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11-24-2004, 10:54 PM | #2 |
Will KC ever be better?
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Land of Red Dirt & Necks
Casino cash: $9925087
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No.
We have blue cross/shield here in OK. (2 adults mid 30s with no health problems and 3 healthy kids) Costs us $275 a month for $15 co-pay and a $5,000 deductible. However, we've had 3-4 trips to the doctor since starting it in June and so far they have found a technicality to get out of paying their share of the Dr visit every time. We are in the process of looking around again ourselves since they aren't wanting to pay their share (which is really irritating since they've gotten a little over 2 grand out of us so far in premiums). If you have any voice at all to your employer about this, beg and plead for them to keep the insurance. As you get older your premiums WILL go up regardless of how healthy you are. Also, with your employer providing insurance as opposed to you getting a raise then buying it yourself, you are saving $ on income tax and social security/FICA taxes because your income is less. You income goes up with the raise, so will your taxes.
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11-24-2004, 11:07 PM | #3 |
Swiss Family GRobinson
Join Date: Sep 2004
Casino cash: $7814036
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I don't know if your wife works. If not you might see if she can pick up a part time gig at a drug store or a hospital that comes with decent insurance. Stay as far away from BCBS as possible. I worked for BCBS of KC for three months. After that I couldn't stomach how bad they screwed people. The only way to get low rates is to select the high deductible. Then you end up paying for everything short of major surgery.
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Posts: 2,858
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11-24-2004, 11:08 PM | #4 |
Rufus Dawes Jr.
Join Date: Aug 2000
Casino cash: $218179
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I go through Farm bureau Blue Cross Blue Shield
No Problems, I have $1500 deductable $15 co-pay It costs me $127 a month, my wife cost $245 We are mid 20's non smokers |
Posts: 17,521
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11-24-2004, 11:21 PM | #5 |
3M TA3
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SoFlo
Casino cash: $9993039
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My wife, son and I are on a Fortis single-deductable family plan, with a HSA (Health Savings Account, formery MSA Medical Savings Account). Our family deductable is 3500 (maximum family out of pocket is 3500 per year) and then insurance pays 100%. We can contribute 80% of our deductable each year into our HSA tax free, and then use the HSA dollars for any medical expenses (including ones that don't apply to the deductable). Any unused HSA money rolls over each year, and earns about 5% interest. We pay $242/month for family coverage. Blue cross wanted almost $400/month for a copay plan. We are both mid 30's non-smokers. What we do is condribute about $200/month to the HSA, and hopefully in 2 years we'll have about $5k in there for a medical rainy day. Once you get your deductable amount in your HSA it is easy to maintain, and then you can take advantage of the good rates with the high deducatable (assuming you are healthy). Best of all you get the HMO negotiaged rate when you go to doctors, so things end up being cheaper that cash rates. The big test comes for me in January, I am having hernia surgury. So my HSA savings is out the window at that point.
At age 65 the HSA savings can be treated like a IRA and used for anything you like and taxed at your then current rate when you withdraw. So an HSA is really like an IRA that you can use for medical expenses until you retire. Then you can use it for anything. Be prepared to go thru serious underwriting if you do an individual policy. They really check out your medical history, take blood, urine, and height/weight. DT |
Posts: 4,305
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11-24-2004, 11:22 PM | #6 | |
Flop = Man of Steel!!
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: independence
Casino cash: $10006405
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Quote:
another thing to consider is that when you get individual health insurance policies, there are exclusions for pre-existing conditions and if your health gets bad (and expensive) they may decide to not renew your policy... group insurance through your employer does not have these draw-backs... |
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11-24-2004, 11:29 PM | #7 | |
3M TA3
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SoFlo
Casino cash: $9993039
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Quote:
DT |
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Posts: 4,305
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11-25-2004, 12:32 AM | #8 |
Aishwarya Rai
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Baltimore
Casino cash: $10004900
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I live in Canada eh. Good health insurance up here eh.
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"Yeah, I could do it. We both know you wouldn't stop me. Let's think about the logic. You create man, man suffers enormous amounts of pain, man dies. They say you rested on the seventh day, well maybe you should have spent that day on compassion." |
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11-25-2004, 10:17 AM | #9 |
Most Valuable Poster
Join Date: Oct 2003
Casino cash: $9320002
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Man, Blue Cross Blue Shield sucks ass... every time my wife had to go to the doctor pertaining to the miscarriage we were charged 40-50... this is WITH my paying $250 a month for the shit.
Then she had to have a DNC which removes the unborn baby remants... scheduled appt... went in at 8am... sat in waiting room for 1 hour... got in there... gave her anestheisia [sp] did the procedure in 5 minutes with a little vaccuum tube deal... Doctor sent us a bill for $736 bucks... Hospital sent us a bill for $8700. Insurance paid 75%... unreal. we just got the bill yesterday, so Im still fuming. WHY THE **** DO I PAY FOR THIS SHIT, IF IM STILL GONNA GET OWNED? |
Posts: 36,708
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11-25-2004, 10:29 AM | #10 | |
Flop = Man of Steel!!
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: independence
Casino cash: $10006405
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Quote:
we've got blue cross of california's ppo (through my wife's work), and we haven't had any problems at all with payment... and the amount of the hospital/doctor bills is capped by the ppo's contract with them... my wife switched jobs just so that we could get into this particular ppo plan... we pay $146 every two weeks for the two of us... |
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