays nothing, nada, zippo. They have the best insurance I have ever seen.

[elifino]

15. Retired, my secondary insurance $92.00/month

My company provides a clinic and pharmacy, staffed by independent doctors. Office visits are $5.00, the last time I went for pneumonia my total out of pocket was $10.00 including prescriptions. This may surprise some of you that this is a family owned non-union business with ~4500 employees.

elifino

[Cassandra]

16. Self-employed. $1000 a month insurance...

paid by me. If I ever really get sick, who knows if they would cover anything.

[Bonobo]

17. Same here. And it doesn't cover my teeth or eyes.

Fucking sucks.

[philk17088]

18. buy my own

I have to buy my own as a self employed person
$900 per month with a $5000/year deductible and it only pays 80% until you hit a half million in claims. No drug coverage at all.

[firedupdem]

19. We pay 640.00 monthly and it doesn't cover teeth or eyes....

I went to the doc for a sore throat and receieved a bill for 140 bucks? Can't get a medicine I really need because it's 84 bucks a month that I can't afford right now. Horrible.

[Jennicut]

21. I live near the insurance capital of the United States in Hartford, CT

I have Cigna through my husband's employer. We pay copays only. As a diabetic its not bad and the price of my insulin is $36 a month. Dr's visits are $15, emergency or walk in $50. I would say we have good coverage.

Lots of layoffs recently though at Aetna and other insurance companies here, just a sign of the economy.

[acmavm]

23. I pay 300.00+ per month for crap insurance.

edit: the company picks up the rest. But every couple years they downsized the coverage because of the price of the group insurance policy. Last time was the end of 2008.

[oviedodem]

33. that is unreal

[acmavm]

34. I wish. But I cannot be without it.

[Lex]

25. I pay $363.00 per month for health ins. each month under a group policy.

I'm self-employed but was able to get in a group policy with my professional association. I think that amount per month for basic health insurance is ridiculous for 1 person, but at least so far I'm able to keep myself covered.

If health ins. coverage wasn't so expensive for my small business, I would've probably hired another employee by now, at least a part-time person anyway.

[slackmaster]

26. I pay part of the premiums

My employer provides a basic HMO plan with high deductibles for no extra charge. I chose a PPO option with more coverage and lower deductibles.

Although the colonoscopy I had in January was supposedly "100%" covered, that means 100% of whatever the company says is reasonable. So, including lab tests, I'm looking at about $800 out of pocket after all the dust settles.

[vaberella]

27. I have no health insurance. n/t

[grantcart]

43. neither do we

[Raine]

50. Same here

I have to hope I don't get sick or in an accident. :-(

[pipi_k]

28. I pay less than $100 a month for Medicare and...

am also covered by Tricare (through the military) on Mr Pip's policy.

[bobmorr1]

29. Union Plasterer

I'm a member of the plasterers union. Our contribution is $7.50 an hour. You read that right! If I work all year, 2000 hrs. I would have paid $15,000 for insurance. This is with a $500 deductable. Now this is paid from our total package. Example, if we get a $3.00 an hr. raise in our contract, part of it will go to our pension, health and welfare or our check. We fund all our benefits. Without Unions benefits would be a thing of the past. We need national health care!!

[old mark]

30. I pay for my own insurance, but it is under a state (PA) plan for

low income people, and I will eventually get it for free.
I retired early, and never would have worked long enough to get insurance as part of my retirement benefits. I have had bypass surgery, so no one but Blue Cross would even consider covering me, and they wanted nearly $800 per month, which is more than I can afford.
I have about 4 1/2 years before I am eligible for Medicare at 66, if that is still in place and I am still around.

mark

[4lbs]

31. I'm paying almost $350 monthly just for myself under CA's MRMIP.

n/t

[oviedodem]

32. I work for the state of Fl

$180 for entire family regardless of size - medical
$13 for family vision
$15 for family dental

[NikolaC]

35. We had a lot of issues

Our copay is $25. Not only was our insurance company not paying any of our bills, especially those for our son, they were not paying them for any of the other employees kids in the company. Even though they had copies of all of our family's medical records dating back three years in triplicate, they kept giving us the excuse that they needed more information. When we would ask them what further information they could possibly want and request it in writing, we never got anything. I wound up paying a couple of doctors bills out of pocket. So, my husband finally went to his boss only to find out that he was fielding complaints from other employees and partners in the company. To make a very long story short, his boss threatened to find another company and demanded that the insurance company remit payment to our various health care providers. Since then our previous and current medical bills have been paid. It was a very frustrating experience though.

[windbreeze]

36. I do

well, we pay for a private retiree's insurance from the business he worked for for 28 years, AND we both pay individually for Medicare and Part D...it costs us almost $600 a month for our insurance...and we do have co pays...wb

edited to add...and it covers teeth and eyes....LOL...that's about how much worth, we pay a separate premium for teeth...but the co pays went out of sight the minute he retired...so we don't use it much...as to the eyes....it's a laugh...bought any glasses lately....???? anywhere from $400 and up...out of my pocket..they pay 20% of one thing...just not sure what that one thing is...

[SeattleGirl]

37. My employer pays 100% of my coverage; I pay $480 a month for

MrSG's insurance.

[ejpoeta]

38. we just switched insurance from one that had gone up $100/mo to a cheaper insurance

that we pay higher deductibles.

[ramapo]

39. You are very lucky ($1300/mth here)

How does a $1300/mth premium sound for family coverage with co-pay of $30 & $50 for office visits, drugs at $20-$50 per, plus deductibles for hospital and some tests. This is if you stay in-network. Out of Network, max out-of-pocket is $8000/yr. This is for a decent small group plan in NJ.

Our rates have gone up 20%-25% per year, even while cutting back on benefits.

If you have to get an individual family plan in NJ, plan on spending $20K+ a year.

At least we can't be denied coverage, we just can't afford it. Just like being able to choose your own doctor...sure you can, as long as you can pay for it.

This kills us as a small business yet our fucking asshole Repub congressman cries how raising taxes on the $250K+ group will hurt small business and insurance reform will mean we lose the ability to pick our own doctor. What bullshit.

[bhcodem]

40. I pay my own premiums

I joined Farm Bureau several years ago to get their group coverage through Blue Cross/Blue Shield so I have a $35 membership fee per year. I am a female (age 63) with a new monthly premium of $450.20. Office visit co-pay just increased from $15 to $30 and I now have a $100 deductible for non-generic prescription drugs. I selected a yearly deductible of $1000 with 80/20 copay. Policy has very good coverage including $500 wellness coverage that can apply towards things like yearly mammogram before deductible kicks in. I also have two exclusions on minor pre-existing conditions. I am looking forward to age 65 and being eligible for Medicare. Good (?) news is that I pay enough premium and expenses plus the premium for a long term care policy to actually deduct some of the cost on my income taxes.

[bunkerbuster1]

41. Mostly subsidized by my employer--I cough up 250/mo. for my family.

And I am happy to have what I have.

Prior to this gig, I forked over nearly 500/month for terrible, high-deductable self-coverage.

[WinkyDink]

42. Yes. Retired teacher here, also.

[NancyG]

44. $1075/mo for 2, PPO, high deductible. $45 copay

Self-employed. This can't go on.

Go, O. Please.

[GreenPartyVoter]

46. That's unreal!!! What a disaster health coverage is in this country.

[ohheckyeah]

47. Yes...

I pay for my own insurance. It's $250 a month and has a $4000 deductible.

[rainbow4321]

48. $200/month to cover me and my kids

Plus they take out $10 for Dental coverage and $5 for Vision. I've gotten my moneys worth so far...a $14,000 hospital stay to get my gallbladder out cost me $100. Any trip to the ER, no matter what is done costs me $100..that's waived if we are admitted.
I work for a county hospital. It's pretty cool cuz the monthly premiums are on a sliding scale..the less salary/hourly pay you make, the le$$ your monthly premium.
Office visits are $10 if I use the employee clinic (but they suck) and $30 if I go elsewhere. Prescriptions that I get filled at our hospital based pharmacy are $10.
Urgent care centers are the same as if I were to go to a regular doctor visit, no matter what services they give me.

[fencesitter]

49. I pay for my own, self employed....

to keep the premiums to a level I can afford, I have a 6000.00 deductible. So, I have to pay for everthing till that point. Needless to say, I do not go to the doctor, have tests done or anything unless it's absolutely life threatening.

[DRoseDARs]

51. Self-pay Anthem Bluecross/Blueshield; haven't used it yet 4 big stuff and God-willing won't need to.

Going up to $278/month in April. Had it for a few years now and still waiting for them to send the booklet we asked for naming what doctors are covered in my area.

[ecstatic]

52. 234 soon to be 264 a month with BCBS just for myself

Maybe I should have found an insurance agent to get the price lowered? Now I'm stuck because I now officially have a condition (a fibroid). It remains to be seen whether they will pay for my surgery if I need it.

[illuminaughty]

54. No health insurance

Priced out about four or five years ago when premiums hit $1200. Did not cover much of meds, and did not cover teeth or eyes. It started at $18 a month in 1983.