how much do you pay for health insurance?

[quikah]

I have HMO coverage for $150/month for family (self+spouse+children) coverage. $15 co-pay, $250 hospital admission co-pay, no deductible

The actual policy is ~$1k/month, employer pays $850 of it.

Just had a baby last month, normal birth, no complications. The hospital sent the bill to us "pending insurance". The total was ~$9k nursery care + ~$18k for labor/delivery/2day hospital stay. We got a second bill from the insurance company, they are paying the hospital ~$8k, we have to pay the $250 hospital copay. That is it. So what happened to the other ~$19k?

 

[Mrs.Reese]

I am very, very lucky. The School Board pays completely for my insurance. It's the same for my DH but if we had kids we would pay $500/month. It is absolutely ridiculous what many of you are paying.

 

[kldmom2000]

I have HMO coverage for $150/month for family (self+spouse+children) coverage. $15 co-pay, $250 hospital admission co-pay, no deductible

The actual policy is ~$1k/month, employer pays $850 of it.

Just had a baby last month, normal birth, no complications. The hospital sent the bill to us "pending insurance". The total was ~$9k nursery care + ~$18k for labor/delivery/2day hospital stay. We got a second bill from the insurance company, they are paying the hospital ~$8k, we have to pay the $250 hospital copay. That is it. So what happened to the other ~$19k?

The hospital writes it off. I used to work as a clinical medical assistant. One of the MD's I worked for was a private-practice Dermatologist. What happens is each insurance company has a set rate of how much they will pay for specific things, such as office visits, surgery, meds, etc.... The MD/hospital will bill MORE than what that # may be but still only receive the set rate (because each insurance's rates are different-some pay more, some less). The rest of the $$$ is written off by the MD/hospital. HOWEVER, if you are without insurance, YOU are expected to pay that full amount. Ridiculous, isn't it?!?!?!?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

$125 a month goes into our HSA acct. for us to use from medical expenses. What is left over after paying medical bills at the end of the year remains in our acct and it rolls into the next year.

 

[roadtripper]

We pay over 200 bi-weekly for the Blue Cross family plan, and an additional 339/month for supplemental insurance for our son, who has multiple disabilities. The supplemental is Medicaid, which they bill on a sliding scale based on salary. The Medicaid coverage is great, and we use an FSA to have the money come out pre-tax. So over 700/month for health and dental, but pre-tax.

Not to get too political here, but I heard former President Clinton speak last night, and he said that 16% of our nation's gross domestic product goes to paying for health care, as opposed to about 10 or 11% in countries with universal coverage. He said the difference is like writing a 900 billion dollar check out of the federal budget every year. Our nation sure could use that money for other things, IMHO.

 

[LovableGluttons]

Hubby is retired military so we get our health insurance that way...

We pay $460 for the YEAR. Our office visit co-pay is $12 as long as we see a doc that participates with Tricare. ER co-pay is $30. Rx is $9 for a 90 day supply through mail order. (DS5's asthma Rx is $175 per month so this saves us a lot!) $3-9 per Rx if we go to Walgreens. Rx is free if we go to the base, buts an hour away and easier to mail order most of the time.

No vision or dental.

That's us too!


Many years ago, the military used to require family members to go to the military hospitals and military doctors instead of using the civilian doctors.


So I signed up for the health insurance through MY employer, I think it was $300 per month just for me.

I found a civilian OB who referred me to the RE, kept the plan through my employer so I could deliver in a civilian hospital.

It was SO worth it just to have my coworkers there for my son's birth.

We moved about a year later and the base hospital was so small, all family members were sent to civilian hospitals and doctors. So I didn't carry the extra after that.

Moving around all those year, as well as YEARS of 12 hour night shifts as the "new" nurse was the PITS.

Now that DH is retired, I can say it was worth it, JUST for the health insurance coverage we enjoy now.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

That's us too!


Many years ago, the military used to require family members to go to the military hospitals and military doctors instead of using the civilian doctors.


So I signed up for the health insurance through MY employer, I think it was $300 per month just for me.

I found a civilian OB who referred me to the RE, kept the plan through my employer so I could deliver in a civilian hospital.

It was SO worth it just to have my coworkers there for my son's birth.

We moved about a year later and the base hospital was so small, all family members were sent to civilian hospitals and doctors. So I didn't carry the extra after that.

Moving around all those year, as well as YEARS of 12 hour night shifts as the "new" nurse was the PITS.

Now that DH is retired, I can say it was worth it, JUST for the health insurance coverage we enjoy now.

This is such a relief! DH can retire in a year, but we were concerned that if our insurance costs were going to be what they are with Tricare Reserve Select now we wouldn't be able to afford them if he retired because we use his NG pay to cover it each month as it is.

I know our costs aren't high compared to alot of people on here, but with a family of 7 it can still be a strain on us some months.

 

[Domen]

We are a family of 2 and we pay between $300 and $400 for health insurance benefits, our company charges per family.

 

[MomRN]

Wow... I had no idea of the costs that some people pay, and I work in healthcare!

I pay $85 a month for family coverage (2 adults, 2 children- one is my step-daughter). I also pay $32 a month for dental.

It is an 80/20 plan, $1600 deductible, 10/30/60 prescriptions if gotten through the hospital pharmacy (discounted at CVS but not as cheap). Dental is also 80/20, with a $1000 max. $25 deductibles... The only downfall is that it has to be through doctors in the hospital network. Other MDs and hospitals are discounted, but not as cheap.

 

[heatherleigh]

For a family of 6, we pay about $1200 per month w/ BlueCross Blue Shield. We have the premium plan where we can see any physician we want. This also includes vision (which I didn't know we had until recently) and dental. Our deductible is $500 annually.

 

[Kathi OD]

DH and I have never paid a health insurance premium in the 31 years we've been married. His employer, and now that he's unemployed, my employer, had always paid 100% of our health care premiums. He works in the private sector and I'm a teacher.

Our co-pays are $15 for a doctor's visit and $10 for a prescription.

 

[deerhart]

we have United Health care through a national major retailer (dh's employer). For vision, dental, and health we pay about $100.00 a week for family coverage.

We are also given a health savings account funded by the employer of $1100 a year (it rolls over).

Our plan has a $2500 ind $5k family deductible. We pay $25 co pays for wellness check ups and then we pay 20% of everything else AFTER our deductible is met.

We pay 30-40% of most prescription costs (outside deductible).

As for what your insurance pays versus what is billed, each insurance company contacts to pay a certain amount for a certain service and they must write off the rest of the bill. If you look at your bill you should see something like this
(insurance name) adj -$xxxx.xx

so for something like cigna it would be

Cigna Adj -$2384.95

That is the "write off" due to the contractual rate between the doctor's normal "billing" and what the doc has agreed to accept to be part of your insurance network.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Family of 6.. with bcbs

Dental 47 a month
Medical 38
vision 22

co-pays are now $10 for drs.. $15. specialist. Used to be $0 up until 2 years ago.

My costs may be low but dh works for the county and paycheck is just as low.

 

[skw444]

We pay $260 a month (2 adults, 2 children) for medical with a $3000 deductible and employer funds a HRA with $1750. Once we hit the deductible it's a 90/10 split. We also pay $34/month for dental and $5/month for vision.

 

[kldmom2000]

Just got our renewal for BCBS of MA HMO Blue and it's going up to $1400 a MONTH for our family of 4.... that's with a $1000 deductible per year, $20 office co-pays, $500 ER copays, $15/$35/$50 Rx, and NO dental coverage

 

[daughtersrus]

We don't pay anything directly for our health insurance. It is part of the union contract that is negotiated. DH pays indirectly as their wages are lower than other similar union jobs. (Does that make sense?). With their last contract, they are not getting any raises for the first 2 years. The 3rd year they're getting a whole 50 Cents/hour and the 4th year it's 75 Cents. Last year was not a good year to have a contract expire.

Currently, we have a $250 deductible per person with a max of $500/year. We have a BC/BS PPO. We don't have a "co-pay" but instead pay 20% of the discounted bills for most services. Some are 10% and others are 0%. The life-time max right now is $1 Million but that is supposed to be eliminated sometime next year when the reform goes through.

We have no coverage for things like birth control, speech therapy and very limited coverage for physical and occupational therapy. Our vision plan is horrible (new glasses or contact lenses every 2 years but at a max of $130) and our dental is even worse with 50% coverage with a total max of $1,000 per year (one root canal will send you over that limit very fast).

 

[disfan07]

I dont know exactly how much we pay per month (I think its about $400/month) through my dads company for Anthem BC/BS preferred PPO.
So we pay $4800/year for the insurance

Medical:
$250 individual deductable or $500 family deductable
$8000 OOP expenses (per person)
$20 Internist copay
$40 specialist copay
$5 generic prescriptions or 20% of the cost
mail in 3 month prescriptions $10
we also have dental and vision coverage as well.

That being said, we have reached our deductable and OOP expenses every year for the past 5 years for me so thats an additional $8250 per year plus 8 regular prescriptions (so $320 for those) plus additional prescriptions. Plus copays (average about $600 per year) plus OTC meds (zyrtec--2 bottles a month---about $750 per year)...and than add gas at $3.09/gallon to drive an hour each way twice a week plus $13.65 for parking twice a week...this is all just for me. does not include the other 3 people in my family

so including what we pay for the health insurance we spend about $20,000 per year for the four of us

without including the insurance, we spend on average about $10,000+ just for my expenses which means we've spent more than $50,000 in the past 5 years that we should not have had to spend....it's ridiculous

 

[kdm2865]

$385/month with an $11,000 deductible.

It's basically for emergencies only since no dr visits/prescriptions/anything is covered until you meet the $11,000 deductible.

 

[tlmcma]

Wow... I guess we are very lucky - I work only 20 hours per week yet I pay only $60 per month for our family of 5 - includes medical, dental and vision for all. Dr. visits are $10 copay, $35 ER visits. There is a $500 deductible for hospital admissions but my company also pays that directly to the hospital for us. I had surgery a couple years ago and was in the hospital for 2 days - I paid $0. I feel terrible for what some of you are having to pay! If I had to pay as much as some of you, I would have to work full-time - DH is self-employed so no benefits there. I feel very blessed to have such a great employer.

 

[disney1990]

We don't pay anything directly for our health insurance. It is part of the union contract that is negotiated. DH pays indirectly as their wages are lower than other similar union jobs. (Does that make sense?). With their last contract, they are not getting any raises for the first 2 years. The 3rd year they're getting a whole 50 Cents/hour and the 4th year it's 75 Cents. Last year was not a good year to have a contract expire.

Currently, we have a $250 deductible per person with a max of $500/year. We have a BC/BS PPO. We don't have a "co-pay" but instead pay 20% of the discounted bills for most services. Some are 10% and others are 0%. The life-time max right now is $1 Million but that is supposed to be eliminated sometime next year when the reform goes through.

We have no coverage for things like birth control, speech therapy and very limited coverage for physical and occupational therapy. Our vision plan is horrible (new glasses or contact lenses every 2 years but at a max of $130) and our dental is even worse with 50% coverage with a total max of $1,000 per year (one root canal will send you over that limit very fast).

Our health insurance is also provided by my DH's union (or former union, because he is retired). I assume because the company picks up the entire cost the their share will fall into the higher amounts paid by the company and will have to pay a surcharge/tax because of it. Although I would rather not have to pay this, I will pay it and not complain because I know that somebody else, who didn't have insurance, will not be able to have it.