Medical Insurance

Caresource is pretty good if you have that in your state. 1250/mo for family of 4 and 10k deductible.

 

Got no complaints from them they paid for my hearing aids $5000

 

I've got employee's crying with $2000 deductible for the family.

 

It’s tough to compare plans. I mainly try to avoid any plan that has “co insurance “. Usually 20% of amounts after deductible has been met, up to the total out of pocket amount. That gets confusing. Otherwise its deductibles, total out of pocket, and the amount of dr visits allowed along with the cost. Really just another form of co insurance. Most bills I get are for a lesser negotiated amount between the health providers and insurance providers. Up to 50%. Designed to make my portion sound like a bargain. Anything paid goes towards deductible and total out of pocket. For simplicity’s sake I have a policy with matching amounts. $7800, x 2 for family plan. Actual monthly cost is between $83 premium and $1,400 - worst case scenario, if we both were sick in the same year. The deductible is the big problem, along with total out of pocket cost. Always has been. Mine have increased for $2000 in 1996 to $15,600 today. Being insured is only good for avoiding Bankruptcy. By law you can gamble and only buy it after an event. But, you’ll be on the hook for 100% of costs already incurred. No such thing as a “Medical” bankruptcy. Just sounds less irresponsible.

 

Obamacare does not have to be bad at all, especially, for those who really must have insurance.

A friend of mine, who is a solo owner operator with a family of 3 and Adjusted Gross Income of $32, 000, has been on Obamacare for a few years now. I think it was Blue Cross Blue Shield with $0 deductible and $1000 out of pocket. He pays $950, where the full premium is over $2000 per month, the rest is covered by Obamacare.
The coverage is pretty good because lately, his wife, underwent a series of post breast cancer, breast reconstruction procedures that, as he said, amounted to close half a million and that was done at a top notch hospital. So all they had to pay was $1000.
Coincidentally, he did not have to be very creative with his income because he made very little money in the past 2 years, and they have been running on savings and debt. He might have qualified for Medicaid and pay nothing but certain hospitals mat not want to accept it.

Another friend is also on the same insurance but he mitigates his otherwise higher income by replacing his equipment and then using depreciation, plus maximizing his IRAs. This way virtually lowers his income by a half.

Lower income, in Obamacare, not only means higher subsidies (tax credits) but also lower deductibles, co pays, and out of pockets.

 

Otherwise, I don't know how a familly of 3 with a Gross Adjusted income of 32k could afford a premium for over 2 grand a month.

Let's not forget, that prior to Obamacare, all too often, someone with health issues history, for instance a cancer survivor, or someone with a chronic disease, would have been denied coverage due to preexisting conditions or a coverage would have a lifetime limit of $X amount making it useless in case of serious health issues.

 

I remember when I got married 18 years ago at age 22 and went to buy health insurance, and agent told us we can't get pregnant for 3-6 months or something like that, because insurance would not cover the pregnancy

 

But a pregnant women arriving on a tourist visa was able to be put on a single mother program, offered pregnancy care and delivery, then free child care including otherwise costly baby formulas and doctor's visits.

Those insurance providers had an army of people digging in your family's past to find out that your gramps had a coronary disease, or things you would have never known about yourself, to deny already an active coverage in case all of sudden you were diagnosed with something similar.