Health insurance rant...(could pull my hair out)

[phatchristy]

Well, DH's new insurance rates came out from his employer this year. The insurance is good on one respect...they pretty much cover everything and normal treatment options are 100% with a $20 copay for office visits. We have a deductable, but that only applies with hospital stays, etc.

Though, we're pretty healthy people and haven't had anything come up...the kids are healthy as well.

BUT, his insurance has gone up, we will now be paying $7,400 a year for medical-dental-vision. : I think his employer is probably paying virtually nothing towards it. I don't understand how it can be so high. He's a professional (attorney) and you would think that a law firm would provide good quality, affordable insurance for their employees.

I seriously want him to consider a new job. He already underpaid so even making a lateral move to another firm with better benefits would wind up better for us. He's been there 7 years...and they don't treat their employees that well with regards to pay or benefits. If it were me, I would have left it years ago.

I swear, with paying what we are I am almost thinking of moving up ttc to at least use the insurance. They cover maternity 100%, and the only years we've really used it really is when I've had the kids. : And, even then I have homebirths through a birth center and they actually pay so much less than a hospital birth (the birth center gets paid around $3300, their contracted amount). A breastfeeding, homebirthing momma whose family is healthy and takes no prescriptions...we sound like an insurance companies dream : .

He was telling me that nobody at his firm that he knows actually gets the family coverage except us. A lot of them just go without insurance completely.

I don't understand how the US can't have some basic healthcare in place. : I am sure, if they did it would be cheaper than what we're paying now.

I am the thriftiest person I know, we have no cc debt, and actually have savings (in case he lost his job enough for a year (which actually has grown too much, we're going to do more investments with it soon), and retirement as well. But, with this increase (and the homeowners which has skyrocketed here in FL) he's going to have to get a huge raise to compensate for this : . Otherwise, I am never going to have any money to do anything that I want (notably go back for a graduate degree).

My mom was complaining about her co-pay going up to $4 the other day...and I tell her what we're paying for healthcare and that our prescriptions are $20, 40 and 60...then she got very quiet. My father worked for Ford Motor Co. and they never had to pay anything for insurance from his take home. My dad, made more money working the line on Fords...with health insurance, life insurance and a pension without a college degree even. My husband, with two degrees and student loans to pay for makes much less and our health insurance costs as much as a mortgage payment.

How times have changed : . I am starting to think that we may be the first generation that aren't going to do as "well" as our parents. Actually, one good thing, at least I am really thrifty. I have a girlfriend whose DH makes twice as much as my DH and she has around 80,000 in cc debt and owes money to the IRS : . Some people just spend more money the more they make. For us, if he makes any more it'll just be put towards the future, college and retirement.

(anyhow, this is a rant, I've already checked out other independant plans online and sadly the plan through his office is STILL cheaper : when I figure the cost of the office visits I KNOW I will have to go to....sigh ).

[Stone Fence]

Where are you?

I imagine that attorney's pay and benefits would be better near a large city or a State Capital.

I'm really curious because I work in a law firm (not an attorney).

ETA: Your insurance is pretty expensive. Does the firm offer any other plans? I think that is what our family plan runs.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Stone Fence

I imagine that attorney's pay and benefits would be better near a large city or a State Capital.

I'm really curious because I work in a law firm (not an attorney).

ETA: Your insurance is pretty expensive. Does the firm offer any other plans? I think that is what our family plan runs.

The other plan covers less and costs more (the other one is a PPO). This is their HMO. We're in a large city in FL...Tampa. So, you'd think, huh? It's just his firm. I am sure that other firms are much more reasonable. Attorney's pay is better but not by much sadly. Most other people who work there just don't have insurance coverage. Heard from DH, he said that there is actually talk from the resource person that the company is actually making money offering the plan.

He also just emailed me and told me that maternity is no longer 100% either...they reduced it: . Can it get worse? At least I birth cheaply. Sigh, so it won't be 10% of much.

The thing is, it hurts a lot this year. In FL the homeowner's rates went up even more. We "lucked out" with our rate of 1,700 a year. I just talked to the insurance agent. The cheapest he's finding for a 2,000 square foot home is 3,000. Ours is smaller than that, but not too much. Sigh. Florida is not the place to be it looks like. :

[sunnmama]

This is becoming more and more common. You're right--it is very difficult for this generation to do as well as our parents.

If it makes you feel any better, my dh is a teacher and it would cost $9300/yr to cover our family on his plan. On a *teacher's* salary! So, we don't cover the family on the plan I am self-paying for this birth, and we are not really sure how will will cover both kids and me after the birth.

We are in FL, too, and I am really worried about our home owner's ins next year. We will be dropped in June, and will have to find new covg.

Ah, sucks

[momto l&a]

we will now be paying $7,400 a year for medical-dental-vision

I wouldn't call that expensive at all.

Both at dh's old job and this new one the insurance runs a $1000 a month for the five of us. At the last one it was just medical with high deductibles. Now its everything and $10 copays

Granted because we like hb so well we have to pay for those out of pocket :cry:

[chel]

at my Dh's last job, very decent pay, the insurance was also high like that. Their "catch" was the employee was cheap, but to add family was $$$$$ Covered way less than OP and cost more. I found I could get medical coverage cheaper and with more benefits for dd and I by getting individual coverage.

[noodlegirl]

We pay just a bit less than that for our health and dental insurance and dh is also in a professional type job and works for a Fortune 100 company. I guess I just assume insurance is always expensive like that. Before I had kids I worked for several companies and if you added dependents it was a huge chunk and often did not cover much. While working in non-profit managment for the Girl Scouts I paid a lot for insurance that did not even cover basic maternity, birth control or most well women stuff. Just craziness.

I always wonder when reading about Walmart having really high insurance for its employees just how high it is for them...because ours is pretty high too and no one is fighting for the employees at dh's company. Don't we all just have really health cost these days? Or am I just bitter?:

[Anglyn]

I feel your pain, this is about what it costs us to insure through my job (dh's job doesnt even offer it at all) and I make less than a teacher. My student loans are in forbearance and have been for years, I cant afford to pay them but by waiting they are going up and up.

Ive looked into renting a small apt. to save money, but it cost as much or more to rent a two bedroom apt. as our mortgage, so nevermind.

I have thought several times about just canceling the insurance, when ds1 was little, we never had it. But then if something major happened.....

My insurance takes a full third of my pay. And it didnt pay for my birthing center birth....oh well, it paid about $163 out of somehting like 4000 or so. So, I still owe for my last child and will have to use the hospital this time, as it will be covered 100%. Oh, and just fouund out my rates will be going up in jan.

[Selesai]

I agree, this is really frustrating. I pay 600 a month for our family plan, and that seems like a lot to me. With that, student loans, and cc debt : it seems like the money just goes away much more quickly, even though my salary went up when i took this job.
I agree that the companies promote good healthcare but that's for individuals-- families always cost a lot. I have thought about going w/o for my dh and ds, but I don't think I can stomach it.
fwiw, i too am a lawyer.

for my next job i am going to negotiate them paying my portion of the costs.

[PajamaMama]

The HMO option for our whole family at my dh's work (Fortune 500 co.) costs about $11k 'benefit dollars' a year. Based on the employee's position in the company, one gets a certain number of 'benefit dollars' to spend however one wants on all the benefits offered. We also get a discount of about $3k for being non-tobacco-using.

After all the benefits are added up, and dh's 'benefit dollars' are subtracted, we pay out about 6% of his paycheck for all of our combined benefits...health/dental/vision, the highest level of life insurance offered on all of us, disability ins. for dh, legal plan, etc etc etc. We feel that we have come out ahead though because we have USED the benefits. I get new eyeglasses every year and so does dh, we and the kids see the dentist regularly, we're about to have our second baby almost completely paid for, dh is graduating next week (!!!) with his MBA and we used the maximum amount of tuition assistance available...

I do think that health care costs seem exorbitant. I don't know what the answer is though.

[Jane]

My old company paid $650 per month for a family plan (they paid it all, no employee contribution). My husband's company's insurance was $800 a month through COBRA. Your costs seem in line.

I think maybe your dh should look for a new job because he will have so much more leverage in negotiating a salary and benefits package as a interviewee than as an established employee, at least in my experience.

[skueppers]

Wow, that stinks. We pay about $3800 a year for the top level of insurance offered through my husband's employer, and I thought that was a lot of money! (Which it is, compared with how much it used to cost, though it does provide excellent coverage -- a PPO plan with almost every doctor in-network, $15 co-pays for most things, no deductible, etc.)

We're considering dropping prescription coverage, which is $890 a year, because we never use it and are comfortable "self-insuring" for prescriptions. The only reason we didn't drop the prescription coverage this year is because we figured our chances of actually using the coverage were higher since I'm pregnant and obviously we'll soon be having a baby with as-yet-unknown medical needs. But if the new baby is as healthy as the child we already have, we'll probably drop the prescription coverage next year.

[grisandole]

Originally Posted by sunnmama

This is becoming more and more common. You're right--it is very difficult for this generation to do as well as our parents.

If it makes you feel any better, my dh is a teacher and it would cost $9300/yr to cover our family on his plan. On a *teacher's* salary! So, we don't cover the family on the plan I am self-paying for this birth, and we are not really sure how will will cover both kids and me after the birth.

We are in FL, too, and I am really worried about our home owner's ins next year. We will be dropped in June, and will have to find new covg.

Ah, sucks

My dh is a teacher, and we are looking to move out of state, or to switch to a private school or state-run school to get better health ins. Our coverage used to be like yours, completely unaffordable, then this year they got a different plan that is 350/month for family (but has high deductibles and won't cover pre-existing for a year). We have managed to scrape enough together to afford it, but it's tough on a teacher's salary here in AZ. And it's not his district, it's the entire state!!!

I find it absolutely horrible when companies and public agencies do not provide reasonable health benefits.

I'm also not sure why the school districts here don't pay much for health...the state offers good insurance, but most counties and school districts are dismal..

[sapphire_chan]

The best health insurance I ever had was when I was working at Target. It was like $5 a week out of my paycheck and $10 copays for everything. Dh's insurance through Kroger when he worked there was also fantastic.

Larger companies can and do offer far better health benefits than smaller ones. The reason people get upset about Walmart's insurance policies is that they're a huge company that should be offering good insurance plans to their employees--like those offered by every *other* major retailer.

[ashleyhaugh]

wow...
i dont mean to rub it in or anything, but threads like these give me another reason to love the army, lol

i didnt know how much insurance cost until recently, when i heard my sis talking about it. we didnt have insurance growing up, my parents made too much for medicaid and couldnt afford regular insurance

[U2can]

I handle the insurance in the office where I work, and for a family this year the price to the employer has risen 20% for less coverage:

That was the best we could find for our employees. So for a family, the cost of this insurance medical/dental/vision per year is 15,600. Our employer pays a portion for our employees, but seriously can not continue to pay the entire amount when each year (for the last 4 years) the costs rise 15+% with no change, or decreased benefits.

So, I would put the blame on the insurance companies who are pocketing record profits, and not on the employers. Many can not continue to carry the skyrocketing prices.

[phatchristy]

Reading all of this at least is comforting in some respects, some people have it as bad as we do....of course, I've been asking my friends around here and nobody pays as much as we do : . Most of them were shocked. Though, one did pay about a thousand less, but she decided to go back to work soon so she'll only be paying $11 a month for her whole family once she goes back to her gov't job.

Anyhow, I have to think that there has to be a point where the gov't is going to have to step in. DH was talking to some people at work, and nearly all of them don't pay for coverage, and don't have insurance for their families. Most of them are only making barely over minimum wage, and the amount needed for family coverage is more than half of what some of them take home : . So sad, but when it comes to being able to put food on the table they just don't have a choice. Especially here in FL where we have a housing and insurance crisis going on (case in point, a friend of mine now is being charged $5,500 for home insurance I just found out...and her house is never and around 2,000 square feet...not gigantic). Many people that work at the firm actually live in multigeneration households as things are so expensive otherwise.

The only reason why we can afford to get the insurance is because we're cheap and don't do a lot of extra things. We do the basics. I would love to send my daughter to dance classes, and maybe take some grad school courses. I guess I'll just have to hope that the situation gets better long term.

I still personally don't get how this country still doesn't have some sort of nationalized healthcare. I have so many friends who make just enough to not be eligible for medicaid...but still can't afford the costs of healthcare for themselves or their families. :

[mamamilkers]

I used to work for a company that sort of had reasonable health coverage for individuals, but once you added the family it went up to almost $600 a month with huge deductibles. It was insane. I couldn't believe they were that family un-friendly but then I found out very few people who worked there had qualifying dependents so that just wasn't what the employees needed . It's so awful. I'm sorry you have such terrible insurance. DP now works for a very large company and we have fantastic insurance and pay maybe $70 a month for it with no deductible and low co-pays. I am so grateful, and I can be on his even though we're not married.

[Leta]

I kind of feel like I should cross-post this in that thread about Wal Mart, but here goes...

The only way out of the health care crisis is through gov't intervention. They bailed out the big three in the 70's, there's no reason why they shouldn't step up and fix our broken multipayer system.

I live in MI, I can't tell you how many auto workers I know. The health care crisis is crippling US automakers. They are better off sending jobs to Canada or Europe or China or anywhere else because that way they don't have to pay for health care.

Wal Mart, the world's largest retailer and multi billion dollar company, makes a profit on the order of 2%. Ins. companies make 9%, and pharma even more. The only way to regulate pharma and ins is through legislation.
(On that note, I know what you mean about the homeowner's crisis in FL. My parents own a 1500 sq ft house in North FL- outside the flood plane, just over the AL border- and their homeowner's went up to $2700. Mine is $1200, and my house is bigger.)

We would actually spend LESS as a nation on single payer health care, because preventative care is the cheapest kind of medicine. Our taxes might go up, but we already pay for our deductables, copays, and an unseen surcharge on every good and service we purchase to pay for other's health care. So individuals would at least break even.

Also, as health care costs skyrocket, companies get bigger tax breaks, because you can write off employee health care. This way, Uncle Sam forfeits over $100 billion per year that we could use to ensure single payer health care.

The reason that large corportations like Target have the best, cheapest health care is because that is the way ins works- by spreading the risk amongst the largest available pool of people. So what's a bigger pool than, um, everyone?

People love to criticize Wal Mart because they don't have liberal health benefits for their employees. There are many, many other valid criticisms of Wal Mart, but this one doesn't wash with me. It is not the job of Wal Mart to fix the US health insurance crisis. (My husband works at a mom and pop restaurant that does not provide health insurance for any of its employees. So should people boycott the Sweet Water Cafe? Great, now he's uninsured AND unemployed.) If you have problems with other Wal Mart policies, don't shop there, but by all means, do not stop at that; a company as big as Wal Mart will never be altered through boycott alone- the only way to change them is through legislation requiring them to be a good corporate citizen. So email your senators, as well as state and local gov't.

And by all means, let our government know that you want health care! The uninsured and underinsured comprise 160 million Americans- more than half of us. If we form a voting bloc, they can't say no. Medicare for all!

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by U2can

So, I would put the blame on the insurance companies who are pocketing record profits, and not on the employers. Many can not continue to carry the skyrocketing prices.

: A while back I read an article that stated that the so-called middle class was one of the fastest growing groups to lack insurance. I absolutely beleive it, my dh is self employed and we currently have a high deductible policy that we are thinking about nixing, really cannot afford it and to be honest barring a major illness we basically have no coverage. We pay $300 a month plus all of our costs when we go to the doctor/get meds and in 4 years we have never even come close to hitting the deductible. (Its 30K for the family)

That said, my employer offers insurance but the family plans start at $500 a month. : I make good money but with my bills that would still be a bit tight, though since I am not technically ft (adjunt instructor) I am not qualified yet.

I am really starting to think we desperately need some type of national healthcare plan in place. Too many of us do not have coverage.

Shay