Choosing no insurance or what is another option

[gracie1]

It just stinks all the way around. It's cheaper to put hubby and I on cheaper plans and the kids on a better plan in their own with their regular doctors. Plus one is offering "POS" which is point of service where if I understand correctly as long as stitches, xrays, blood work are done at one place we pay copay. But the overall cost of everything even bottom of bronze is more than a mortgage payment. Then you still pay. My work is pressuring me to either decline theirs or join. Plus you have the Dec. 15th deadline for Jan 1st coverage. Ugh!

Exactly - and most of the plans you have to meet the deductible before they even start covering anything.

 

[Krischaser]

I understand Gracie. I definitely have gone backwards since my company I work at was sold. It's scary to think about not being covered. What sites did you guys find the christen ministries info at besides there own?

 

[danygirl]

Have you tried Aflac? They have accident and hospitalization plans. This year is the first time in 7 years that we have paid more in premiums than we got back in claims. They pay fast!

It isn't regular medical insurance but it will protect you.

 

[xlxo]

The cost of insurance is crazy. I am getting it for my children but we are actually considering no insurance. Does anyone have any other suggestions.

Wait until you try to insure seniors with various health issues.... Tricks I've done...

• consider an "annual plan" if you plan to be travelling more than a few times a year.
• if you are willing to go "no insurance", ask for a "highest deductable". Insurance companies often promote the "lowest deductable" to make money, going "high deductable" can sometimes see 50% savings!
• do you have a premium credit card? Some offer coverage.... do research that option.

Do declare all medical issues to prevent them from declining coverage.

 

[emldrl]

Ok, I'm going to go there. When I was 29, reasonably healthy, 2 young kids, I went to my doctor's office for something simple, and in one day, was diagnosed with cancer. For 12 days at OSU, $100,000. Not to mention several months of chemo and radiation, and tests that are a few thousand dollars a pop. Thank whatever power you believe in, we had insurance. Also, I will never be without medical care, thanks to being a veteran. Please, find something that works, even if it's costly. You are making sure your kids are covered, but they need you to be around, too. This might seem overly dramatic to some, but I promise you, I'm not overstating anything, and only gave you the tip of the iceberg. Medical costs are outrageous, and it may seem like it's not worth the monthly cost, but I can tell you differently.

Oh, and that $100,000 bill? Our share was just over $1000.

 

[wendow]

We have considered the Christian ministry sharing plans. They do qualify as having insurance as far as the IRS is concerned though they are not typical insurance. The plan I am most familiar with and would go with is Samaritan's Ministries. I have a couple of friends who went with them and they have been very happy including their maternity care. One of my friends plans to homebirth and the entire delivery and all her care pre and post will be covered at 100%. She would have had a $300 OOP cost for an in-hospital delivery.

Something to keep in mind for these types of plans is that you must be a professing Christian who is regularly attending a church and can have a pastor vouch for you.

 

[Krischaser]

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to do some form of insurance now I just have to find a way to bring in a little more money to cover it

 

[disneymom2003]

If something happens and you don't have insurance you will end up at a county hospital with little or no say in the doctors you see. You may also wait weeks or months for care. If you have no insurance and something major happens and you own your own home, you could very well lose it. We are self employed and can't really afford insurance either.........but we can't afford not to have it.

 

[finny1981]

Let me just chime in here for a second and say that I have health insurance provided by my employer and even though I am very thankful it is worthless other than to keep me from paying the penalty. It is more of a catastrophic thing because the deductible and OOP are so high. I can say I was without insurance for 5 years and I have had this insurance for 1 and I have not went to the doctor and more since I had insurance than I did without it. I understand that if I were to have something happen major that it would save us some money, but barring that having insurance is too expensive even without paying the premium. My DH is without insurance right now because his employer does not offer insurance and it is more than our rent on a 3 bedroom house to put him on my plan. We have been looking at the marketplace so we will not have the penalty again next year, but it is so hard to spend that money just for something that we will not use unless it is life and death. That is why we are considering Christian Health Care. No it may not be traditional or cover everything, but we will not be using it any more tan we would use a traditional plan.

 

[crisi]

Ok, I'm going to go there. When I was 29, reasonably healthy, 2 young kids, I went to my doctor's office for something simple, and in one day, was diagnosed with cancer. For 12 days at OSU, $100,000. Not to mention several months of chemo and radiation, and tests that are a few thousand dollars a pop. Thank whatever power you believe in, we had insurance. Also, I will never be without medical care, thanks to being a veteran. Please, find something that works, even if it's costly. You are making sure your kids are covered, but they need you to be around, too. This might seem overly dramatic to some, but I promise you, I'm not overstating anything, and only gave you the tip of the iceberg. Medical costs are outrageous, and it may seem like it's not worth the monthly cost, but I can tell you differently.

Oh, and that $100,000 bill? Our share was just over $1000.

My sister had half a million in doctors bills - covered - from breast cancer diagnosed before she was forty. My brother in law had millions in medical care before he passed - back then there was still a lifetime limit, and we worried he would hit it.

Not insuring yourself is making a bet that your won't get seriously ill. And it might not be a bad bet. But if you lose the bet, you'll end up bankrupt and ill with substandard care.

I've been using HDHC plans for years - we seldom hit our out of pocket deductible in a year because we've been healthy - and because we've been healthy our total medical costs - premiums + out of pocket, have been less than an expensive covers everything small co-pay plan.

In Minnesota we can get a HD plan for our family of four - parents nearing fifty, two teens, no smokers - for less than $600 a month on the exchange - no subsidies. Yes, its expensive. And yes, it still means we are out of pocket for a lot of our expenses until we hit our deductable. But its a drop in the bucket compared to 10 rounds of chemo.

 

[kamik86]

I'm surprised at the ones that are "more then a mortgage payment" (unless you have much smaller mortgage payments) because I looked at putting DH on a marketplace account (with the spousal surcharge having him on my insurance is over 300 a month) and found some options that were not to bad. a bit over a hundred a month. Granted he is young and healthy.

We are waiting to see what his work options are like. Unfortunately he didn't get any of the info during open enrollment last year so we have to wait until he has lost his insurance through me (on the first) to apply through them.

 

[JanaDee]

Ok, I'm going to go there. When I was 29, reasonably healthy, 2 young kids, I went to my doctor's office for something simple, and in one day, was diagnosed with cancer. For 12 days at OSU, $100,000. Not to mention several months of chemo and radiation, and tests that are a few thousand dollars a pop. Thank whatever power you believe in, we had insurance. Also, I will never be without medical care, thanks to being a veteran. Please, find something that works, even if it's costly. You are making sure your kids are covered, but they need you to be around, too. This might seem overly dramatic to some, but I promise you, I'm not overstating anything, and only gave you the tip of the iceberg. Medical costs are outrageous, and it may seem like it's not worth the monthly cost, but I can tell you differently.

Oh, and that $100,000 bill? Our share was just over $1000.

If I have to choose between a roof over my family's head/food on the table or paying for health insurance, which one do you think is more important?

That is the choice some people are having to make.

 

[msdaisy]

I think the more than a mortgage payment comes in when a family of four gets quoted. The highest premium I have seen is around $1850 per month. Of course, this family didn't qualify for a subsidy and it was one of the best plans. I quoted my own family to see if I could do better than my group, and it was about the same. Gone are the days of a $250 or $500 deductible. I can remember my dad's policy through the railroad had no deductible at all. I know it is frustrating for Americans. If you qualify for a subsidy, it's great. I have seen those premiums as low as $28 per month for an individual. It's always middle America that loses out.

 

[nugov2]

If I have to choose between a roof over my family's head/food on the table or paying for health insurance, which one do you think is more important?

That is the choice some people are having to make.

I would be seriously looking at all other aspects of my life and doing major cuts though first. I mean if you only have enough for food and home, then I guess you have no option(but then wouldn't you qualify for some type of subsidy?), but I'd be making sure nobody had expensive Iphones, we cut cable and any other luxury and would only drive when necessary vs no health insurance.

I have seen many of these threads and it is shocking how many people are still without insurance or who had good insurance, but have had to switch to bad insurance because of Obamacare. It is truly outrageous. I am thankful that DH's company didn't make any significant changes on our insurance b/c it seems like a lot of companies took it as an opportunity to short change their employees.

 

[JanaDee]

I would be seriously looking at all other aspects of my life and doing major cuts though first. I mean if you only have enough for food and home, then I guess you have no option(but then wouldn't you qualify for some type of subsidy?), but I'd be making sure nobody had expensive Iphones, we cut cable and any other luxury and would only drive when necessary vs no health insurance.

I have seen many of these threads and it is shocking how many people are still without insurance or who had good insurance, but have had to switch to bad insurance because of Obamacare. It is truly outrageous. I am thankful that DH's company didn't make any significant changes on our insurance b/c it seems like a lot of companies took it as an opportunity to short change their employees.

We have great insurance through DH's employer, so it isn't a choice we have to make, but that doesn't mean I don't empathize with people that are having to make that choice.

The middle class is the one that is getting screwed with this...the ones that make too much to qualify for subsidies, but not enough to pay for outrageously expensive crap plans.

 

[nugov2]

We have great insurance through DH's employer, so it isn't a choice we have to make, but that doesn't mean I don't empathize with people that are having to make that choice.

The middle class is the one that is getting screwed with this...the ones that make too much to qualify for subsidies, but not enough to pay for outrageously expensive crap plans.

It isn't that I don't empathize, because I do. I think affordable health care should be available for all. I just don't view middle class as choosing between food/shelter and insurance though. I think it sucks that some people are having to sacrifice all their disposable income to have insurance, but I feel like most who are picking between food and insurance would qualify for some subsidy.

I just looked and for my family of 5 who makes a pretty high income we are at $588 a month for coverage. The deductible is high at 12,700 but for $869 you could have half of the deductible. We could easily afford either plan with our current income, but we would have to shuffle money around. Now, I would be upset because we have a $2500 family deductible and don't pay close to that out of pocket monthly for our coverage so I am truly thankful DH's employer is still offering a great plan. When I dropped our income down to 50,000 it tells me that same plan drops to $106 a month and states the following:

Some people in this household may be eligible for a $226.71 per month premium tax credit to use right away to lower monthly premium costs.

In addition this household may also be eligible for a cost-sharing reduction on a Silver plan that reduces the out-of-pocket expenses paid for deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance.

$106 is what people pay for cable or a family cell plan so I think that could be budgeted in for some.

 

[Sadie22]

Someone mentioned having to include the income of parents who live with them when reporting their household income. For the Maryland health exchange this is only true if the parents are dependents of a taxpayer in the household. Is it not the same in other jurisdictions?

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

We are having a hard time deciding on these plans as well. We are self employed so we pay for it ourselves. The issue is that my DS18 will graduate this coming yr and will then be working and making some income. According to the exchange rules, that income has to be counted as household income if we want to keep him on the same plan as us to minimize the family OOP for the yr. Really they want him to go on his own plan -anyone who files their own tax return according to their reps, which to me is crazy as he is still a dependant. Anyway , that greatly affects the amount of any subsidy we could qualify for.

To have a PPO or EPO instead of an HMO-is huge $. 2 adults(late 40's) and 2 teens- with 2500 + deduct and 6300 to 12/13,000 OOP is anywhere from 1500 to 2100/month before subsidies. That is ridiculous. Our Gold plan ,a PPO, went up 30% in cost and the deductible pp stayed same but OOP is now huge. I cant see spending more than my mortgage on health ins. Our cost wih projected son's added income will mean our cost is going to go up about 70 to 100%!!

As it is a number of our doctors would not take the exchange plan, and when I called to find new, a good number also would not take it ( ent, gyn) . And that was the PPO not an HMO. UGH!

 

[wendow]

Let me just chime in here for a second and say that I have health insurance provided by my employer and even though I am very thankful it is worthless other than to keep me from paying the penalty. It is more of a catastrophic thing because the deductible and OOP are so high. I can say I was without insurance for 5 years and I have had this insurance for 1 and I have not went to the doctor and more since I had insurance than I did without it. I understand that if I were to have something happen major that it would save us some money, but barring that having insurance is too expensive even without paying the premium. My DH is without insurance right now because his employer does not offer insurance and it is more than our rent on a 3 bedroom house to put him on my plan. We have been looking at the marketplace so we will not have the penalty again next year, but it is so hard to spend that money just for something that we will not use unless it is life and death. That is why we are considering Christian Health Care. No it may not be traditional or cover everything, but we will not be using it any more tan we would use a traditional plan.

We are the same except we are all covered under my dh's employer provided plan. However, our OOP deductible is 10k (no individual, just a family one) so we pay $465 per month plus everything is OOP until we reach 10k. Not that great of a deal. I know the year is not over yet but for a family of 6, we've had one child get a scoliosis check-up and my dh had an ear infection. Those are our only two doc visits this year. Normally, my dh would have let the ear thing go but we leave for WDW tomorrow and he didn't want to be dealing with it there.

Anyways, all that to say, under the Christian sharing plans, we'd be far better off should something big happen. Our monthly cost would be lower and the one we are considering, Samaritan's Ministry, pays anything over $300 per event (up to 4 events per year and then 100% covered!). That is way better than our policy would do. So we are considering that sort of plan to. I have friends who use them and have been very pleased.

 

[nugov2]

We are the same except we are all covered under my dh's employer provided plan. However, our OOP deductible is 10k (no individual, just a family one) so we pay $465 per month plus everything is OOP until we reach 10k. Not that great of a deal. I know the year is not over yet but for a family of 6, we've had one child get a scoliosis check-up and my dh had an ear infection. Those are our only two doc visits this year. Normally, my dh would have let the ear thing go but we leave for WDW tomorrow and he didn't want to be dealing with it there.

Anyways, all that to say, under the Christian sharing plans, we'd be far better off should something big happen. Our monthly cost would be lower and the one we are considering, Samaritan's Ministry, pays anything over $300 per event (up to 4 events per year and then 100% covered!). That is way better than our policy would do. So we are considering that sort of plan to. I have friends who use them and have been very pleased.

Do you get a discount through your health insurance? My ds needed a scan of his kidneys and blood work and even though the deductible wasn't met we only paid 20% of the cost OOP, which was nice. That is pretty much standard unless out of network where we pay 30%.