Health Insurance, your status:

[marmar]

Poll question: Health Insurance, your status:

Health care is one of my fave issues these days. I've got insurance thru my employer and our provider, which shall remain nameless (although it's a five-letter word that begins and ends with A} recently altered our the coverage to make it crappier. (They're basically trying to kick off anyone whose stats - cholesterol, blood pressure, sugar levels - don't improve with these annual in-house clinics they're performing).
What kind of coverage do you have.....and how do you feel about it?

[RB TexLa]

1. HSA with high deductible, very please. Very low premiums and good return.

[Lorien]

5. What company is this?

[RB TexLa]

6. The HSA is through a bank, and the high ded. policy is through Celtic.

[DemReadingDU]

10. We also have HSA

So far, it has been a good insurance thing to do. We are in Ohio, and we chose Anthem Lumenos.

Our deductible is $5000. Yeh, it's steep, but for my spouse and me who are in good health, the monthly premium is appx $400. Annual physical is free, annual mammogram is free, bloodwork might be charged $25. Prescriptions are full price which can get very expensive unless you get generics. Additional visits to the doctor are regular price, but Anthem gives a discount.

Another nice thing is that the deductible amount comes off your income so you don't pay taxes on it. Example, if you make $50,000, with $5000 deductible HSA, you only pay taxes on $45,000, assuming you put the full $5000 into the HSA for the deductible.

I decided to get the HSA at my own bank, and not the bank associated with Anthem. Because I chose my own bank, there was no fee to set it up. I was given a debit card to pay for prescriptions out of the HSA account.

Here is a link for additional info.

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/

[cushla_machree]

12. so on this HSA

do you just avoid going to the doctor because of the high deductible?

I Have an HMO and it is awful. they won't let me see doctors that i have seen for 5+ years because i have to see THIER doctors, they won't pay for half of my medications, and it blows. And the premuims keep increasing each year, though i am sure the company is basking in their million dollar profits as they deny people like me quality care.

[RB TexLa]

13. I'd just pay out of the savings to see a doctor, but I don't care for giving my money to doctors

If I had to I would but if at all passable I'm not going to give them my money.

[klook]

2. So-so coverage thru spouse's employer (n/t)

[Lorien]

3. As someone who buys their own insurance, I'd like to know about those

policies that people say they are "quite pleased with", because mine blows.

[Cleita]

7. You might find that when they actually have to use it and the next

premium comes in that the price of that insurance has risen considerably to the point that with the deductible and co-pays, it's cheaper not to have insurance and pay out of pocket. It's only cheap when you don't use it.

[Cleita]

4. I have Medicare but I also have to buy supplemental insurance.

The coverage is basic and they can't deny me for pre-existing conditions, but if they don't update the fee schedule on Medicare soon, many doctors and other health care professionals will stop accepting it.

[Rosemary2205]

35. Medicare is in MUCH deeper doo than social security will ever be.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. I pay $22K a year for Sparkly and me.

That's for a high option HMO plan with drug and mental health benefits. We have been extraordinarily fortunate to have had doctors we actually might have picked were they in private practice. Never had to fight for anything ....... so far. Been with them for 8 years.

[harun]

17. So you paid 176,000? Why would you not just pay cash each

time you went?

[Stinky The Clown]

18. I had a heart attack. Before that, nothing ..... now forward? Lots.

I probably would have been better off to pay cash in the first years and am glad I have insurance now. Unfortunately, my crystal ball is broke, so I have NO idea what is in my health care future. How does one know when to pay and when not to pay?

On edit ...... my rate has risen steadily the last three years, before that, I was pretty damned steady at about $8500 a year. (My heart attack was a year ago, so the rate increases were not related to that.)

[harun]

21. Yah we don't really have many good options here in the U.S.

Even for the wealthy.

[Vinca]

26. Good lord! At 22K a year I would hope you didn't have to fight them for coverage.

Think about all the uninsured, low paid workers who don't even make 22K a year. What a country.

[marmar]

30. Exactly.....That's an inconceivable expense for health care.

That's obscene!

[Warpy]

9. I have no coverage because I was declared uninsurable

20 years ago. I am planning to move to a country that gives a shit about its citizens, which means any other country in the western hemisphere.

Yes, even Haiti has national health insurance. They, like the rest of the third world, can't begin to make it universal, but that is one of their aims in the future.

This country has no plans to do anything but extort more money out of people who can't afford it in order to fatten insurance executives.

[Vinca]

27. My husband is now uninsurable, too. Fortunately, he's a Canadian

so we're seriously considering a move. It makes me so sad that after a lifetime of hard work, paying taxes, obeying the rules and doing everything "right," we've been tossed aside to fend for ourselves with insurers who charge 5 times our mortgage payment . . . if they'll sell it to you. We've been waiting for this election to see if there might be a change in the status quo before making the final decision. On the plus side, I've always loved Canada.

[Warpy]

28. I'm heading south

to Mexico, probably.

Yes, the third world has national health insurance.

We can't. It might make us weak.

[marmar]

29. Bueno suerte, amigo!

Even Cuba, that nation who they've told us for years to hate, has health care that makes ours look pathetic.
Tell me again why this country has such a superiority complex?

[MarianJack]

11. My Family and I are on the republican health plan!

Don't get sick!

[lukasahero]

14. None of the above and scared sh*tless

A year and a half ago my husband took his first permanent job in 20 years (previously had been a consultant) taking a substantial cut in pay but it had fantastic benefits. I had been covering us with my employer's really crappy (also 5 letters begins with an "A") plan so we quickly switched over to his employer's plan.

A year ago my husband had a heart attack. Last summer he had numerous investigative surgeries and in October, he had quadruple bypass surgery. Needless to say, he's not working for that company that provided our benefits any more but we have 18 months on COBRA - to the tune of $1200/month. That's ok - coverage is very good.

I'm lucky in one respect to live in Massachusetts because now we can be assured some company will have to cover us when our COBRA runs out. But I'm equally screwed to live in Mass because of the way they designed this plan - it is mandatory that we have insurance and the question is, with his health history, what's it going to cost?

I have about another 10 months before I have to figure that out.

[OhioChick]

15. Have so-so coverage offered at work....

They find an excuse to deny most claims. I spend much time filing appeals. Have higher deductibles, co-pays, etc. Having a chronically ill child, I spent over 10K out of pocket last year. :(

[marmar]

19. 10K out of pocket?

That's unbelievably obscene....Then there are all those other little extras like food and housing, right?

[OhioChick]

23. Yes....

Not to mention the worry if my job will still be here tomorrow.

[margotb822]

16. MIlitary Health Care

Has it's pros and cons but covers you from a cut to cancer.

[marmar]

20. If this poll is fairly representative of the country.....

.... Then the state of U.S. health care is even worse than I thought.

[Blue_In_AK]

22. We're covered through my husband's union pension

MEBA. They keep raising the amount of the premium, and we really don't get much from it except a good price on my Synthroid and Restasis -- but they do fly us down to the Bay Area every year, paying plane fare for both of us and paying for a complete physical, so for that I give them credit.

We'll be eligible for Medicare in a few years. I don't know what we'll do then because Anchorage doesn't have any doctors who take new Medicare patients besides the Neighborhood Health Center, and they're swamped.

[kineneb]

24. California's CMSP program

for rural medically indigent adults between 18 and 65. Income cutoff: $600/month f/singles (share of cost above that). Since I have no official income I also get food stamps.

Have the choice of getting a job and having no coverage (or increadable share of cost), or being poor and having CMSP. Not much of a choice for me.

[marmar]

31. There's something similar in Michigan....and it's pretty bare-bones...

n/t

[DemReadingDU]

25. morning kick

[LeftyMom]

32. I'm on the "don't get sick" plan. Somebody please tell my body.

Working on applying for something better.

[Canuckistanian]

33. Other: I'm Canadian n/t

[marmar]

36. The second to last category includes Canadians....

:)

[Canuckistanian]

37. Oops

I get so indignant when I see these posts about "health insurance".

[Rosemary2205]

34. Nearly all my income goes to healthcare, but I have it.

My husband and I were both disabled by a drunk driver. He can't work at all and is on disability and medicare. I finally managed to get back to work and make enough, with a little bargaining power from my employer, to recently buy into Kaiser HMO. My premiums are really high and my costs to access the medical care are still high, but I'm pleased as punch to have access. I have not had it long enough to report on how good/bad the medical care is.