Health insurance -Paying out of pocket any recommendations?

Blue Cross blue shield has a good plan at a good value. I just got this for two of my clients who own their own businesses...same situation as you, this was a rate for a family with three young children, you'd just pick the deductible:

1. PPO Select Choice (I-VIII)
Best Seller!
Network: BlueChoice or BlueCard Preferred Provider Organization Lifetime Benefit: No Limit
Office Visit Copay: $25
Out-of-pocket Limit: Deductible plus $6,000
Deductible Rx Drug Coverage Monthly Premium 80% Coverage
$250 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $1387.00
$500 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $1177.00
$1,000 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $972.00
$1,500 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $827.00
$2,500 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $723.00
$3,500 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $641.00
$5,000 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $586.00
$10,000 $10 Generic, $30 Preferred, $45 Non-Preferred $505.00


Texas Department of Insurance Form: PPO-SELCHOICE-5-OLC-1

 

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com

Phenomenal site for comparing all the individual plans out there - prices, deductibles, what is covered, etc. And you can apply through the site as well.

 

Man, sometimes looking at the money taken from my paycheck, i can only think insurance is a rip off.

 

It is.

 

Until you have cancer or a car accident or some other major life-altering incident.

You're *supposed* to lose money on insurance (any kind of insurance) when you're healthy. That's how the system works.

 

If you want to email me through the board I can help you out.

 

The system is a rip off.

 

In what way? You pay for piece of mind and stability. That's the whole idea of insurance. What part of it is a ripoff?

 

Until you have to use it right?

 

Define RINKY DINK.

 

Regardless if insurance is a rip off or not, could we keep it civil here and not take this to D&D level? The clutchfan bro is asking for advice, we should at least just stick to recommendations.

 

I went with BCBS Select Choice last year. Got my refund check of about one month's premium in the mail last month.

Wished I had chosen a higher deductible because we never used it.

 

For sure, I recommended the 3500 or 5000 based on the health of the client. Just had a client go to the ER for a kidney stone. Aspirated and threw up in his own lungs while in surgery getting the stone removed. In hospital for 9 days and developed pneumonia from the fluid in his lungs. He's looking at a huge bill-50k plus. That's why you buy insurance, not the annual sinus infection. Guy woulda died if he were in a 3rd world country. Expert care comes at a cost.

 

Have you looked at HSA plans?

In sum: higher deductible, premium savings, tax-advantaged saving for un-reimbursed healthcare expenses.

To the active agents posting here, how is the public currently viewing HSA options?

I used to sell them circa 2004-5-6 when they were new but haven't really kept up with the marketplace.

 

Same situation as you IBTL. Family of 4. I have good insurance through my work but it is about $120 per week. I am beginning to look around and see if I can get it cheaper. We are all pretty healthy.

 

In Texas, it's Blue Cross

I am dubiously proud to say that I have crushed my insurance company over the last 10 years. I have a lot of allergy/sinus/inner ear/headache issues. If in a given year I hit my $2500 deductible I go ahead and max out on whatever treatments are available. The 2 or 3 real surgeries I've had cost about $40K each, the couple of sinoplasties run about $10K and a series of inner ear steroid injections were about $5K.

Health insurance is just a necessity of life. I guarantee you if you are in pain you will zero out your life savings to make it stop.
If your child is in pain you won't even consider the cost.

 

It is but try paying for health care and rx if you need it without insurance you will be taking it up the ass with no vasoline then.

 

My father, a business owner, never bought health insurance until he was in his 50's. A few months later, he was experiencing serious pain that turned out to be a tumor. The insurance company ended up paying for most of the treatment.


Years ago, one of my coworker's best friends knew that health insurance was a complete rip-off. As a a self-employed contractor making 6 figures as an IT guru, he never purchased health insurance for his family.

His wife got breast cancer and it completely changed his mind. Medical bills were destroying them. It destroyed their life savings, forced them to sell their home, as he piled up credit card debt to pay for the bills. Eventually, they filed bankruptcy to discharge the debts. It does have a happy ending though. He did not lose his wife to cancer.

If the OP was by himself, he might opt to save the cash. For the OP's loved ones(wife and 2 kids), he has other concerns to consider.

 

It is a rip off. I has paid about 35k into the system and I have never used it, but if I got laid off or something it is all gone. That is why I never understood why the healthcare system is the way it is.