Give up Health Insurance???

[dillonandmarasmom]

Okay, taking 1 year off from teaching (my turn to SAH), and DH has new job--no benefits for 5 more months through his employer. We are paying almost $800 a month to continue my benefits, but we really only use them for DD's well-babies and my PPD prescription...

Does it make sense to give them up until DH's kick in in about MArch? Or is that crazy??? (I know, what if something happens...) But, what if we spend all that money each month for nothing???

Advice please!!

TIA

[alegna]

I think in that situation I'd drop the insurance you've got and get a cheap emergency only plan (covers the what-ifs) and just pay the prescription out of pocket. That will surely cost less than $800 a month.

-Angela

[dharmamama]

I would keep the benefits, for several reasons. The first is that, yes, $800 is outrageous, but it's a slow drain rather than a gaping hole. If you had a car accident or were diagnosed with cancer, well, you'd probably be financially wiped out for a long time to come.

The second reason is that, if you were to develop a health condition and didn't have health insurance at the time, when (if) you did manage to get health insurance again, they would not necessarily be required to cover your pre-existing condition.

Lastly, people who don't have health insurance get demonstrably worse care.

Namaste!

[dietzamom]

Definitly keep the insurance. You just can't predict the worse. No one predicted how bad Katrina would be.

800 seems low in comparison to the what if's. Especially if it's doable.

[tara]

I would recommend a catastrophic plan. My boy and I have been on one for over 3 years now, and it works for us. $1500 deductible, which we never meet, so we're essentially paying out of pocket. But, should anything serious come up, we *only* have to pay that $1500 to get decent coverage.

Our plan is Regence Blue Shield and costs us about $100 per month (total, for both of us).

[dharmamama]

One thing that I would caution about with a catastrophic plan is that you look closely at the coverage you receive. Catastrophic plans are just what they say they are ... for catastrophic occurrences. But they may not serve you well in the long-term if you ever have to use them. I had a catastrophic plan for several years after I graduated from college. That was fine, but I also had only $50,000 of coverage. Once you max that out, that's it. Coverage ends. If you got cancer and spent your allotted $50,000 and needed more treatment, you'd be out of luck and you'd probably have a really hard time finding another company that would take you on as a client.

Namaste!

[whateverdidiwants]

With most insurance plans if there is a lapse of more than 63 days from your old insurance you're going to be subject to pre-existing condition clauses when you get new coverage. Don't drop it unless you absolutely *have* to.

[azzuranotte]

http://www.netquote.com/
Get a quote and see how much it would be to get a plan on your own.

The other thing is to check in to what your state offers and if you qualify for any of it.

[DesireeH]

I would ditch the 800 dollar a month plan and get an individual higher deduct plan in the meantime. We do this too. It was 500 a month for our family through DHs work and we NEVER use it so it was a total waste of money. Dh is on it still cause he is super cheap just him (plus he's the sickliest one out of all of us cause he eats like crap) and ds and I just have a $45 dollar a month basic plan. $3000 deductible and after that it's 70% coverage (Pacificare although Blue Cross was similiar pricing.) If you want to pay a little more (like $80 a month each) you can get lower deduct and more % coverage. Our plan is not 50,000 cut off either, it's a million.

[tara]

Originally Posted by dharmamama

One thing that I would caution about with a catastrophic plan is that you look closely at the coverage you receive. Catastrophic plans are just what they say they are ... for catastrophic occurrences. But they may not serve you well in the long-term if you ever have to use them. I had a catastrophic plan for several years after I graduated from college. That was fine, but I also had only $50,000 of coverage. Once you max that out, that's it. Coverage ends. If you got cancer and spent your allotted $50,000 and needed more treatment, you'd be out of luck and you'd probably have a really hard time finding another company that would take you on as a client.

Namaste!

Good to be aware of. However, my plan is called catastrophic, but it has much better coverage than that. $1500 deductible, $3000 out of pocket max, $1 million coverage limit. So, if I get cancer or need surgery or something, I pay $4500 to get $1 mil in coverage. $4500 is still a lot, but it wouldn't bankrupt us. For us, this kind of plan makes the best sense.

[ZanZansMommy]

I think you need to look into the laws regarding your particular state. I'm in MA & insurance company's canNOT discriminate if there is a pre-exisyting condition. Hence I can get cancer today & still get coverage tomorrow. Of course we pay up the wazoo for blanket coverage such as this. In the next state (NH) you could not get coverage so it varies. I'd look into the state laws & go from there. Good Luck

[dillonandmarasmom]

Thanks!

Wow, still not sure what to do...I like the idea of the higher deductible, lower cost plan, but it would be some work to get it started, then I'd drop it in 5 months...should I still do it? Not sure about the catastrophic, cause I still need to cover my ppd meds...would the high deductible plan covber that with copay? Or, is it part of deductible as it adds up?? Make sense?

TIA again!

[tara]

Some higher deductible plans have prescription coverage, some don't. Mine doesn't, and I pay out of pocket. But, even when I was taking $80 per month meds, it was worth it - do a little cost/benefit analysis for a plan with rx coverage and one without and see what makes the most sense for you.

[twindaze]

A short term plan sounds like a good solution. We just got one through Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield. It's 113 per month for 6 months. Since you'll have new coverage in 5 months it won't matter that the short term insurance ends.

[cloudswinger]

We were in the same situation, but at the time there was no other job in sight, and the insurance was costing us like 990! That's almost 12,000 a year! It was more than we were earning. I figured that if we went to all the checkups in a month and paid out of pocket, it'd only be like 300. And so we dropped it. Even though dh has a preexisting condition. So now I have a job, and the group coverage will cover preexisiting conditions so that's not a worry. It still hasn't kicked in yet, so we're not covered yet. Health care in the US sucks.

[Belleweather]

Make SURE that any short-term plan that you get counts as creditable coverage under HIPPA. Ask them, and get the answer in writing. If it doesn't, and you have any gap in your health insurance coverage of over 63 days then anything you've been treated for in the last 5 years, or anything that your DD has been treated for will most likely be subject to a pre-existing condition waiting period by your new insurance, of up to 2 years.

ALSO, don't fall in love with Individual Plans just yet -- the underwriting rules for them are VERY strict, and you're going to have to show that you and your DD are fit as proverbial fiddles. They're going to 'rider' (meaning not offer you coverage) for anything you've been treated for in the past 5 years, and if you accumulate more than a certian number (depending on the insurance company. The insurer I work for says 3) of 'riders' on your coverage, they will not issue you a policy.

This is, incidentally, why the whole 'Health Savings Accounts + Individual High Deductible Health Insurance Plans' malarkey makes a bad solution to the American crisis of the uninsured -- to get an Individual Health Insurance Plan no matter what the deductible, you basically have to prove you'll never need it.

[DesireeH]

Belleweather, that was true of me for BCBS but Pacificare took me right away, they just called to find out my last blood pressure (I had preeclampsia when I was pg with my son). BCBS told me no though, also because I had taken clomid in the past 6 years so I was "high risk."

I really hate insurance. I wish there was some better system in place!

[grisandole]

We used www.careamerica.com for short-term health insurance; it was cheap and easy, and covered much more than catastrophic expenses. I imagine that paying out of pocket for meds will be much cheaper than 800.00 month Also, depending on the type of medication and doseage you take you might be able to save money by having your dr. prescribe a higher doseage and cutting the pills in half; I take 50mg of Zoloft per day, and the cost of the 50mg and the 100mg is the same.......so I buy the 100mg and cut them in half, which cuts the price in half There are also a bunch of RX assistance programs that help with costs, as well as cheap or free discount cards that will save you a little bit on each RX.

[tara]

Originally Posted by cloudswinger

Health care in the US sucks.

word.

[mountainsun]

I had to drop our ins plan back in June because we just could not afford it anymore. It is scary, but, we TRY and take some of the $$ we would be paying and dump it into savings...so when we do need to go to the dr (which isn't often, knock - on - wood) we just pay out of pocket. Yes, an illness or accident would harm us financially.....it's a total double edged sword. I am waiting for the day when we can have health insurance again! I just heard this morning that 45 MILLION Americans are without health insurance. nice :