So how bad is your medical insurance?

[bkr43050]

At my workplace we are in the process of changing medical insurance companies for about the 4th time in my 7 years there. That is not a real problem but just a bit of inconvenience. However, what is a real problem is the price of coverage.:eek: Granted we do have a pretty good coverage plan, first dollar paid, nothing out of the pocket on hospital costs. But right now I am paying over $3,700 a year for my family medical plan and it is taking a major hike again this next enrollment year. If we go stay with the current company it would go up over a $1,000/year for family plan. Now that is over a 25% jump. That is simply insane. We got another company to bid in at only $600 increase. To go to a deductible plan is even a $200 jump. And that is a $250 per person deductible and 500 family with $2,000 per person maximum and $4,000 per family. And you start paying 20% of ALL hospital costs immediately. It would not take all that long to hit the maximum numbers. And remember that is on top of already paying over $4,000 in premiums.

So as you can see I am a bit frustrated and venting here.

I am just curious to hear how much others of you pay for you medical insurance?

[ShakeDown]

I almost didn't post, because this will prolly just fire you up even more. I pay (for myself/wife/child) about $100/month. That's a $5 co pay (deductable pretty much), and I can't remember the other specifics. HOWEVER, I work for the State, and we are KNOWN for our benefits packages, so my numbers should be a lot lower than most.

[flathunter]

My insurance went so high I could no longer afford it so I have none...If we get sick we just go to a clinic here that charges 10 bucks a visit...Not the best of care but you got to do what you got to do.

[bkr43050]

Yeah, I have heard from some people who pay little or nothing for theirs as well. I just can not understand why our is so ridiculous. The company even claims that they are paying half.:confused:

[M.Magis]

I hate to say it, but we're going to have to get use to it for a while. Up until last year, we paid nothing but the co-pay. Last year prices went up so much the company had no choice but to have us pay some each paycheck. This year, again they had to raise what we pay a little bit because of the increases and told us it could very well be a yearly thing. I don't have the answers, but it's getting out of hand fast. 20-30% yearly increases are beyond rediculous.

[bkr43050]

20-30% yearly increases are beyond rediculous. That is my thought on it. Ours has just been skyrocketing.

In '98 we were paying $58 per paycheck (twice a month).
'99 $76
'00 $87
'01 $94
'02 $128
'03 $157
'04 $168 And now this plan will even cost us a lot when we use it. At least up until this year we have been in a first dollar plan which basically covered everything on hospital and major medical. Now I can expect to pay thousands on top of the premiums if we have any hospital costs.:mad:

Something is going to have to give soon on this. I am fortunate enough that I do have a pretty decent paying job. But some of these people are going to be paying around 15% of their money just for medical.

[Bass_Hawg]

I here ya on that I pay about 3,350 a year on insurance and dental for me and my family. Our copay went up and is now 25 bucks. It freaken bites.

Used to have great insurance but within the last 2 years it has gone from good to silly. We had like Three increases in like 12 months.

Not sure what to do if it gets much higher. Might just make a insurance fund and take out my own money every check and jsut save it for when we go to see the Doctor.

[pacosraiders]

I pay about 4300 a year for hmo. It's been going up about 30/pay for last 3 years or so. Company tells us they are also paying for half. Then last 2 years they started raising copays 5/ year so we're up to 20 copay. They also have started cutting back on which drugs they will cover for the pharmacy.

Pay another 300/year for dental.

I blame it on the laywers who want to sue for every little thing for couple hundred million, drive up the cost for everything. Granted you may deserve compensation for dotor messing up, but lawyers are just padding their own pockets with these outragous amounts...

Just one mans opinion

[M.Magis]

I agree with you pacosraiders. Malpractice lawsuits are a big part of the problem.

[olwhitee]

I pay 40 something dollars a month to teamsters union, and I get back life insurance, dental, vision, medical , and pension. Even they have been having problems lately with med care, and we have switched from a open plan to a ppo as of last year. Now instead of going wherever we want, we have a book that lists all the places and doctors that are preferred. If we go to one of these we pay 10 percent not to exceed 1000 dollars per family per year. If we go out of the network , we pay 20 percent with a max of 1000 per family per year.

I cant complain at all, it could always be worse. We had a baby last year, and are expecting again this year, and it costs us a total of 360 dollars last year, but will cost 420 this year. Nothing to complain about, but it shows how fast the inflation on health care is. I know if I went to work and told em it was going to cost them about ten percent more for me to go to work they would laugh me out the door, I guess the health industry can get away with it though.

[Lewis]

I thought I had it bad...Guess I am lucky
My insurance contribution went from $25 per month to $130 per month.
$20 copay.
My deductible though is $1000.
I pay 10% of the premium.My insurance cost to my employer is $1300 monthly!

[mrfishohio]

I'm self-employed, have to go to the poor man's clinic for $25.00 minumum pay each time. Insurance with $3,500 deductible and 20% co-pay would cost me about $300/mo. In other words 300 x 12 = $3,600 plus $3,500 means over $7,000 before they pay their 80%, and that's for the year, when the next year begins, you have to pay the $3,500 I think. Anyway, when we had a baby about 19 or 20 years ago under some other coverage, the baby & my wife were considered 2 separate clients, so I had to pay the deductable for each of them 1st ($600 ea then)
Insurance is a rip-off IMHO The reasons given for it being so outragous are several, risisng costs due to malpractice (insurance & suits) also new technology costs and the UNINSURED. The price of insurance is out of most working folks budgets, not to mention elderly and retired. Companys don't give it as a benefit anymore or only hire part time help so they don't have to pay. It's a real good argument for a national health care system. If it's the fault of the non-insured driving up the costs, then the insured is picking up the cost, then obviously we're all paying. So it make sense to me to just cover everyone, paid out of taxes, that way everyone is covered. Those who work pay it anyway, maybe the place to put it is in a national sales tax vs. income tax? That way everyone pays too.
Obviously the downfall is more government bureaucracy and waste......

[Zfish]

Well as most of you know I worked for a couple of the big insurance companies. I worked for Aetna and Cigna. I now work for the National Benefits center (temp job) until I find a permanent job. If you guys have any questions I know the ins and outs of the buis pretty well. Mr fish... The Deductables and total OOP (out of pocket) controbutions like that are reset yearly. Normally is per calander year on almost all plans. Most of the cost is indeed due to mal practice and the other part is for the perscriptions which have gone astranomical. But by all means if you guys have ?s ask away I'll help where ever I can . :)

[olwhitee]

I heard this idea on the radio the other night and though it was interesting. It has flaws but for a off the top of my head solution it seems dreamable, here is how it works.


Health insuance should be rated just as car insurance. If you are a 400 pound smoker that likes to drink heavily, you should pay more for your insurance then a person who works out regularly and does not smoke or drink. The idea involves having to have your cholesterol and all the other bad things that are popping up tested every so often, and if you develop high blood pressure or anything like this, your insurance categorie would change.

There would also be a higher co pay to prevent these people on medical cards ( welfare) from runnin to the dr every time they or their kids have a sneeze. I realize that welfare recipients are not all the problem, but I also am smart enough to admit that I would be a lot more open about going to the dr if I didnt have to pay the bill.

On top of this there needs to be a prescription revamping, I have no ideas for this but I will tell you that last week I went to the dr and was prescribed a pill that cost about 400 dollars for 40 pills, this is silly

[EDD]

I'm self-employed ,policy is $6200 a year $2500 deductable- (medical & Rx) meet 2 deductables then everything else is paid for that year ( I've had 2 heart attacks , so I can't change insurance)

[toad]

I belive it is pure profit driven. I don't buy that the insurance premiums are going up due to Malpractice lawsuits but I do belive Malpractice lawsuits are way out of hand. (sorry zfish) The reason I'm saying this is if you look at the facts and not to the insurance companys that are raiseing your premiums are telling you.
Fact 1
Drs are being driven out of business by the very insurance companys you are paying outrageous premiums to. The Dr is under contract with the insurance company that will pay him X amount of $$$'ers for a specific procedure (exsample, office call $40, xray $25, heart bypass $3500 ) Now the Dr's cost are going up ( Malpractice lawsuits, Malpractice Insurance) but the insurance company refuses to the raise the amount they pay a Dr. oh the same insurance co is now telling the Dr his malpractice insurance is going up. Now we have Dr's that are forced into a non-profit situtation.
Fact 2
Lets never forget that most insurance companys are a stock held company. The CEO if he wants to keep his job needs to get the stockholders at least 30% profit or more if they can pull it off.
The Answer (IMHA)
1) Make the insurance companys non-profit, they can be run like the Red Cross, or AHA. The Ceo & Employees have a great standard of living at these non-profit organizations. I don't think my health should be looked at as a way to make money like GM or Microsoft stock.
2) Get the Malpractice lawsuits under some kind of reasonable control (use the blood $uckin lawyers for bait)
3) and maybe the most important.... Keep the goverment out of the health care system.

Why is it drugs cost so much more here than in Canada or Mexico???
Why is it that GW is makeing it a crime to buy drugs in Canada??
Could it be he is worried about our health and the quality of the drugs? or could it be that he is worried about his large contributors the drug companys?

I will now step down from my toadstool :rolleyes: (as misfit would say )

[catking]

I'm also self employed and gambled with Insurance, or lack of it. I had other priorities that had to come first. Well, I had a heart attack without insurance coverage :eek: and my bills are a little steep :D to say the least. But I have been married for 26 years and have always paid my medical bills. But now, getting insurance is almost impossible. Some people who were covered by their work places, are finding out now what the rest of us already knew. It's almost impossible to put kids through school, pay a house, a car and health all at once. So I cut what I though was the least important-MY health care. Hey, kids are through school (college) and I'd do it again. CATKING

[harry1]

how come iraqies get free health care, from us, and we, u.s. citizens, don't?
why do we in the u.s. pay, at the minimum, twice as much as any one else in the world for the same drugs made by the same drug companies?

[shadowman]

i pay 760.00 monthly for me and my wife, and its going up 200.00 per month july 1st, beleive it or not this is a discounted group rate from our local chambers and we had to join the local chamber of commerece to even qualify for isn. so the membership dues for the C.O.C. 125.00 a year on top of the health ins. at least if i were on welfare i would have pretty good med. benefits free to me but all you guys/gals would be paying for us, something has to give its getting way out of hand and out of reach............... :eek:

[bill_gfish]

And to think I was complaining about my coverage. I pay nothing for mine. 250 ded. per person, 500 family. 20% up to 2000, 100% after that. No dental or eye. Drugs, 30-10. I will never complain about it again. Yeah I will, but man I shouldn't.

BiLl

[Zfish]

Toad.... Hey man no offense taken. I dont agree with a LOT of things and they way a lot of claims are paid. Believe me I've seen more horror stories than one would want. I use to take phone calls from people with high dollar claims. I once had one that was 250,000 and the hospital sent it to collections and everything else. had this ladies house and all accounts frozen. Well it just so happens (go figure) it was our (the insurance companies fault and we should have paid it. I had the claim over ridden and it was paid. Got a nifty little gift basket that was appriciated out of it.

Thats the highest claim I ever delt with but it was horrible. Its funny you mention that GM... Thats who I work for now kind of LOL. I work for the National Benefits Center for GM. They have pretty decent ins. They dont pay anything monthly... Rx is 5 and 10 bucks, dr off copay of 10 bucks and they complain every single day. And I just think if you people only knew what most people have to pay you people would really complain

[ARGEE]

I Pay $2400.00 A Yr For Medical Ins.///my Brother N Law Pays $7200.00 A Yr For Him And My Sister...seeing My Medical Care Is Over A 100 Grand A Yr Thats A Bargain For Me..now They Have A New Pill Thats A Ioo.00$ A Pill....the Ins. Doesnt Wanna Pay For It....but Look At It This Way....a Day In The Hospital Is Over 2 Grand A Day..if The Pill Keeps Ya Out Of The Hospital Thats A Great Deal...

[misfit]

in my opinion it all comes down to the almighty dollar.there are many contributing factors,but no matter how you look at it,big business is the culprit.
i have to have some of my medical equipment replaced periodically.the first thing i hear when i order is "do you really need it?" and "we don't make any money off this stuff because the ins. company doesn't pay us eneough".
i usually try to only replace things half as often as recommended,but still get the song and dance.
malpractice ins. is out of hand when a local doctor has his premium bumped from 100,00 to 500,000 a year.what's up with that?no,it wasn't due to claims against him.then the ins. co. wants to tell him what he can charge?LOL.

i gotta agree with toad's views all the way.

with the exception of that last little remark about GW :rolleyes:
i'm gonna hide your toadstool till 2008 :p :p

ps.........have you been talkin' to jerry again? :eek: ;)

[olwhitee]

If I were to lose my job, god forbid, I would not pay for insurance. If you go to the hospital and cannot pay, all you have to do is call and ask for a payment plan, they will ask you how much you can pay, even if it is only 20 bucks a month, they will allow you to make payments. This way they get their money back, even if it takes a while, otherwise they wont regain anything if they file a bad credit deal on ya.