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    Medical Insurance in the US

    Water Closet
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    • scottalanmillerS
      scottalanmiller @BRRABill
      last edited by

      @BRRABill said:

      $30K is a crazy high insurance cost in this country for a plan. And that would be for the best of the best.

      No, it was literally almost worthless. Super high deductible, low caps and lots of coverage problems.

      BRRABillB coliverC 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • scottalanmillerS
        scottalanmiller @coliver
        last edited by

        @coliver said:

        Doctors can and do turn you away for a burst appendixs.

        And I'm not the only one to have had this happen to them that I know personally. It's way too common.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • BRRABillB
          BRRABill @scottalanmiller
          last edited by

          @scottalanmiller said:

          @BRRABill said:

          $30K is a crazy high insurance cost in this country for a plan. And that would be for the best of the best.

          No, it was literally almost worthless. Super high deductible, low caps and lots of coverage problems.

          For you, but I have never heard of that anywhere else.

          Now, I have NO experience with people buying their own plans.

          But I know from the local unions how much they are paying for top notch family coverage, and it's no where near 40K.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • travisdh1T
            travisdh1 @coliver
            last edited by

            @coliver said:

            I pay 4k$/year for Cadillac insurance right now. Pretty much everything is covered and expenses out of pocket cap out at $1,000. Those expenses are few and far between as even most prescriptions are covered with a 5$ deductible.

            Before I found out I'm a type-2 diabetic I had done a LOT of shopping around for health insurance in the US. The cheapest plan I found, with a $10,000 deductible, ran $450/month. For much less than $450/month I can pay for all my own expenses thank you very much. If I tell you what it would be now I'd punch the monitory it's gotten so stupid.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • coliverC
              coliver @scottalanmiller
              last edited by

              @scottalanmiller said:

              @BRRABill said:

              $30K is a crazy high insurance cost in this country for a plan. And that would be for the best of the best.

              No, it was literally almost worthless. Super high deductible, low caps and lots of coverage problems.

              The Cobra plans are all like this. The cost for it would have been crazy high if I needed insurance during the two weeks of voluntary unemployment.... when I did the math it was going to be ~10K for a month, if I needed anything.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • Minion QueenM
                Minion Queen Banned
                last edited by Minion Queen

                As someone who works for a small company. Insurance for us (because we are small even going through a broker) Cheapest I can get: $1200/month (this is family). With a $9,000 deductible. Now even if I never use my insurance the cost per year: $14,400. If I used it my prescriptions that I take each month on the insurance: $128/month. Dr's visits until I hit my deductible are $165/visit at least 4 per year for med refills = $660 Blood work to go with each of those visits: $250 = $1000. Inhalers: $450 x2/year= $900. Scans= $1,500 each 4x's per year: $6,000 And I still haven't come close to hitting my deductible.
                Insurance: $14,000
                Medications: $512
                Inhalers: $900
                Dr;s Visits: $660
                Scans: $6,000
                Blood Work: $1000
                Total: $23,072

                Without insurance: Stupid Tax on not having insurance as of this year: $1, 614
                4 dr's visits: $100 each if paid in cash each time = $400
                Medications: $30/month = $360
                Inhaler: $900/year
                Blood Work: $75 each = $300
                Scans: $1,500
                Total for a year no insurance = $5,000/year (that includes the OC tax)

                This is only me using the insurance. If husband or son ever need to use it well the costs go up from there.

                BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                • DashrenderD
                  Dashrender @scottalanmiller
                  last edited by

                  @scottalanmiller said:

                  @dafyre said:

                  There are times when having insurance helps, for sure. My cochlear implant was $30k, and that was just the surgery and the implant device.

                  Like I keep demonstrating, that would have been way cheaper for me out of pocket than to have insurance when I had insurance just a few years ago.

                  And like most things like that, you can optionally leave the US and get it much cheaper too. Only emergency services would I use in the US anyway.

                  I'll disagree with you here again. You could have US insurance, come back to the US, have that surgery, all for the cost of US only insurance - which for your entire family would be way less than $30K/yr. Would you have to fly back to the USA - yes.. but we aren't talking about life threatening thing.

                  So here's a question:

                  Let's say you get US coverage insurance by a US company only for use while in the US - Let's say it costs $15k/yr and you get insurance for world traveler, non-US. How much is that? I'm betting that adding those two together come to way less than $40K.

                  scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • scottalanmillerS
                    scottalanmiller @marcinozga
                    last edited by

                    @marcinozga said:

                    Turn down by insurance? I'm guessing hospital or doctor wouldn't turn you down, as burst appendix is fatal. I would sue insurance company.

                    I don't know why it happens, do insurance companies refuse to pay so doctors refuse to do the service? Do doctors just not like doing it? No idea. But something makes US doctors commonly refuse this surgery (commonly enough that I know like four first hand examples). No matter what the reason is, the result is still a lack of coverage. The insurance companies have many routes to avoid paying for things even if the law says that they have to.

                    Minion QueenM travisdh1T 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • MattSpellerM
                      MattSpeller @scottalanmiller
                      last edited by

                      @scottalanmiller @BRRABill @coliver @marcinozga @Dashrender

                      Y'all need to get yourselves some socialism.

                      runs far and fast from thread

                      coliverC M 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • DashrenderD
                        Dashrender @scottalanmiller
                        last edited by

                        @scottalanmiller said:

                        @marcinozga said:

                        That's really special case and I guess affects tiny fraction of US population. For huge majority, health insurance is much cheaper than not having it and end up paying out of pocket.

                        Perhaps that is true. But for a decade of my life that has not been true and I know several people who have run the numbers, and live in the US full time, and still find it cheaper to be without insurance. People on this forum, too. Sure, it might be under 50% of people, but I don't think that it is a tiny sliver, either. It's way too common when normal people doing normal things can pay the penalties and still save money on long term health care. And I'm super healthy, I have one of the best medical track records possible, and I still am not affordable.

                        But you're not - you have sleep apnia.

                        scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Minion QueenM
                          Minion Queen Banned @scottalanmiller
                          last edited by

                          @scottalanmiller said:

                          @marcinozga said:

                          Turn down by insurance? I'm guessing hospital or doctor wouldn't turn you down, as burst appendix is fatal. I would sue insurance company.

                          I don't know why it happens, do insurance companies refuse to pay so doctors refuse to do the service? Do doctors just not like doing it? No idea. But something makes US doctors commonly refuse this surgery (commonly enough that I know like four first hand examples). No matter what the reason is, the result is still a lack of coverage. The insurance companies have many routes to avoid paying for things even if the law says that they have to.

                          I had to fight for over a year to get my insurance to pay for my hospital stay after having my appendix out.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • coliverC
                            coliver @MattSpeller
                            last edited by

                            @MattSpeller said:

                            @scottalanmiller @BRRABill @coliver @marcinozga @Dashrender

                            Y'all need to get yourselves some socialism.

                            runs far and fast from thread

                            I work for the government now... my plan is basically as good as you can get in the US without driving to Canada for everything. I would love it if everyone was on my plan...

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • scottalanmillerS
                              scottalanmiller @Dashrender
                              last edited by

                              @Dashrender said:

                              I'll disagree with you here again. You could have US insurance, come back to the US, have that surgery, all for the cost of US only insurance - which for your entire family would be way less than $30K/yr. Would you have to fly back to the USA - yes.. but we aren't talking about life threatening thing.

                              Except I've had US insurance and none of this was true. The cost was higher than that, the coverage was worse. Say what you want, but not everyone gets these offerings. I'm talking real life, not hypotheticals. Everyone with their affordable healthcare in the US is like people with Android phones. They all say it works until you show that it doesn't then they say it's because you did something wrong.

                              If I moved to the US my healthcare options would decrease, then you'd blame me for moving back. It's always blame the people who can't get good coverage.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • DashrenderD
                                Dashrender @coliver
                                last edited by

                                @coliver said:

                                I pay 4k$/year for Cadillac insurance right now. Pretty much everything is covered and expenses out of pocket cap out at $1,000. Those expenses are few and far between as even most prescriptions are covered with a 5$ deductible.

                                Does that $5 deductible come out of the $1000 yearly cap?

                                coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • scottalanmillerS
                                  scottalanmiller @Dashrender
                                  last edited by

                                  @Dashrender said:

                                  But you're not - you have sleep apnia.

                                  True, true. And I've always paid for it fully out of pocket to make sure that my insurance would not be affected and to get better care. So that costs zero to the insurance people.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • coliverC
                                    coliver @Dashrender
                                    last edited by

                                    @Dashrender said:

                                    @coliver said:

                                    I pay 4k$/year for Cadillac insurance right now. Pretty much everything is covered and expenses out of pocket cap out at $1,000. Those expenses are few and far between as even most prescriptions are covered with a 5$ deductible.

                                    Does that $5 deductible come out of the $1000 yearly cap?

                                    Sure does.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • Minion QueenM
                                      Minion Queen Banned
                                      last edited by

                                      I had better healthcare in an Third World African country then I get here.... (with insurance). Now that I pay cash I get great healthcare.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • BRRABillB
                                        BRRABill
                                        last edited by

                                        I just went onto the healthcare exchange and priced out my family.

                                        Family of 4, was $1876.34 a month. That's a NO DEDUCTIBLE plan.

                                        Now, that's not cheap ($22,512 a year) but it's for a no deductible, no co-pay plan.

                                        scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • M
                                          marcinozga @MattSpeller
                                          last edited by

                                          @MattSpeller said:

                                          @scottalanmiller @BRRABill @coliver @marcinozga @Dashrender

                                          Y'all need to get yourselves some socialism.

                                          runs far and fast from thread

                                          I grew up in socialist country 🙂
                                          Who knows, perhaps Bernie Sanders will become the next president.

                                          MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • scottalanmillerS
                                            scottalanmiller @Dashrender
                                            last edited by

                                            @Dashrender said:

                                            Let's say you get US coverage insurance by a US company only for use while in the US - Let's say it costs $15k/yr and you get insurance for world traveler, non-US. How much is that? I'm betting that adding those two together come to way less than $40K.

                                            US insurance is not available like that. You pay for the full year or else you pay the tax penalty. Trust me, we've checked. There is no "temporary" option like that. But it is a good idea and everyone wonders why there isn't that option.

                                            So your plan would end up being the full cost of US and full cost of traveller insurance all at once.

                                            DashrenderD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
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