OTPersonal Health care Plans??OT

[Bingster]

I'm 58 and self-employed with no health insurance plan as of yet.

I'm curious your experiences - good and bad - with your health insurance providers and advice. I really don't know quite where to begin.

It'll be just my wife and I.

Thanks.

[Big_John]

Where are you located? It varies from state to state.

[Don G 1947]

If you and your wife are in reasonably good health, try a high deductible Blue Cross/Blue shield policy. Be sure you get a guaranteed renewal (as long as you pay the premium) policy. Coverage is usually good and they don't screw over folks like some of the real cheap "no name" companies do.

I have no ties to BCBS, but was involved in corporate benefits for many years.

Don

[JohnTeee]

Hi Bingster,

I'm not self-insured and don't know if United Healthcare (my company provider) does self-insurance, but stay away from them. I've been seeing their advertisements on TV lately and how they are all about looking out for their insureds. **************! Just about every time we've seen our doc (same for physicals for several years) they always start out as treating it as an out of network visit (which it is not). I have had to stay on top of them for EVERY billing to make sure they don't screw it up - and guess whose favor it is screwed up in every time? Not mine.

Just a heads up.

Cheers!

John

[Bingster]

We live in Iowa.

[58prostreet]

I just turned 65 in july and wife turned 65 in november. We are now on medi-care. I was also self employeed and had to carry my own insurance. I had Anthem-Blue Cross with $5000 deductible for each of us.My premium was $2709.00 per month. Both of us are in reasonably good health, but several years ago my wifes dr. made a note in her file that she had symptoms of a fairly dangerous disease. Ended up she didn't have it, but the note in the file screwed us. Before u apply for insurance, ask ur dr. if u have anything like this in ur file.These insurance companys are just looking for a reason to either drop you or run your premiums thru the roof if u are not perfect. We started at about $1100 per month and each year they raised it 400 or 500. Never thought I would wish my life away to get to 65, but it was a real relief on the wallet.

Good luck

Bob

[RobertKB]

This does not answer the original poster's question. However, it always amazes me when I talk to people in the US, with the discussion usually started by the Americans, about health care what you pay for it. Not trying to be political but we have free univeral health care in Canada and just about all medical concerns are covered. No deductibles and no insurance companies to deal with. Not actually free as it is funded by the tax system, both federally and provincially. It does not cover dental, vision care, and drugs but you can buy supplemental health care for that or have it as a benefit from work. My wife has very poor health and has had both hips and both knees replaced. She has had cancer and many other health issues. No charge for any of it. Waiting lists for elective surgery can be a bit long at times but if in an emergency, things are dealt with immediately. I pay considerably less in taxes than most of you are quoting for just your health insurance premiums. Taxes in Canada are somewhat higher than in the US but when you factor in what you have to pay for health care, you guys pay considerably more unless you have a job that covers the cost or are on medi-care which is really public health care from what I can gather.

[Bingster]

$2709 per month premium? I could never make that payment.

I'd be interested in seeing what others are paying per month.

[Big_John]

When we started our business, we used a New York State sponsored program called Child Health Plus for family coverage for my business partner (My family had insurance through my wife). You might want to see if Iowa has something similar.

The next best bet might be to contact any professional or business organizations that you belong to. Many times they have plans available for self employed.

[Dennis_MN]

My information is mostly obsolete by now. My wife and I are in good health but both laid off in 1997. After the extended coverage we took out a high deductible policy from Blue Cross. Our deductible was $5000 each and the monthly premium was around $310 per month for both of us. There is a tax provision that you can set up a tax free savings account to pay your premiums and any expense. I don't know the details of how much you can put into your account each year, but if it still has a balance when you turn 70, you can close the acct and keep the money tax free. I don't know how the new health care stuff is going to affect this.

The other little detail about Blue Cross is that we would tell the clinic that we are insured (we were) and they would submit the bill. When we got the statement for us to pay our share, it was always discounted.

Good luck

[TodFitch]

Information here is also over a year old as I am now employed by a company that has decent medical coverage. But prior to that my wife and I, same age then as your are now, with no health issues were paying $10,000/yr for Kaiser with fairly high co-payments.

Pre-existing conditions should not be as big an issue as the once were now that part of the medical act passed the other year has or will be kicking in shortly.

But unless the "individual mandate" is kept insurance will become event more unaffordable as "self-selection" occurs. For any insurance to work you need people who don't currently need reimbursement paying in. For health insurance that means healthy (typically young) people need to buy insurance. But why would they if they know they can get it when they get sick?