Independent individual health insurance?
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I have Tonik from Anthem (Blue Cross Blue Shield). It's mainly major medical/high deductible plan, but also includes 4 doctor visits each year for a $20 co pay, $20 deductible for teeth. My overall deductible is 5K and premiums are around 100 a month. When combined with an HSA if you have decently high income, it's a sweet deal. And thank the All Mighty I had this plan as I had an appendicitis this summer. Total bill for that if I hadn't had insurance would have been about 30 grand...And for each bill, they only applied really small amounts to my deductible, so I was only out of pocket for around $500.
It's been a great plan for me!
It's been a great plan for me!
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People who have never paid for health insurance don't want to pay 100 bucks a month for it.
As Drew posted. a good plan is one that fits your needs. If you rarely see a doctor and have no ongoing health issues, find one with a high deductible, high co-pays and medium out of pocket limits. ($5K)
Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
As Drew posted. a good plan is one that fits your needs. If you rarely see a doctor and have no ongoing health issues, find one with a high deductible, high co-pays and medium out of pocket limits. ($5K)
A big benefit to many high deductible plans is that when you do pay for services before you reach your deductible limit, you only pay the amount the hospital/doctor would have paid the insurance company. That is usually a lot less than you would pay if you walked in off the street with no insurance company backing you.
Dealing with the medical business is like dealing with the mafia. If you don't buy some protection up front, it's going to cost you a lot more later.
As Drew posted. a good plan is one that fits your needs. If you rarely see a doctor and have no ongoing health issues, find one with a high deductible, high co-pays and medium out of pocket limits. ($5K)
A big benefit to many high deductible plans is that when you do pay for services before you reach your deductible limit, you only pay the amount the hospital/doctor would have paid the insurance company. That is usually a lot less than you would pay if you walked in off the street with no insurance company backing you.
Dealing with the medical business is like dealing with the mafia. If you don't buy some protection up front, it's going to cost you a lot more later.
Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
People who have never paid for health insurance don't want to pay 100 bucks a month for it.
For that reason, they surely wouldn't like getting a 30K bill when they do get sick!
One trip to the hospital with a decent bone fracture is gonna be upwards of 20 grand for everything. And like XS650 points out, the amount a provider charges to someone without insurance is INSANE. Just the bill for the surgery itself on me: 5K with insurance....................it was 20K without. Meaning the doc billed the insurance company 5K but would have billed me 20K had I not had coverage.
People who have never paid for health insurance don't want to pay 100 bucks a month for it.
For that reason, they surely wouldn't like getting a 30K bill when they do get sick!
One trip to the hospital with a decent bone fracture is gonna be upwards of 20 grand for everything. And like XS650 points out, the amount a provider charges to someone without insurance is INSANE. Just the bill for the surgery itself on me: 5K with insurance....................it was 20K without. Meaning the doc billed the insurance company 5K but would have billed me 20K had I not had coverage.
Good individual health insurance can be pretty hard to locate at any type of reasonable price. Having been self employed my entire adult life, I have a bit of experience in this regard and I think Blue Cross / Blue Shield is the best offered around here.
My wife and I are in our late 40's and mine runs $155/month and hers $190/month for Bluecare PPO Plus. IIRC, it has a $2500 deductible, 80/20 for the next $2500, and 100% thereafter up to the lifetime max of $2M.
My wife and I are in our late 40's and mine runs $155/month and hers $190/month for Bluecare PPO Plus. IIRC, it has a $2500 deductible, 80/20 for the next $2500, and 100% thereafter up to the lifetime max of $2M.
Dr. Nick Riviera from "The Simpsons" will perform any surgery for $29.95.
I had blue Blue Cross for the last year and it was okay as it was combined with an HSA account. I use hsabank.com and was easy to setup that account.
I'm 37 and my rate was $68 with a $5500 deductible, plus I was putting $100 a month on my HSA account which can be used for all types of things even over the counter meds and vision care.
Lots of great info at: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/
Also another good reaason to at least have some type of plan is that if you do have to go to the doc you run all your bills through the plan and it will get discounted pretty good. I was really shocked when I would get a bill and like it would be $350 for the visit then after all the discounts it would be like $75 my cost. I can't believe how much someone would have to pay without any insurance, it's really sad they can do that.
I'm 37 and my rate was $68 with a $5500 deductible, plus I was putting $100 a month on my HSA account which can be used for all types of things even over the counter meds and vision care.
Lots of great info at: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/
Also another good reaason to at least have some type of plan is that if you do have to go to the doc you run all your bills through the plan and it will get discounted pretty good. I was really shocked when I would get a bill and like it would be $350 for the visit then after all the discounts it would be like $75 my cost. I can't believe how much someone would have to pay without any insurance, it's really sad they can do that.
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Medical bills are out of sight. Tony had 35 chemo and after Medi-care and Tri care paid their share they billed us $35,000. VA took care of the entire bill. The hospital was suppose to bill only VA. One of Tony's doctors said he was her million dollar baby less than 1/3 of the way through the treatment. My son had some medical problems ( a stroke at the age of 46 plus other things) and he paid in excess of $20,000.after his insurance paid "their" share. So check your policy very carefully so you get the most for your money.
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One of THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER, having had 2 big surgeries as of now: Even if you're sitting there about 5 minutes away from anesthesia, you hopefully are at a hospital that is in your network, but make darn sure that every single service provider in the hospital that works on you is in network also. Seriously, when I had my appendicitis, the pathologist was out of network. Luckily, I whined enough to the insurance company and the pathologist's office and they billed the insurance company for the in network amount. My deductible amount went from about $250 to $5! Had it been for the actual surgeon, or anesthesia, it could have killed me. Thousands of people get taken to the bank when they get service at an in network hospital from an out of network provider. You'd think they'd check on these things but it's up to you to make certain.
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Dr. Nick Riviera from "The Simpsons" will perform any surgery for $29.95.
But you forgot to tell people that they'll need to call 1-600-DOCTORB. The "B" is for bargain!
Dr. Nick Riviera from "The Simpsons" will perform any surgery for $29.95.
But you forgot to tell people that they'll need to call 1-600-DOCTORB. The "B" is for bargain!
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
One of THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER, having had 2 big surgeries as of now: Even if you're sitting there about 5 minutes away from anesthesia, you hopefully are at a hospital that is in your network, but make darn sure that every single service provider in the hospital that works on you is in network also. Seriously, when I had my appendicitis, the pathologist was out of network. Luckily, I whined enough to the insurance company and the pathologist's office and they billed the insurance company for the in network amount. My deductible amount went from about $250 to $5! Had it been for the actual surgeon, or anesthesia, it could have killed me. Thousands of people get taken to the bank when they get service at an in network hospital from an out of network provider. You'd think they'd check on these things but it's up to you to make certain.
That's good advice. When I was in a PPO, I always asked before any medical treatment.
They still bleeped up on a couple of occasions. In both cases when I gave the billing office the the name of the person I had asked and the date, they settled for in network rates and worked it out with my insurance company.
One of THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER, having had 2 big surgeries as of now: Even if you're sitting there about 5 minutes away from anesthesia, you hopefully are at a hospital that is in your network, but make darn sure that every single service provider in the hospital that works on you is in network also. Seriously, when I had my appendicitis, the pathologist was out of network. Luckily, I whined enough to the insurance company and the pathologist's office and they billed the insurance company for the in network amount. My deductible amount went from about $250 to $5! Had it been for the actual surgeon, or anesthesia, it could have killed me. Thousands of people get taken to the bank when they get service at an in network hospital from an out of network provider. You'd think they'd check on these things but it's up to you to make certain.
That's good advice. When I was in a PPO, I always asked before any medical treatment.
They still bleeped up on a couple of occasions. In both cases when I gave the billing office the the name of the person I had asked and the date, they settled for in network rates and worked it out with my insurance company.
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