by Tricia
We currently have a decent health insurance plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield. Because it is an individual plan, and not one sponsored by my employer, we pay 100% of the premium. At a little over $400/month, it takes up a good chunk of our income.
At the time, there were cheaper plans available through other insurance companies. I ended up going with Blue Cross because I’ve dealt with them in the past and have had good experiences with them. They also covered childbirth, and none of the other plans covered that unless you added an expensive rider to their policy.
While we still want to have another child, I don’t know when I’ll be ready, so perhaps it’s time to look into a cheaper health insurance policy for a while.
The one place I know to go (and it’s where I shopped before) is ehealthinsurance.com. You plug in a few bits of information about yourself and your family and you get a listing of policies that would work in your area.
I found a comparable plan for a little less than $200/month. That would reduce our health insurance costs by 50%. At first glance, it looks like there will be some reduction of benefits, but catostrophic events would be covered. Nowadays, one visit to the ER for a broken bone can eat up the deductible for many policies. As long as we have money in a savings account that can cover a yearly deductible I think we will be okay.
I haven’t applied for the new policy yet, since I haven’t had the time to really drill down and compare the two policies side by side. If we switch, I want to make sure of what we are getting into. While saving $200/month would really help our financial situation, possibly losing some health benefits is something to really think over.
Please be careful in your research and really think about your decision. Health insurance is such a scary thing these days. Hopefully our new President will do something to improve the state of health care in our country. $400/month is just too much for families to pay!
Health insurance is so-o-o-o important and can be so-o-o-o costly. I’m just glad I have a nice plan my employer pays for.
–
Ryan
http://uncommon-cents.net/
I have no insurance because I cannot find a private policy that I can afford. I hear good and bad about AARP. Good for the cities, but poor response in the rural. I am 100 miles from any large city, just small burgs along the way. Although the life can be somewhat serene, it is so landlocked that is difficult getting many services that so many take for granted. Glad Blue Cross has worked for you. Good luck and thanks!
I have individual Aetna health coverage and pay 100% (I’m self-employed) at $159/month. I compared plans carefully and recently went to this less expensive coverage. There is a higher deductible for major expenses, but I’m in good health and have emergency funds in place to cover the deductible if needed. There is coverage of major events, which is absolutely crucial; it’s just that the deductible is higher.
I would keep your policy but raise the deductible.
When it comes to health insurance, you get what you pay for.
I would never skimp out on health insurance. It will probably have some clause that it doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions for one year. Or the other way around, where it doesn’t cover conditions you develop in one year, whichever will let it deny your claim.
If you think 37K in consumer debt is scary, try an ER bill that was excluded in the fine print.
Any chance os a “surprise” pregnancy? Birth control can fail and you could be hit with a big bill if you get pregnant. Only you can decide if $200/mo is worth it to cover that contingency.
I have an HSA through my employer and am shoveling money into the HSA account that covers our fairly high deductible. My employer contributes $1,000 to that account as well and we pay $16 and some cents every two weeks. All of our preventive care is covered, including exams, mammograms, my upcoming colonoscopy (oh joy!) since I’m over 50, etc. This is our third year with the plan and I’m very happy with it.
Do be careful— as others have said, read the fine print on coverage, and, not to be a gloomy gus, don’t assume your good health. Better to spend a little more and sleep well knowing you’ve got good coverage than save a few dollars and worry you might get socked with the unexpected “uncoverage.” My husband’s company recently changed plans to reduce their costs. Now not only are deductibles and co-pays higher, but there are limited number of doctors in the plan.
If you live in a rural area, this can be a real problem, and if not, if you get a doctor(s) in plan that you just don’t feel good about, you’re stuck seeing them or going out of plan and paying big time to see someone you trust.
So consider who you get to see and what your non-financial savings/risks will be for your $200.00 a month.
When I purchase my health insurance, I researched the web in order to purchase online. I wanted a high deductible plan so I could qualify for a Health Savings Account, so I was looking for someone who specialized in HSAs.
I looked at ehealthinsurance, but I found a better site in that had all the features of ehealthinsurance.com but also a tremendous amount of money saving information and help when it came to HSAs. They are called HSAforAmerica.com
I hope this information helps and good luck with your online health insurance shopping.
Hi Tricia, life is great and life is also full of unexpected surprises. Imagine our’s when my husband when in for a check-up and found out that he has prostate cancer. Please think carefully about changing policies, as cancer treatment and care is horribly expensive. Enjoy your blog and think you have made great progress.
One more thing to think about: if your husband is looking for a job and you might move, is one of the considerations that his new job should include health insurance? The best case scenario is that your husband’s new company will have great benefits. My husband left our home business to work for a large company with good benefits. His pay is okay but the benefits are awesome. We had been paying nearly 20K a year for health insurance for our family of 5. Now we have medical and dental coverage, among other things. It’s a huge relief.
If you do switch, will your new company provide equally good coverage regardless of your location?
Good luck with your decision!
I don’t know all the details about your policy but even with our plan through an employer we pay almost as much as you do and a friend of mine’s plan they pay almost $600/mo and that is also through an employer. Some companies are really cutting down on what they pay into the plans or their total premiums are going up so the employees’ are too. Insurance is one of those things that if you think you can just go cheaper for one year and something happens you may not qualify for a better plan later if you do private. Also, I believe a new employer cannot deny you insurance if you currently hold a policy so never give it up. I agree with another poster that it would be better to raise the deductible if you can afford to.
Ehealthinsurance is definitely a good resource. Got my plan there for $49…of course my deductible is predictably high.
I echo the comment above from Jaye about sitting tight on any change to your current health insurance policy until you know what may happen with any change in employment and subsequent benefits for your husband. Also, since y’all are looking ostensibly far and wide geographically in this job search, any change in insurance coverage beyond that which you currently hold (BCBS) may not have geographic reach in the area in which y’all end up finding new employment, even if you need to keep with self-coverage. BCBS is at least nationwide.
Excellent point. BCBS works internationally as well. Plus once you get existing conditions you cannot change, so stay with a major carrier and bite the bullet. You might save $2400, but have to pay $24,000. Try to raise the deductible.
I would definitely consider holding out at least until you figure out what’s going on with your husband’s job search. I am currently faced with the dilemma of finding new health insurance after leaving my job, and companies are either raising my premium or completely leaving out all coverage of my allergy treatments – up to $400 every 3 months- because they don’t accept pre-existing conditions. PLEASE read all fine print and don’t assume your good health!! I’ve also had a rare tumor removed from my foot and given a 100% recovery, only to have surgery again 15 months later for the exact same thing.
I have my insurance through Lifewise. I haven’t had to use it, though I’ve read accounts of others having good experiences with it. I’m self-employed and I met with a [referred] insurance broker, and this was the cheapest plan (now $157/month) that covered all the basics for me. If possible, I also recommend trying to find an insurance broker, as they know the plans well and can point you in the right direction for your needs and answer all your questions. For me, I had all my questions about the different plans answered, and I signed up for my insurance, in about an hour. When I did my own preliminary research, I hadn’t found anything about Lifewise, and its cost was less than half of the others I did find online. One thing the broker mentioned, which I thought was smart, was choose the highest deductible you can (“when was the last time you used your full deductible? It’s better to save that money and pay less.”). Though, I definitely agree with the others that it’s a good idea to wait to see what your husband’s work situation turns out to be before switching healthcare plans.
I am in the same boat as you, I was not familiar with eHealthInsurance. I will check it out, thanks for the info.
If you go with a health insurance broker, your premiums will be higher, because they have a fee. With ehealthinsurance.com, the site is your broker, and is free to use. Your premiums will be lower if found on the site. (At least, this is what I have found from experience.)
Use your birth control wisely, don’t trick your husband, and you won’t have to worry about an “oops” baby. 😉
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to introduce myself. This seems like a nice place and I look forward to hanging out here 🙂
Pam
I’m a health insurance agent, and this is the sort of situation that a lot of our clients are in. For the most part, you get what you pay for, although some companies are just overpriced. We always encourage our clients to look at worst case scenarios and see what the financial outcome would be. So add up the premiums for the year and combine it with the maximum out of pocket expenses (deductible + coinsurance, and if the policy makes you pay a separate deductible for each family member, multiply the number by three since we’re looking at worst case scenario). See what policy has the lowest worst-case expense. It might not be worth saving $2400/year in premiums if the new policy increases your out-of-pocket exposure by $15,000/year.
My family has a $3000 deductible HSA-qualified policy. The deductible is per-family, and the policy pays 100% after the deductible is met. So our worst case scenario is $3000/year. We make sure we keep that much money in our HSA to cover the deductible, and feel very safe with our policy. Our insurance doesn’t cover childbirth, but that’s ok with us because we’ve always known we wanted a homebirth, which is pretty much never covered by insurance. We’re 5 months pregnant right now, and paying out of pocket for a midwife.
Good luck!
Individual health insurance is regulated at the state level, and is the exact same price whether you buy it from your local agent, an online broker, or directly from the insurance company. Insurance agents do not charge fees, as Danielle stated.
For most people, the best value is to go with a high deductible HSA plan. This makes all your medical expenses (dental, eyeglasses, alternative care) tax deductible. You should also consider adding an accident plan that covers 100% of the charges for an accident after a $100 deductible. These are very inexpensive, and can buffer the risk of a high deductible.
United Healthcare offers “kids only” health insurance plans that provide children’s coverage for sickness and accidents. Their plans are written through school districts and many private K12 schools throughout the US. Their health plan is designed to be affordable, at just $98 every 2 months.