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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4627
   
Location: Texas | My parents don't. Most people I know don't. It isn't affordable. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| My parents went through the website in 2013 to determine what their subsidy would be, and at that time, their premium would be $500/month. My parents have never made a whole bunch of money. One income, my dad was self-employed in the construction industry. They couldn't afford a $300 car payment, let alone $500 in health insurance. This crap is far from affordable.
I have had insurance through my employers since the requirement went into effect. At my previous job though, I carried myself and my husband with a $2700 deductible for $532/month. Most of that was hubby, my employer paid about 75% of my premium. Early 2015 that employer went to offering only catastrophic plans. $5500/month deductible and the premium went up. It cost me $90/month for myself, and I dropped my hubby, and went directly to BCBS for hubby for $281/month, $3000 deductible.
In July I started a new job with the state, and most of my plan is covered. I pay $14/month. I have a $700 deductible. Hubby's employer bit the bullet for 2016 and is finally offering insurance. He went with the cheaper of the two. $140/month for a $5000 deductible with HSA plan. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 291
| I am covered through my job. My husband is self-employed. This is the second year he has been enrolled through the Market Place. The company that covered him last year decided not to offer anymore plans through the Market Place, so we had to enroll with a new company. Of course my husband waits until the last minute to do everything so we couldn't get online but called the 800 number instead. I think we were on the phone for approx an hour and done. Very simple. The policies I viewed for our state (SD) hadn't really gone up that much. For my husband to be insured through my work would be over $700 a month, we pay substantially less through the market place. It has been a good experience for us. | |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493
 
Location: 31 lengths farms | I have insurance thru my work but we just got bought out by another company and our insurance went up quite a bit for less coverage and a much bigger deductible also. The dental isn't even really an insurance plan, its a "savings plan" and we've been that route before also, no one in our town honors it. Guess who just chipped their front tooth? You'd think a company who just got bought out by another company that started out in the dental field would have a good dental program...it does if you are making 50K plus a year and can afford their mid and upper plans. The hourly employees not so much.
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 Half-Eaten Cookies
Posts: 2075
Location: Fort Worth / Springtown | I am involved in a co-op -- been around for over 30 years -- Christian Healthcare Ministries.
Very affordable compared to what we WERE paying and not using. I learned about it on here.
Easy to read about. Easy plan formats.
Not considered a "pre-existing condition" after 3 years.
Discount pharmacy.
I have not found out, yet, personally, about doctors that work with CHM -- they are considered a "self-pay".
There is a bio on their website of a mounted shooter that got hurt in horse accident and her experience with CHM.
About Obamacare -- I have heard of sooooo many friends,family , acquaintances that can't get treatment that they need.
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25351
Location: Bastrop, Texas | txbredbr - 2015-12-17 12:13 PM
I am involved in a co-op -- been around for over 30 years -- Christian Healthcare Ministries.
Very affordable compared to what we WERE paying and not using. I learned about it on here.
Easy to read about. Easy plan formats.
Not considered a "pre-existing condition" after 3 years.
Discount pharmacy.
I have not found out, yet, personally, about doctors that work with CHM -- they are considered a "self-pay".
There is a bio on their website of a mounted shooter that got hurt in horse accident and her experience with CHM.
About Obamacare -- I have heard of sooooo many friends,family , acquaintances that can't get treatment that they need.
I would definitely look at this. My understanding is that if you are enrolled with them, you cannot get fined. | |
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Assistant to the Braun..
Posts: 1249
Location: Texas | My granddaughter has lived with me for over a year. Because the paperwork for guardianship was not turned into my insurance in a timely manner I had to wait until open enrollment. We were penalized on taxes because we claimed her and did not have her insured. Next year will be the same because her insurance does not go into effect until Jan. Its a fail fail system and we will be penalized again if we claim her. Its honestly cheaper for us to not claim her if we will be fined. :( | |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| I have insurance, it costs me $100/mo. I am young and "single" with no kids. My fiancé does not have insurance. | |
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 Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
Location: Missouri | Bear - 2015-12-17 12:54 PM txbredbr - 2015-12-17 12:13 PM I am involved in a co-op -- been around for over 30 years -- Christian Healthcare Ministries.
Very affordable compared to what we WERE paying and not using. I learned about it on here.
Easy to read about. Easy plan formats.
Not considered a "pre-existing condition" after 3 years.
Discount pharmacy.
I have not found out, yet, personally, about doctors that work with CHM -- they are considered a "self-pay".
There is a bio on their website of a mounted shooter that got hurt in horse accident and her experience with CHM.
About Obamacare -- I have heard of sooooo many friends,family , acquaintances that can't get treatment that they need.
I would definitely look at this. My understanding is that if you are enrolled with them, you cannot get fined.
Samaritan
Medi-Share
Christian Healthcare
Medical Cost Sharing
...and maybe a couple of others that I missed.
If you are enrolled, you are exempt from the fine. But, they are not "insurance" so do not have the same requirements (pre-existing conditions, etc) You must be a professed Christian and they have their own standards, such as no tobacco use, etc. I chose Medi-share because it is the most like traditional insurance. I mail my check to a credit union account and Medi-share disperses the funds as needed. With the other companies, you mail your check to a different family in need each month. Another major difference is that the others require you to apply for government assistance before their coverage will kick in (https://www.chministries.org/whattodo.aspx). (Although, my friend was recently hospitalized under the CHM plan and they did not ask her to apply. So, this rule may not be enforced, even though it is in the guidelines.) My coverage starts in January, but I kept a policy on myself due to the two year wait for pre-existing conditions. With a personal insurance policy, plus the family Medi-share policy, I will still be paying several hundred dollars less per month. I am so grateful for this option, as the ACA was financially crushing to our family.
Edited by just4fun 2015-12-17 1:33 PM
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 Having Smokin Bandits
Posts: 4572
Location: Woodstown, NJ | We don't have any insurance. We can't afford it. We couldn't get insurance in the past because of a pre-existing condition. When Obamacare first started, I thought, oh good, they can't reject us now! But they go by your income and one thing they forgot about is the bills people already have. I may look good on paper, but all my income is already spoken for. What do I do, stop paying my truck payment? Stop paying the Lowe's bill? The premium came out to $1400 a month for three of us with a sky high deductible and it didn't cover anything. I couldn't afford $400 extra a month, nevermind $1400. I was scared my husband would need another operation (he has vascular disease) but I just didn't have the money for the insurance unless I stopped paying the bills I already had. Or, honestly, got rid of my horses. I feel guilty about that, but except for one, I've had these horses for 16 years. I am not getting rid of them! Especially the ones who would be at risk because of unsoundness. I'd prostitute myself before I got rid of these horses! So I gambled. We'd been uninsured for years anyway due to the pre-existing condition. And wouldn't you know? We lost. My husband needed emergency surgery. I got a bill for $111,000 for two days in the hospital. Because we lost our income while he was laid up (we're self employed--he goes out, I do the office stuff), and had no savings, we applied for charity care. After months of begging and jumping through hoops, the hospital waived a large portion of their part of the bill. But I still owe many thousands to the surgeon, the ultrasound readers, the CAT scan people, the heart doctors who looked at him for five minutes, and the parking attendant. Only kidding about the parking attendant but since I keep getting surprise bills months later, who knows? That could be next. Anyway, now that we owe all this money, we REALLY can't afford to buy insurance and we're in a worse boat than we were in before. The stress from worry, ironically, is probably going to give me cancer. | |
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I Really Love Jeans
Posts: 3173
Location: North Dakota | I pay more a month for insurance than for my house mortgage!!
Insurance costs are legal robbery of EVERYONE!!! Now we all pay triple to pay for the degenerates that live on welfare in this country!! | |
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 Famous for Not Complaining
Posts: 8848
Location: Broxton, Ga | angelica - 2015-12-17 8:29 PM
I pay more a month for insurance than for my house mortgage!!
Insurance costs are legal robbery of EVERYONE!!! Now we all pay triple to pay for the degenerates that live on welfare in this country!!
Aka wealth redistribution welcome to Obamas world | |
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Half-Eaten Cookies
Posts: 2075
Location: Fort Worth / Springtown | just4fun - 2015-12-17 1:11 PM Bear - 2015-12-17 12:54 PM txbredbr - 2015-12-17 12:13 PM I am involved in a co-op -- been around for over 30 years -- Christian Healthcare Ministries.
Very affordable compared to what we WERE paying and not using. I learned about it on here.
Easy to read about. Easy plan formats.
Not considered a "pre-existing condition" after 3 years.
Discount pharmacy.
I have not found out, yet, personally, about doctors that work with CHM -- they are considered a "self-pay".
There is a bio on their website of a mounted shooter that got hurt in horse accident and her experience with CHM.
About Obamacare -- I have heard of sooooo many friends,family , acquaintances that can't get treatment that they need.
I would definitely look at this. My understanding is that if you are enrolled with them, you cannot get fined. There are several Christian cost sharing ministries.
Samaritan
Medi-Share
Christian Healthcare
Medical Cost Sharing
...and maybe a couple of others that I missed.
If you are enrolled, you are exempt from the fine. But, they are not "insurance" so do not have the same requirements (pre-existing conditions, etc ) You must be a professed Christian and they have their own standards, such as no tobacco use, etc. I chose Medi-share because it is the most like traditional insurance. I mail my check to a credit union account and Medi-share disperses the funds as needed. With the other companies, you mail your check to a different family in need each month. Another major difference is that the others require you to apply for government assistance before their coverage will kick in (https://www.chministries.org/whattodo.aspx ). (Although, my friend was recently hospitalized under the CHM plan and they did not ask her to apply. So, this rule may not be enforced, even though it is in the guidelines. ) My coverage starts in January, but I kept a policy on myself due to the two year wait for pre-existing conditions. With a personal insurance policy, plus the family Medi-share policy, I will still be paying several hundred dollars less per month. I am so grateful for this option, as the ACA was financially crushing to our family.
Yes, as just4fun said, it is considered medical coverage and you are not fined. I remember, last year, them sending announcements to help w/ the form you fill out for your taxes.
ANOTHER good thing -_ they work a lot through asking for your bills to be discounted - they will even assist you in discount requests --- and the discounts you are given are applied to your deductible, first!
They also have assistance if you don't have enough coverage or no coverage you can appeal to CHM where members can contribute - and pray for you.
I really like the newsletters they send, and the breakdown of successes.
Also, CHM, is one where you send payment directly to them and they disperse to individual that needs it. | |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | I could never not have insurance. I"d be too scared to have a major catastrophy with a bill in the 6 figures. But I agree that something has to change.
My parents have been greatly affected by OC. The whole promise of "you can keep your current plan" was a bunch of bull. Their insurance company had to quit offering certain policies because they could not keep up with the OC requirements. So my parents got dropped. My dad has tons of pre-existing conditions due to have Celiac Disease (and many other problems associated with it) and so it's been a big struggle to find decent insurance that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. He will be able to get on Medicare in a few months, so my parents are really hoping that helps.
Before hubby and I were married, hubby had a very simple plan that was about $90 a month. Mostly just covered major medical things, but for a young healthy adult, that's fine. Can't get those plans anymore in our area. My younger brother was trying to find something but now those plans are more like $300 a month. He actually ended up staying as a dependant on my parent's plan because it makes so much more sense finanially, and in turn, saves my parents some money.
I know that this is part of the reason why insurance costs are rising (according to my insurance agent). Young adults are able to stay on their parents plan longer, and most of them do because it is cheaper. When you have less people buying insurance policies, guess what? The price goes up for everyone else.
I am fortunate to have a very good job (own my own optometry clinic) so we do have the clinic take care of our medical premiums. We have a VERY good plan but we pay about $700 a month for the two of us; and we are both young and healthy. Within the last two years, for the people we do provide insurance for, the premiums have gone up by $1,200 a year for the past 2 years since we got grandfathered into OC. So we're paying DOUBLE in premiums than what we used to pay before.
Yes, OC is a lot of the problem. But it's not ALL the problem. Our healthcare system is broken too, and that's coming from a healthcare provider. Something's got to give. This is just getting out of control.
ANd one thing that is constantly frustrating frustrating to me is that patients never seem to know what their insurance covers and then get mad when we send them a bill for something. I understand insurance is confusing, but don't get mad at the messenger. I didn't choose your plan. You did. It's your responsibility to know what it covers and what it does not.
It happens all the time. People think "I have insurance" means the same thing as "I won't owe you anything." And of course, that couldn't be farther from the truth. | |
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BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25351
Location: Bastrop, Texas | No doubt about it, health insurance and health care itself is ridiculously sky high. There's only one way to fix it, and still preserve quality health care......and ObamaCare is the opposite of what's needed.
All that aside, I think a lot of people say they can't afford health insurance, yet they own horses, sometimes several, and they own expensive trailers and get a new pickup every 3-4 years. I have a hard time feeling sorry for those folks. A person ought to at least have some sort of catastrophic health insurance, if they own horses, trailers, and pickups. It doesn't take much to have something happen overnight and end up with a $100,000 bill. If you can't afford it, and don't pay your bill, the hospital doesn't simply throw it out the window. Everyone pays for it through cost shifting. | |
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 "Hottie"
Posts: 1373
Location: Okemah,OK | Bear - 2015-12-19 9:09 AM
No doubt about it, health insurance and health care itself is ridiculously sky high. There's only one way to fix it, and still preserve quality health care......and ObamaCare is the opposite of what's needed.
All that aside, I think a lot of people say they can't afford health insurance, yet they own horses, sometimes several, and they own expensive trailers and get a new pickup every 3-4 years. I have a hard time feeling sorry for those folks. A person ought to at least have some sort of catastrophic health insurance, if they own horses, trailers, and pickups. It doesn't take much to have something happen overnight and end up with a $100,000 bill. If you can't afford it, and don't pay your bill, the hospital doesn't simply throw it out the window. Everyone pays for it through cost shifting.
I agree with you but part of the problem is that catastrophic coverage is ridiculously expensive now too. I am 42, husband almost 40 & a little girl. All healthy, never had insurance pay a bill for us except for when I had our baby. Coverage with an $11,000 individual deductible in Oklahoma carries a $1000 PER MONTH premium for the three of us. Plus $35 a month for REQUIRED dental insurance on my kid (even before she had TEETH!). I don't mind paying good money for a good policy. But now we are paying highway robbery prices for a crap policy. The insurance companies are saying that the costs are so high because people with preexisting conditions are buying policies only long enough to get treatment and then dropping them. Rather than a flood of young, healthy people getting policies and offsetting the sicker ones. Don't know if that's true but I'm sure paying the price for someone and I'm not sure how much longer we can sustain it. | |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Here's how great our current insurance is. Living in a rural area with a sparse population, doctors do not do immunizations. They refer everyone to the county health department. It's a practical arrangement due to the cost and perishability (is that a word? LOL) of vaccines. If you have insurance, the health dept bills them, and if not, the state pays.
So I took my daughter in for her 2nd MMR before school started, and a few weeks later got an EoB from our insurance denying coverage because the provider was out of network. The health dept is out of network? How is that possible? Insurance is supposed to cover 100% of immunizations, and yet here they are refusing to pay. So I call and the snotty witch with customer service tells me I need to switch docs. I try to explain that this is standard practice in our area--we would have to drive over an hour to find a Ped clinic that does immunizations in-house, and they won't do them for us because 1) none of their docs are our PCP and 2) my kid's vaccines were delayed due to health issues when she was little and they will only vax there on the CDC schedule. No delaying and no cherry picking. Doesn't matter, don't care, if I want immunizations covered, I will have to drive a couple of hours to find a clinic that will do it and it's not their problem. So the state paid for it, and while I realize we're fortunate in that, it makes me mad that we pay for insurance and then they find every loophole they can find to not pay for services promised. | |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | whiplashranch - 2015-12-19 9:55 AM Bear - 2015-12-19 9:09 AM No doubt about it, health insurance and health care itself is ridiculously sky high. There's only one way to fix it, and still preserve quality health care......and ObamaCare is the opposite of what's needed. All that aside, I think a lot of people say they can't afford health insurance, yet they own horses, sometimes several, and they own expensive trailers and get a new pickup every 3-4 years. I have a hard time feeling sorry for those folks. A person ought to at least have some sort of catastrophic health insurance, if they own horses, trailers, and pickups. It doesn't take much to have something happen overnight and end up with a $100,000 bill. If you can't afford it, and don't pay your bill, the hospital doesn't simply throw it out the window. Everyone pays for it through cost shifting. I agree with you but part of the problem is that catastrophic coverage is ridiculously expensive now too. I am 42, husband almost 40 & a little girl. All healthy, never had insurance pay a bill for us except for when I had our baby. Coverage with an $11,000 individual deductible in Oklahoma carries a $1000 PER MONTH premium for the three of us. Plus $35 a month for REQUIRED dental insurance on my kid (even before she had TEETH! ). I don't mind paying good money for a good policy. But now we are paying highway robbery prices for a crap policy. The insurance companies are saying that the costs are so high because people with preexisting conditions are buying policies only long enough to get treatment and then dropping them. Rather than a flood of young, healthy people getting policies and offsetting the sicker ones. Don't know if that's true but I'm sure paying the price for someone and I'm not sure how much longer we can sustain it.
I looked at catastrophic plans too and it only saved $120/month for us over a plan with a $2500 (5000) deductible, $3500 (7000) out of pocket cap, and co-pays for dr visits. I don't understand that. | |
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BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25351
Location: Bastrop, Texas | I know it's absolutely ridiculous. You don't have to convince me of that. It's also not a mystery why healthcare and health insurance is so ridiculously expensive. I'd recommend doing what we did. When I lived in Minnesota I paid $450/month for a $3K deductible, which is very sensible. After getting married and moving to Texas, I had to drop my policy and we had to get one in Texas. Carol went through the pool and it was a nightmare for her. This year we decided to go outside the ObamaCare crap and just shopped around. Carol is 58 and I'm 61, with chronic leukemia, and we found a plan that was extremely low deductible, for $900/ month for both of us. The reason it doesn't qualify under ObamaCare is because it doesn't cover maternity leave ( darn.....we want to have babies!), contraception, psych, or substance abuse. It also has an AD&D plan worth $100K, and discounted dental/vision plans as part of the package. Now to me that's good value. Carol just shopped around and found it. I say to hell with ObamaCare and just find something decent that protects you for the lowest price. A lot of people whine and say they can't find anything, but I suspect in many instances they really haven't rolled up their sleeves and actually looked. We have good insurance at a decent price, and they know I have leukemia. With ObamaCare we would have paid $1500/month for sh!t coverage and $15K deductible.
Dig around.
Edited by Bear 2015-12-19 10:51 AM
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"Hottie"
Posts: 1373
Location: Okemah,OK | Three 4 Luck - 2015-12-19 10:08 AM
whiplashranch - 2015-12-19 9:55 AM Bear - 2015-12-19 9:09 AM No doubt about it, health insurance and health care itself is ridiculously sky high. There's only one way to fix it, and still preserve quality health care......and ObamaCare is the opposite of what's needed. All that aside, I think a lot of people say they can't afford health insurance, yet they own horses, sometimes several, and they own expensive trailers and get a new pickup every 3-4 years. I have a hard time feeling sorry for those folks. A person ought to at least have some sort of catastrophic health insurance, if they own horses, trailers, and pickups. It doesn't take much to have something happen overnight and end up with a $100,000 bill. If you can't afford it, and don't pay your bill, the hospital doesn't simply throw it out the window. Everyone pays for it through cost shifting. I agree with you but part of the problem is that catastrophic coverage is ridiculously expensive now too. I am 42, husband almost 40 & a little girl. All healthy, never had insurance pay a bill for us except for when I had our baby. Coverage with an $11,000 individual deductible in Oklahoma carries a $1000 PER MONTH premium for the three of us. Plus $35 a month for REQUIRED dental insurance on my kid (even before she had TEETH! ). I don't mind paying good money for a good policy. But now we are paying highway robbery prices for a crap policy. The insurance companies are saying that the costs are so high because people with preexisting conditions are buying policies only long enough to get treatment and then dropping them. Rather than a flood of young, healthy people getting policies and offsetting the sicker ones. Don't know if that's true but I'm sure paying the price for someone and I'm not sure how much longer we can sustain it.
The lowest deductible we could even get (if we had money to BURN!) is a $3000. And..... We only have 2 companies to choose from, Blue Cross and United Healthcare. There aren't any other companies that even offer coverage in our county!!!! And I called Cigna, Aetna, Kempton, Community Choice, etc......nope, don't offer insurance in your county. We own our own business and I'm about to have to get a full time outside job just for the insurance. | |
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Folks on-line