Medical & Dental out of pocket 2011

[klynn]

In doing our taxes for 2011, I realized we spent about $18,000 in out of pocket medical and dental for 2011. This is what we personally paid and not anything that insurance paid. We are a family of four and have decent medical coverage. Is that about normal?

 

[daniele_ut]

Um, wow. I don't think that sounds normal to me. Are you including your insurance premiums in that amount? If so, I guess that amount might make sense.

We have zero premiums for our insurance and we have a $500 per person deductible and $1000 per person out of pocket max. I had a baby in December who spent 17 days in the NICU. It was a complicated pregnancy so I had a lot of visits and a complex delivery. DS and I both met our OOP max, so all totaled we will have spent about $3000 plus a few random copays throughout last year for a couple of sick visits.

 

[smitch425]

In doing our taxes for 2011, I realized we spent about $18,000 in out of pocket medical and dental for 2011. This is what we personally paid and not anything that insurance paid. We are a family of four and have decent medical coverage. Is that about normal?

That sounds like way too much for a normal family. Are there health issues that are checked regularly? My DH has great insurance, and has doctor appointments and blood work at least once a month and we don't get anywhere close to that amount. He even had surgery in 2011 (stupid blood clot! Grrr...). Like I said though, our insurance is really good. I would double check your figures before claiming anything on your taxes because that sounds awfully high.

 

[klynn]

Um, wow. I don't think that sounds normal to me. Are you including your insurance premiums in that amount? If so, I guess that amount might make sense.

I was including preminums which are about $6,000.

 

[klynn]

That sounds like way too much for a normal family. Are there health issues that are checked regularly? My DH has great insurance, and has doctor appointments and blood work at least once a month and we don't get anywhere close to that amount. He even had surgery in 2011 (stupid blood clot! Grrr...). Like I said though, our insurance is really good. I would double check your figures before claiming anything on your taxes because that sounds awfully high.

I have receipts for everything. I did have four surgeries last year and also multiple visits that lasted several days (hotel & driving expenses) to my out-of-town team of doctors. This added to the final total.

Even though our medical coverage is good, our dental coverage is not good. Our portion of our dental expenses alone was over $5,000.

I am hoping this year will be better.

 

[disfan07]

Thats definitely not normal. However, for my family, that is VERY normal

For 2011, For four of us, around $20,000 NOT including premiums. This is more than 20% of my dads take home pay. This includes our deductable, OOP max, copays, medications, psychotherapy and dental.

For 2010, it was about $15,000....in the past 9 years, we have spent more than $100,000 OOP NOT including premiums. Basically my entire college education plus some.

We have whats considered a "premium" plan insurance through my dads work. $750 dedcutable, $8000 OOP max (family), 90/10 coinsurance. Our copays are still $20/$40. I have 3 doctors who are considered primary ($20) and 5 considered speacialists ($40). I probably average about 6-7 appts/month (of course mostly specialists). Plus my parents copays and my brothers.

This past year, so for 2011, I alone had about $190,000 in medical claims.

So I would say that $18,000 is not even close to normal for the average family. It's not far fetched though for families with medical conditions though. This is why about 70% of the individuals who have claimed bankruptcy because of medical bills are individuals who HAVE insurance.

 

[indimom]

That's pretty high in my opinion.
In the 16 years that we've been married, most years we spent less than $1,000 (not including premiums). In 2001, we hit our max out of pocket of $5,000. In 2011, we hit $7,000. I felt like that was A LOT!
We'll probably pass that mark by a little bit this year with two kids in braces, but at least we know what we are getting into with that one...

 

[Eastern]

We pay about $17,000 in premiums alone for a high deductible health care plan. And that is cheaper than what we were paying with another health insurance company previously.

 

[Sandy61]

I think you can add in mileage also.

 

[McKelly]

If you would have asked me the year before last, I would say Yes, $18,000.00 is high. But, this year, if I include our $7000.00 premiums and two kids starting braces and the removal of a mole to the tune of $2800.00!! (still mad about that one - 20 minutes in the doctor's office, $2800.00- grrrr) I would say, yes, $18,000.00 is quite possible. We were at $15,000.00 last year, but I didn't pay the ortho bill off fully, only DS, DD is going to have to be payments.

Hopefully your $18,000.00 was just a fluke year and you won't have that every year. That is how I am consoling myself.

 

[Marionnette]

In doing our taxes for 2011, I realized we spent about $18,000 in out of pocket medical and dental for 2011. This is what we personally paid and not anything that insurance paid. We are a family of four and have decent medical coverage. Is that about normal?

I was including preminums which are about $6,000.

 

[lucigo]

Ours was $4200 including premiums.

Family of 6. I had surgery, we have a child with autism, a teenager who is seeing a psychologist and has braces, and my husband has a myriad of diagnoses and is on about 13 prescriptions.

How? My husband is retired military and we have Tricare Prime. I feel very fortunate for this benefit as I don't know how we would survive otherwise. I can't imagine 20K going to medical expenses!

 

[lucigo]

I think you can add in mileage also.

I'm looking into whether I can add mileage for a summer autism program. I didn't keep track last year but if its possible I will count it for 2012.

 

[smitch425]

I have receipts for everything. I did have four surgeries last year and also multiple visits that lasted several days (hotel & driving expenses) to my out-of-town team of doctors. This added to the final total.

Even though our medical coverage is good, our dental coverage is not good. Our portion of our dental expenses alone was over $5,000.

I am hoping this year will be better.

I would still say that no, it is not normal for a typical family, BUT it does seem correct for your family.Best wishes for a healthier, and cheaper 2012!

 

[Sadie22]

Regarding figuring medical mileage, since you know how what providers you visited and how many times, just use MapQuest to determine the length of your route, and remember to account for the round trip.

 

[mrodgers]

And such is why medical costs sink many many people. Unlike the post who said $20k is 20% of the take home pay, $18k would be more than 50% of my take home pay and about 120% of my wife's. Would sink us for sure.

 

[Pigeon]

I don't think it's typical, but a typical family in a typical year doesn't have four surgeries either. And I think you need to look at the dental as a distinct issue if you are trying to compare with other folks.

We happen to have dual dental coverage because both dh and I have it for work. Dental coverage seems to me to be highly idiosyncratic in terms of what gets covered and what doesn't.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

That seems like a lot to me. On average $1000/month after your premium.

$1,000 is my catastrophic cap for the year (for my whole family). These threads make me grateful for my health insurance plan.

 

[ilovemk76]

In doing our taxes for 2011, I realized we spent about $18,000 in out of pocket medical and dental for 2011. This is what we personally paid and not anything that insurance paid. We are a family of four and have decent medical coverage. Is that about normal?

(Per your other posts)

Once you take out the $6K for premiums and $5K for dental. Having out of pocket for four surgeries of $7K is not outrageous.

If we have four unrelated surgeries it would be more than $7K. If they were related it would be less.

Four surgeries is not the norm for most families is exceedingly rare except in families that have a major medical problem.

 

[klynn]

(Per your other posts)

Once you take out the $6K for premiums and $5K for dental. Having out of pocket for four surgeries of $7K is not outrageous.

If we have four unrelated surgeries it would be more than $7K. If they were related it would be less.

Four surgeries is not the norm for most families is exceedingly rare except in families that have a major medical problem.

It still hurts, though! Next week I go in for my 6-month cancer check up. I am praying I will be cancer free. It would help our budget, lol!