Health Insurance, Do most o/o's depend on their spouses for health insurance?

Some of us buy it....... I've always had health ins. I feel it's part of the ins package for an owner op. Costs me $1100 a month for a single plan. My state sucks and I'm old ....

Wonder why I won't do the $1 somthing a mile stuff....?


P.S. Shouldn't a $200k piece of equipment generate enough money for the owner\driver to have health ins...?

 

Of course. Why pay for it if you don't think you'll need it? It was expensive when I was a company driver but I paid it anyways. With hindsight I would have been better off not paying for it. There were a lot of older drivers at that company who used it a lot and their families. The premiums didn't go up every year but they did many times. And they never went down. Basically I was subsidizing other people in a plan that I never used.

 

What many folks get wrong, is how they look at health insurance. One can get the best rates on health insurance by going with a high deductible plan tied with a health savings account. They would get to deduct, in full, all plan premiums and contributions to the HSA. Whereas, if one has a "traditional" health plan, doing all the copay stuff, they cannot deduct any out of pocket until those amounts are equal or greater than 7.5% of adjusted gross income. And, just like anything else, cash is king in medical costs. I have had two medical issues in the last 3 years, and in each case, the bill was reduced well over 50% just because I paid from my Health Savings account. One bill would have been over $4000 with traditional health insurance, but by paying from HSA, the bill was only $895.

Health insurance should be looked at like auto or home owners insurance. You don't use auto insurance to change your oil or fix a flat. You don't use home owners insurance to replace a storm door. Why pay astronomical premiums for health insurance to pay for little office visits, tummy aches, and boo boo's. It should be for when you face a SERIOUS medical issue. By setting up insurance that way, the premiums are a fraction of traditional health insurance. And your dollar goes a lot further.

But, if the spouse has a good plan at a low cost, then by all means jump on it. If you are on your own, like my wife and I, then research alternatives to those insanely expensive 80/20 traditional health plans. Your wallet will thank you.

 

I would agree that health ins is basically a racket and we are being gouged big time when it comes to costs. I've no problem paying for the small stuff....doc visits etc, just as long as you know going in how much that visit/ consultation is going to be.
Dont assume that the clinic is going to tell you the price. I've had instances where they will dodge that question, in which case I walk.
even in the case of minor ops you maybe better off paying cash than going thru your health ins.
For instance I had a double hernia op a couple of yrs ago. Bill came to almost $20,000 inc my deduct.
thru the ins. If I had shopped around and paid cash, that same op would have been $3000!!
Shame on me for not doing that and it's a lesson learned. Now I'm on the lookout for a doc that is well versed in alternative medicine, not just conventional and we can work together on price.
You just have to do your homework and find ways to get around all of this Obamacare debacle. The healthcare industry is in a real old mess and its we that have to pay for it.
I do have health ins but in my case I'm in a rather unique situation. I've got some pretty outstanding rates, despite the fact, I'm 61 yrs old, and in good health.
thanks to your insurance lobby, you can't buy what I have. Let's just say it's a classic example and highlights how corrupt the system is.....but I'm not complaining. It's just that you don't know how powerful these lobbyists really are. And the ins agent I work with refuses to sell any US based health ins plan. Because he knows what is pretty obvious. But I guess most of us have to make the best of it, because there's no alternative. It's a shame that we ALL can't participate in a global health ins market, a free market. Because if we could, I can assure you, prices and premiums would plummet.

good luck.

 

I've got a friend who was an OO, he never carried health insurance saying, I'm not going to sacrifice the things I want to buy health insurance.


Back in his trucking days he got caught stealing fuel at a truck stop in California. He had more than one truck, I believe 3 at one time with 3 drivers, they had to steal fuel at truck stops in order to go down the highways and byways.


Let see:
1. He had a stroke, had 4 new cars in the driveway, 4 new motorcycles in the drive way of his $350,000.00 dollar house, plus lied to the hospital & paid not one cent
2. Later he had cancer, & did the same thing
3. Recently his wife had heart trouble, in the hospital 4 months, & died, paid not one cent


People like this lives off of others thinking they deserve it while making our cost go way up.


Back in 1999 & again in 2000 I had neck surgery both years if not for health insurance I would have went busted losing everything I had.

 

Yeah, that's basically how all insurance works.

 

Yet you never know when you will need health insurance for both young and old can get sick and have a very expensive hospital stay along with many high priced doctor bills.

I know of several who had cancer in their late teens to about 30 years of age that got through it but there were many doctor and many hospital bills.

 

That is why I posted what I did. Health insurance is somewhat of a mess, but one has to use a balanced approach. While there is no need to pay a premium for health insurance to cover every time you go thru the front door of a doctor's office, a major medical event can bankrupt someone. There may have been little slick ways of sliding out from under major medical costs before, but there are provisions in the Obummercare thing that are going to make things a little more difficult than in the past. Even the penalty for not having health insurance. For the first couple of years, the penalty is squat and may seem like worth the hit compared to health insurance. But the penalties grow substantially to the point where the penalty is larger than the insurance premiums.

You don't buy home owners insurance because you expect a fire, you get it in case you do have a fire. You don't get auto insurance just so you can go out and play bumper cars with everyone. You get it in case some moron decides to play bumper cars with you! I don't have health insurance to cover the time I get the flu. I have it for the time either the wife or I incur any number of other major medical problems. That is why you get a policy that covers only the major stuff and leave the small stuff to yourself.

I think that one of the best ways to get health insurance premiums down is to open up the field. Let that gecko from GEICO start promoting health insurance across state lines as well as Flo from Progressive. Right now, states have a lock (partly because of what Dr Fandango said) and set all the rules. If it could get "unlocked" and allow every insurance carrier to compete across the board, then it would go a long ways to getting some of this under control. Of course, that would also mean getting both state and federal governments out of the way. Good luck on that one. Once the horse is out of the barn, it is almost impossible to get him back in if he doesn't want to be.