How much is normal for insurance?

[emdeecee_sierra]

I know of a hairdresser who pays for her own health insurance (vs. belonging to a group plan through work or whatever). She pays over $600 per month!!!: Is this an amount to be expected, or is she getting robbed? What's worse is that it is only major medical- so she is only covered for something catastrophic. For all doctor visits, etc., she has to pay out of pocket. What gives???

[lovbeingamommy]

I know that if you get individual insur vs. group (from a workplace) that they take your health into account. My friend pays $500/mo. for insurance because he smokes/drinks and has already had a lot of health problems as well as a heart surgery.
He basically works so he can pay his health insurance...

[Bethla]

Wow! With my old employer it would have cost me, dh and kids almost $800 for crappy coverage.

Maybe your hairdresser pays more because she has a pre-existing condition.

My brother buys his own insurance from Aetna and I think he pays less than $200...but he says every few months they keep raising it.

My grandmother pays $600/month to stay on her COBRA because she had breast cancer (forty years ago!).

[llamalluv]

That's what an individual policy costs.

I have no idea what the union pays for our coverage, but it would cost us $677.35/month for comparable coverage.

[alegna]

Sounds pretty average to me. We pay over $500 a month for our family and that's through dh's company (where they pay half).

-Angela

[Caneel]

Our small group plan is $275 for a single person, this includes $10 Rxs, $20 office visit co-pays, full coverage for hospital stuff and everything major.

Families are $750 for the same, a parent and children (no spouse on the plan) is around $525 per month.

[shayinme]

When it comes to individual coverage you buy on your own, there is no average costs IMO. A lot depends on what state you are in, depending on the state you may tons of choices as far as insurers so its easier to find a reasonably priced plan. On the other hand you can live in a state like where I currently live where there is basically 1 company and the rates are through the roof. All in all though $500 for a catastrophic plan especially if the deductible is not too high seems well within the range of normal.

[mar123]

I pay $347 for myself, dh and 3 kids for medical (that is the high plan)
I also elect to pay $20 a month for vision and $73 a month for dental (two of us wear glasses/contacts and the kids all need braces )

The school pays most of mine, most that cost is for the family.

The cost varies based on what a company pays. When we were with dh's old company, we only paid 180 a month for medical, vision and dental! When he switched to a new company, the owner offered to pay him above the salary he would get anyway to cover the cost of us getting insurance through the school board. Works out better for us b/c if we are with school insurance for at least 5 years when I retire, we can have it for the rest of my life.

[BurtsGirl]

Wow and I was complaining about DW's individual policy going up to $175/month this month. It's just major medical but looks like we're getting a good deal.

[*andiflipping*]

Wow...I feel really blessed. We pay $60 a month through Dh's work for the whole family.

[Belleweather]

Originally Posted by emdeecee_sierra

I know of a hairdresser who pays for her own health insurance (vs. belonging to a group plan through work or whatever). She pays over $600 per month!!!: Is this an amount to be expected, or is she getting robbed? What's worse is that it is only major medical- so she is only covered for something catastrophic. For all doctor visits, etc., she has to pay out of pocket. What gives???

Yup. I work in insurance and that doesn't surprise me one bit.

It does give you something to think about when politicians talk about how we should all buy our own health care coverage individually, doesn't it? Not that I have any illusions that they know what it costs, it just sounds like good political rhetoric to them.

[Peony]

That's what we pay and it's only major medical.

[emdeecee_sierra]

Wow. Thank you for the responses. I am disheartened that she has to pay so much, but now I see it is pretty average.

And now I have a whole new view of our coverage- looks like we are very fortunate to pay what we do for the coverage we get. In other words, I'll shut my griping trap now

[fek&fuzz]

i pay $360/mo, but get $150 of it subsidized. It has a $2000 deductible, and I have a health savings account set up (deposits into it are tax deductible.)

I used to work for a health insurance co. and had a great plan for like $16.00/month.

[Jilian]

Insurance is so unbelievably high! We pay over $400/mo for our family through DH's work and we still have a $500 yearly deductible and have to pay 10% PLUS co-pays :

[Ironica]

Yep yep, sounds about right to me. A few years ago when I was looking into family coverage, I found that we could sign up for group insurance through our alumni association and it would cost us around $600/month. Rates have gone up since then, and that was a group policy anyway.

Health care is a market failure in so many ways, which is why we need single-payer coverage.