Saving money on health insurance [Archive]

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merince

1-30-13, 10:34am

I buy my own health insurance through ehealthinsurance.com. When the renewal came up, I decided to check what my plan would be as a new customer. Turns out, my renewal rate is $36 per month more than the same exact plan for a first time customer. So I applied for my plan and got accepted which translates into $432 more in my pocket this year.

awakenedsoul

1-30-13, 2:27pm

I use ehealthinsurance.com, too. I did the same thing, except this year I switched to Aetna. My Anthem rate went up drastically this year, so I got a new policy with Aetna for $120.00 a month. (catastrophic.)

frugalone

1-30-13, 3:00pm

Does catastrophic mean you're only covered in a case of dire emergency?

merince

1-30-13, 4:43pm

I think catastrophic means that your deductible is pretty big - 5,000 or more. In essence this means that you end up paying for your regular check-ups out of pocket, but if something major happens, the insurance will take over (ER and hospitalisations very quickly run into 10s of 1000s). In exchange you have pretty nice savings compared to a plan with a smaller deductible.

I just ran quick quote for my zip. A plan with 5,000 deductible is 134.63 per month, a 10,000 deductible is 83.82 (both without co-insurance) while a $500 plan with 30% coinsurance runs 266.64 and similar one with 20% coinsurance runs $413.23.

I am a reasonably healthy individual and for the last 10+ years I have needed only my annual checkup for which my doctor charges $50 (even if you don't have insurance). So, you can ran your own analysis based on your average medical bills and find out at what point the savings from the lower rate cover your deductible.

HumboldtGurl

1-31-13, 1:18pm

Catastrophic for us means that we only go to the doctor or hospital if we're near-death. With a $10k deductible for DH and I and nothing covered until we meet it, we can't even afford to use our own insurance unless its a realllly bad situation. We pay $129 a month for this privilege.

merince, how did you re-apply with the same company? I'm confused.

Spartana

1-31-13, 2:23pm

I am trying to find affordable health insurance for a friend who is being dropped by her health Insurance (Kaiser). Once her COBRA coverage ran out Jan 1, she tried to get a catastropic plan thru Kaiser - $5,000 deductible, no meds coverage, etc.. - but was denied by them because they said she had a pre-exisiting condition (she takes thyroid pills and injured her knee a year ago but doesn't need any treatment now or in the future) but will allow her to stay on their HIPPA plan at over $1,000/month (she currently pays around $350 for a regular HMO with Kaiser). Since she only works on-call at around 10 - 25 hours per week and hasn't been able to find full time employment with healthcare coverage, shecan't afford that high of coverage so will have to drop it and go without insurance. So she has dropped her insurance rather then pay the HIPPA plan price and is appealing their decsion. Not sure where she can get insurance coverage because of being labelled with a pre-existing condition - even though she just wants a catastrophic coverage plan. I know that if she goes 6 months without coverage because of a pre-existing condition, then she can get an a Precip plan - but they are also still expensive and who wants to go with out health insurance for 6 months. Any suggestions? She's in Calif. She also doesn't qualify for Medicaid (and doesn't want to as she wants to pay her own but have it affordable) as in Calif, even if you are very low income with no assets, a single non refugee, non pregenet, non disability person under age 65 or over 18 can not get Medicaid. Only these people can:

•65 or older
•Blind
•Disabled
•Under 21
•Pregnant
•Diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer
•In a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility.
•Refugee status during a limited period of eligibility. Adult refugees may or may not be eligible depending upon how long they have been in the U.S.
•Parent or caretaker relative of a child under 21 and
•The child's parent is deceased or does not live with the child, or
•The child's parent is incapacitated, or
•The child's parent who is the primary wage earner is unemployed or underemployed

merince

1-31-13, 2:51pm

HumboldtGurl: ehealthinsurance is an insurance broker. You put your data and they give you quotes for various ins companies. Then you fill out an application and the insurance company evaluates it and approves it or not. This is what I did. I received a quote for a "new" plan which happened to be exactly the same as my old plan. Pretty much the same way you shop for car insurance.

Spartana: My DH and I were in the same situation - he has a pre-existing condition. The appeal took forever and towards the end of it, he was already 6 mos without insurance. So he just switched to the high-risk coverage plan.

awakenedsoul

1-31-13, 7:09pm

Does catastrophic mean you're only covered in a case of dire emergency?

Actually, it seems like it covers a lot more now, with Obamacare. I don't use any of it, I just have it in case of an emergency. I don't do all the check ups, etc. They now give free birth control, sterilization, HIV testing, etc. My deductible is $6,000.

Spartana

2-15-13, 5:55pm

Well my friend was actually able to get affordable insurance via einsurance.com. She was offered several plans but choose Health Net PPO with a $4,000 deductible and a $15 co-pay for meds and $100 co-pay for emergency room care - both without having to meet the $4,000 annual deducible first. She did have to pay 20% more on the monthly premium (premium is $301/month) because of her pre-existing conditions - thyroid meds and an old knee injury - but that is much better then Kaiser's over $1,000/month premium for a HMO with a $5000 deductible and no med or ER coverage at all.

redfox

2-15-13, 8:18pm

Effing racket! I hate the health insurance industry.

awakenedsoul

2-15-13, 9:57pm