Health insurance

[Jim Oaks]

Oh hell.

It's open enrollment. I have until 12/07/2024 to enroll in a health insurance plan. I haven't had health insurance since 2017/18.

This used to be easy. My retirement system arranged for us to have health insurance and deducted it from our check. Now they use viabenefits.com and I can either use the allowance that the retirement system offers and pay the rest out of pocket or apply for a Premium Tax Credit (PTC) which I think either pays the insurance each month or reimburses me at the end of the year.

I haven't figured out the tax credit, there's 42 plans to choose from, and the most 'affordable' plan is $718 a month with a $8,250 deductible. I don't even smoke or have health issues. I haven't even been to the doctor in 7-years.

Anyone else here had to navigate this? Any advice?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Move to Canada.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Move to Canada.

I saw that coming.

 

[MT_PLS]

The is nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act. F***ing politicians even exempted themselves from this boondoggle!

 

[Brain75]

I have grey hairs in my beard, and lookin at your pic you do too... How many of your docs you see now are even worth an ounce of salt?

The first thing that happened to me when this was enacted, every single one of my doctors quit. The 70 yr old GP still practicing and quite the skilled man said "no way in hell, I'm gonna, retire"... the 40 something dentist of mine said no way, sold the practice took up teaching dental school, etc etc - they all quit. I had kinda a big incident 2 years ago and that was the first I have been to any docs since way back when the Obama SHTF... hezoos the quality of care is just crap and we bleed through the nose for this. I spent 6 months waiting for a specialist and the treatment that would have helped at all would only have worked in the first 6 weeks - so now I am stuck for the rest of my life with the results of "not getting treated"... I say box it all and find something else.... I don't have any good advice for you.

In 2021 I missed out on a paying side gig because the insurance to cover me as an employee would have been more than my salary, so he just did it by himself.

The ones that it really really killed is family farmers, these guys used to have 1 or 2 employees ("hired hands") and provide health care to em. Now they can't have any employees, it just isn't cost effective, they can't even afford to cover themselves - they have to send their wife into town to get a minimum rage job just so she can provide health care for the family.

My best advice is, if your job doesn't provide you with real health care, QUIT - find another employer with better coverage... It may sound insane, but if your employer has put you into a no win not possible situation by providing crap, find someone else to work for. If you are working for yourself... well see my comment about farmers above... this whole situation just sucks. (Ask me how I really feel )

Commentary: As hot and fiery as it may seem that was all written in truth and with no emotion - everyone please read it without reading emotion into it.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Health insurance and doctors have become a real problem and Big Pharma is boldly pushing forward. Most of the good doctors have retired or gone to full time teaching and a lot of what’s left is more than willing to throw pills at whatever problem you’re having. It’s a mess. The costs are high too, if you go with a cheaper plan, if anything goes wrong, you’ll be paying through the nose. If you spend the big bucks on a better plan, your out of pocket is less, but that’s because you’ve already paid your “fair share”.

And don’t get me started on how our food supply is poisoned…

 

[rumblecloud]

Things must be different in TX, but I'm on the least expensive Advantage plan available here in MI at 20.50 /mo.
Like you, I go to the doctor about once or twice a year - as long as I don't do anything stupid.

 

[Shran]

I pay $60/month for insurance through work with a $3500 deductible. My wife works for the state and hers costs nothing but adding the kids is something like $40/month each. Think she has like a $5000 deductible or something like that.

I am very fortunate that she works where she does and has good insurance. I am required to cover my son as part of the custody arrangement with his mom and was getting private insurance for about $150/month with a low deductible - Obamacare totally screwed me on that. They cancelled his plan and told me the replacement was $700/month with a huge deductible and the only real change was that they were covering him for pregnancies.

That all happened a couple years before my wife & I got married so we were able to add him on her plan... if I added him on mine through work, it would be costing me $1436/month right now.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I miss the time back when I worked for the state and had great health care.

A really good friend of mine back in Ohio works for a company operating an excavator and they pay 100% of his health insurance. I'm shocked that any companies can still do that.

 

[pjtoledo]

I miss the time back when I worked for the state and had great health care.

A really good friend of mine back in Ohio works for a company operating an excavator and they pay 100% of his health insurance. I'm shocked that any companies can still do that.

maybe only those that have equipment capable of driving thru the building. much easier to talk to HR that way.

 

[bobbywalter]

Move to Canada.

report to maid.....i told them you stubbed your toe....and just didnt like the idea of walking from the truck to the house in pain.... they will fix you right up.

 

[bobbywalter]

cheapest i have is 1500 month ....deductables 7500 for individual...14k cap deductables....for base stuff....

i dont want to know the rest of the horseshit...

 

[97RangerXLT]

Not sure where you are getting your insurance from... is it ObamaCare?

I would get one that is a High Deductible that qualifies for an HSA account. with your good health, this will allow you to build up the HSA (Health Savings Account, I think you can contribute 7k per year before taxes) and the great part about HSA's is that if you don't use it, you can roll it all into the next year. you can also pass it to your spouse or children when you die. Unlike FSA (flexible spending account) if you don't use it at the end of the year you lose it which is bulls***)

and since you are a hair past half a century, I would spend a bit and get a full physical, s*** has a way of sneaking up on you... and it is best to take care of most of it early if you can.

AJ

 

[Rick W]

I don’t know how to navigate all the different programs, but there are government paid assistance companies to help you sort through them. I fear they may be paid by companies that want them to steer you towards them, but it might be worth checking out.

my second thought from my soapbox is that you need to have something. I stepped in a hole in my yard in 2014, a hole the size of a jelly jar, and I ended up with a $350,000 medical bill. Fortunately, my insurance covered 90% of that. My point is, you have to have it for something catastrophic, and you never see it coming. So I’d get the cheapest plan you can that covers most stuff that actually happens (read the fine print about what’s capped or excluded, stuff like “breathing“), and keep a relatively high deductible so it’s affordable. You’ll still pay the little stuff out of pocket, but if you end up with something big, it’ll be worth it. I’ve been through a half dozen other catastrophes, you know what really does happen.

My last thought, for a while I had a good insurance program (by modern standards) as a real estate broker. It cost about $125 to get a real estate license, and then you have to pay a broker to hold it for you. There are zero service brokers who will do that for like $50 a month. It’s a roundabout way to get into a big group program, and you never have to sell a house or lease an office. If your broker gets pissed off, just move your license to another broker. And once you have the license, if anybody asks you for anything, you can refer them to an active broker, and get a 25% referral fee for houses, and about 10% for commercial leases and commercial sales. If you consider doing that, PM me or call me and I’ll walk you through it.

My two cents, hope it helps

 

[Jim Oaks]

Not sure where you are getting your insurance from... is it ObamaCare?

I would get one that is a High Deductible that qualifies for an HSA account. with your good health, this will allow you to build up the HSA (Health Savings Account, I think you can contribute 7k per year before taxes) and the great part about HSA's is that if you don't use it, you can roll it all into the next year. you can also pass it to your spouse or children when you die. Unlike FSA (flexible spending account) if you don't use it at the end of the year you lose it which is bulls***)

and since you are a hair past half a century, I would spend a bit and get a full physical, s*** has a way of sneaking up on you... and it is best to take care of most of it early if you can.

AJ

www.viabenefits.com

It's all Greek to me. My retirement system (OHPRS) basically allocated me $488 a month for health insurance, but that won't get me a plan. The cheapest plan is $718, so I would have to make up the extra $230. But... I could choose to not accept the $488 and apply for a Premium Tax Credit (I think that's what it was). That would provide me with $800-$900 a month for insurance based on my income, so I would pay nothing (too good to be true). If for some reason I earned more than what the credit is based on, I'd have to pay back the difference when I file my taxes. Basically, it sounds like the government is paying for my health insurance. The Affordable Care Act?? IDK. All I know is that I signed up for the most affordable plan so that if this doesn't work out, I can hopefully use the money that OHPRS allocated and just pay the difference.