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 "Hottie"
Posts: 1373
  
Location: Okemah,OK | Bear - 2015-12-19 10:50 AM
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.
That's part of our problem, we have TWO companies to choose from whether you go thru the exchange or not....Blue Cross and United Healthcare. My husband is a chiropractor and I run his office so I know the ins and outs of insurance. I have all the phone numbers known to man and called them all. All except those two said nope, don't cover your county. We are very backed in a corner around here. | |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25351
Location: Bastrop, Texas | whiplashranch - 2015-12-19 10:53 AM
Bear - 2015-12-19 10:50 AM
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.
That's part of our problem, we have TWO companies to choose from whether you go thru the exchange or not....Blue Cross and United Healthcare. My husband is a chiropractor and I run his office so I know the ins and outs of insurance. I have all the phone numbers known to man and called them all. All except those two said nope, don't cover your county. We are very backed in a corner around here.
And that's one of the biggest problems with healthcare. There needs to be free and open competition across state lines. Where is the outcry? I'm not hearing it. It's just preposterous. | |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 411
Location: Smack in the middle of WA! | Right now I pay $600 a month for myself and my son, husband is covered by his employer. $1000 deductible and $4500 per year max out of pocket. Expensive? Very! However I can't imagine what would happen if I had a bad horse accident or my son wrecked his dirt bike! Or we got cancer or some thing else terrible. I just feel that it is a necessary expense. If I can afford my horses and barrel racing then I should be able to afford insurance. I hate paying it every month but would hate to lose everything I have due to a medical bill caused by a barrel racing accident  | |
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"Hottie"
Posts: 1373
Location: Okemah,OK | Bear - 2015-12-19 11:08 AM
whiplashranch - 2015-12-19 10:53 AM
Bear - 2015-12-19 10:50 AM
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.
That's part of our problem, we have TWO companies to choose from whether you go thru the exchange or not....Blue Cross and United Healthcare. My husband is a chiropractor and I run his office so I know the ins and outs of insurance. I have all the phone numbers known to man and called them all. All except those two said nope, don't cover your county. We are very backed in a corner around here.
And that's one of the biggest problems with healthcare. There needs to be free and open competition across state lines. Where is the outcry? I'm not hearing it. It's just preposterous.
TOTALLY agree with you and my answer (like most things in life) is "follow the money" and there you will find the reason for the lack of outcry! Same reason why the insurance companies initially protested and fought Obamacare and then all of a sudden became is greatest champion. I won't even get started on the "tax" that is added onto Healthcare premiums now, how the insurance companies claim they are going broke paying for preventative, etc, etc, etc. It's a train wreck!!! | |
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"Hottie"
Posts: 1373
Location: Okemah,OK | hank520 - 2015-12-19 11:24 AM
Right now I pay $600 a month for myself and my son, husband is covered by his employer. $1000 deductible and $4500 per year max out of pocket. Expensive? Very! However I can't imagine what would happen if I had a bad horse accident or my son wrecked his dirt bike! Or we got cancer or some thing else terrible. I just feel that it is a necessary expense. If I can afford my horses and barrel racing then I should be able to afford insurance. I hate paying it every month but would hate to lose everything I have due to a medical bill caused by a barrel racing accident
I have the same opinion. We will continue to cut things to be able to afford it. We will not go without insurance. But we are apparently in an even worse position in that the lowest deductible we can even buy is $3000 & only have two companies to choose from (the second company's lowest deductible option is $11,000!!!) We couldn't afford it anyway but we aren't even offered a reasonable deductible & so we're not only forced to pay ridiculously high prices but it's for crap coverage. It's a double whammy for us around here! | |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
 
Location: In the Hills of Texas | whiplashranch - 2015-12-19 11:32 AM hank520 - 2015-12-19 11:24 AM Right now I pay $600 a month for myself and my son, husband is covered by his employer. $1000 deductible and $4500 per year max out of pocket. Expensive? Very! However I can't imagine what would happen if I had a bad horse accident or my son wrecked his dirt bike! Or we got cancer or some thing else terrible. I just feel that it is a necessary expense. If I can afford my horses and barrel racing then I should be able to afford insurance. I hate paying it every month but would hate to lose everything I have due to a medical bill caused by a barrel racing accident I have the same opinion. We will continue to cut things to be able to afford it. We will not go without insurance. But we are apparently in an even worse position in that the lowest deductible we can even buy is $3000 & only have two companies to choose from (the second company's lowest deductible option is $11,000!!! ) We couldn't afford it anyway but we aren't even offered a reasonable deductible & so we're not only forced to pay ridiculously high prices but it's for crap coverage. It's a double whammy for us around here!
I didn't use the Obamacare Market Place either and went to the individual companies and they all pretty much cost the same and were all a rip off. Never thought I would say I'm glad to be old enough to be on Medicare. | |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7550
Location: In The Land of Cotton | But the point of nobama care was to make it socialized so we didn't have a choice. In GA in our area south of ATL the only company is BC/BS. No other. Thus they charge what they want. No competition at all. | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: In the wrong place at the wrong time | crapshooter - 2015-12-16 7:45 PM
Cisco6340 - 2015-12-16 3:36 PM I don't have health insurance. I can't afford it. We are barely making ends meet. My husband lost his business and can't find a job. At 52 it's really scary not to have it but nothing we can do about it. What state do you live in? Really for low income people in the right states you can get cheap insurance. For everyone else it totally sucks.
And the healthcare.gov website works fine. I've done the sign up for several people and even though it's kind of complicated it works. Whoever said it didn't work obviously never tried it. You can PM me if you need help.
Thank you but we are stuck in the middle.......I make too much to qualify and can't afford any more expenses than we have now.
We are in MD | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: In the wrong place at the wrong time | Bear - 2015-12-19 10:09 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 this is my scenario...... I know you do not mention me or anyone specifically but this how I have horses, a truck and trailer but can't afford insurance;
Husband lost business and has health issues, truck is 15 years old and not worth much, trailer is older still.
Have 4 horses all but one in their 20's and crippled the other is a 2 year old that was in utero when everything went south.
We bought our home before the housing boom so our mortgage payment is less than most pay in rent and there would still be the issue of what to do with 3 old crippled horses?
Just posting this to show sometimes things are quite as simple as they seem. | |
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Gettin Jiggy Wit It
Posts: 2734
| Bear - 2015-12-19 11:08 AM whiplashranch - 2015-12-19 10:53 AM Bear - 2015-12-19 10:50 AM 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. That's part of our problem, we have TWO companies to choose from whether you go thru the exchange or not....Blue Cross and United Healthcare. My husband is a chiropractor and I run his office so I know the ins and outs of insurance. I have all the phone numbers known to man and called them all. All except those two said nope, don't cover your county. We are very backed in a corner around here. And that's one of the biggest problems with healthcare. There needs to be free and open competition across state lines. Where is the outcry? I'm not hearing it. It's just preposterous.
Where did you look for your insurance? I was looking for a plan and my only options for my area was united heath care, security health, and blue cross blue shield. All I need is a catastophic plan. I was even just carrying temporary insurance for a while. I understand that is not covered under Obama care but at least I had something if I got hurt. I am willing to pay the fine because it is more affordable for me to carry an insurance that doesnt qualify for obama care and pay the fee versus paying for an obama care approved insurance each month. | |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Cisco6340 - 2015-12-19 6:04 PM
Bear - 2015-12-19 10:09 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 this is my scenario...... I know you do not mention me or anyone specifically but this how I have horses, a truck and trailer but can't afford insurance;
Husband lost business and has health issues, truck is 15 years old and not worth much, trailer is older still.
Have 4 horses all but one in their 20's and crippled the other is a 2 year old that was in utero when everything went south.
We bought our home before the housing boom so our mortgage payment is less than most pay in rent and there would still be the issue of what to do with 3 old crippled horses?
Just posting this to show sometimes things are quite as simple as they seem.
What's really maddening is the number of people I know in our small town that are on disability (these are people that absolutely could find a job of some kind, even if it is sacking groceries or working at McDonald's) and use the ER as their PCP and owe nothing to anyone for healthcare because "they're covered." Then hardworking middle-class families scrimp and save and beg and borrow to get the "required" insurance and not be fined. It sets my teeth on edge.
I was in the ER one night due to issues with my amputation, and there was a whole family of Hispanics there. The parents could speak no English, so the roughly 14 year old daughter was the translator. (Had another 4 or so year old son and the mother was pregnant) When they started to leave, the receptionist told them that the address they had on file was no good and that they needed to update it and also make a payment before they left. The daughter said something in rapid fire Spanish, the parents looked at the receptionist. . . . . And walked out. I have no answers but dear Lord what has happened to this country and what do we do????
Edited by Chandler's Mom 2015-12-19 8:02 PM
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"Hottie"
Posts: 1373
Location: Okemah,OK | WetSaddleBlankets - 2015-12-19 6:12 PM Bear - 2015-12-19 11:08 AM whiplashranch - 2015-12-19 10:53 AM Bear - 2015-12-19 10:50 AM 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. That's part of our problem, we have TWO companies to choose from whether you go thru the exchange or not....Blue Cross and United Healthcare. My husband is a chiropractor and I run his office so I know the ins and outs of insurance. I have all the phone numbers known to man and called them all. All except those two said nope, don't cover your county. We are very backed in a corner around here. And that's one of the biggest problems with healthcare. There needs to be free and open competition across state lines. Where is the outcry? I'm not hearing it. It's just preposterous.
Edited by whiplashranch 2015-12-19 9:29 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1062
Location: Probably On the Road to the Next Barrel Race! | I live in a town of about 125,000. We mave 2 major hospital clinic/systems. One just sent us a letter that they will NOT accept Obamacare patients. That's full coverage of half of my town!!!!! How can this be? I was thinking of going for it during open enrollment, but not now!! Right now I have catastrophic coverage thru a Christian-based company. This sucks | |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| As to the ridiculous cost of health care itself...... That $600 I was charged to put a dollar's worth of super glue on (and had it been on my knee I would have just put some Neosporin on and called it good)? I just realized that that s only what the Emergency doctor's service charged me. The hospital itself also charged me another $517.50 FOR THE SAME TREATMENT!!!!
Over $1100 of the over $3500 in bills for a "broken" (cracked) arm was to put super glue on an abrasion??!! Really??!!! | |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | Three 4 Luck - 2015-12-19 10:02 AM 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.
While I agree the situation sucks and doesn't make any sense, this is the part where I said most people don't actually educate themselves on the policy you choose.
Its not not your insurances fault you chose an out-of-network doctor. They have lists with your plan on where you can and cannot go. You are fully able to check ahead of time. | |
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 To the Left
Posts: 1865
Location: Florida | r_beau - 2015-12-20 8:49 PM Three 4 Luck - 2015-12-19 10:02 AM 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. While I agree the situation sucks and doesn't make any sense, this is the part where I said most people don't actually educate themselves on the policy you choose.
Its not not your insurances fault you chose an out-of-network doctor. They have lists with your plan on where you can and cannot go. You are fully able to check ahead of time.
I have seen people who went to the hospital that was on their insurance plan and got hit with one doctor or specialist being out of network. That is wrong, you don't get to choose the hospital doctor in most cases, they should be part of the hospital's network. It is all just a way to rip people off. I have also seen someone who was real carful for on operation, everyone was in network - then it turns out the 2nd anesthegist was out of network and cost a fortune. | |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | r_beau - 2015-12-20 7:49 PM Three 4 Luck - 2015-12-19 10:02 AM 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. While I agree the situation sucks and doesn't make any sense, this is the part where I said most people don't actually educate themselves on the policy you choose.
Its not not your insurances fault you chose an out-of-network doctor. They have lists with your plan on where you can and cannot go. You are fully able to check ahead of time.
You misunderstood that. Our PCP is IN network. We didn't see an out of network doc. No doc in this area gives vaccines tho, they all refer to the county health unit, which is state funded. We have never had trouble getting it paid for by insurance before, but for some reason the "provider" listed for the immunization program (who we did NOT see, we just saw a nurse) is no longer in-network. I didn't even know there was a provider for this separate from our PCP. I tried to get them to bill it thru our doc, but the lady in the office said they couldn't. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 528
Location: Its Freaking Freezing Up Here... | Wowza. I knew insurance was expensive down south, but I had no idea to what extent. What does it cost to deliver a baby??
I know we pay for our health care in other ways in Canada, but I have to say, it's comforting knowing we can go to the doctor at any time and not have to pay anything. | |
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 IMA No Hair Style Gal
Posts: 2594
| Yikes, counting my blessings. My deductible is $2500, I pay under $700 a year....and have a health savings account that my district puts $500 in every year that accumulates. This can go towards my deductible. (Good insurance=teacher perk)
Husband has seperate insurance as it was cheaper for us to do a single plan through each of our employers....his is about $50 a month?? He also has a health savings account that his work puts $800 into. Between the HSA's we don't really have to pay out of pocket. Thankfully my insurance has not really increased/changed either....AND I get free dental and vision that my school district pays for.
28 now....and not once in my life has insurance ever been a concern....I had no idea this was an issue for so many people. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 2013
Location: Piedmont, OK | I am self employed and have a policy thru BC/BS until the end of the year $200/mo and a $6000 deductible. But my Farmers Insurance agent found me a better policy. It's $220 per month but zero deductible! It is thru US health group. I think the enrollment ends Jan 15 but anyone has a policy like I had thru BCBS you might call your insurance agent and see if they know of something better. Or if you are in OK I can give you my agents number. | |
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