How did you/do you find medical insurance?

[Emmas Mom]

I'm very excited about having DD#2 because we've finally gotten to a position where I will be able to get a promotion to being a SAHM! For the first time in my life...and I'm so excited about it. The issue for us is my husband won't be working as he is going back to school. I know I can continue our current coverage (through my employer) with COBRA for a period of time (like 6 months I think?), but after that we will definitely need to have insurance, especially for the girls. So, what's the best way to find reasonable medical coverage? The only thing I've done so far is check the rates on the Blue Cross/Blue Sheild website & holy cow! It was like over $500/month for 2 children & over $1K a month for the family! I mean, if we have to do that we will (at least for the girls), but yikes. My DH is going for an advanced degree...Pharmacy, and when he actually gets into a Pharmacy school we know we can get insurance through them. The thing is, his undergrad was in Public Relations (so none of the Science type classes), and he has about 8 pre-requisites to take. It'll be about a year & a half before he can actually apply to Pharmacy school. While he's doing his pre-reqs, at the local CC's, we cannot get coverage through them. Whew! Anyone been through this? Where you're paying for your own insurance? Any ideas would be much appreciated. :)

[o_mom]

COBRA should be available for you for 18 months, but it will be pricey since you will pay the employers share also. Any individual coverage will also be pricey - there aren't any super cheap plans that provide good coverage.

If you think you can hold down medical expenses, a Health Savings Account might be good if you can find one. The down side will be a high deductible (1,000+ per person).

Check with your benefits department if the insurer offers a conversion policy for COBRA coverage and what the premiums are. You can also check with any organization you belong to if they offer any health insurance plans (Church, professional organizations, etc.).

Also, if you take FMLA time after the baby for the full 12 weeks before quitting, the COBRA period starts at the end of FMLA. You have to play it careful, though, since telling them you won't return is a COBRA qualifing event which wipes out the remaining FMLA. This is a touchy situation and not good to do if you don't want to burn bridges.

[KrisM]

Are you sure his college won't have some insurance you can buy? I was a "non-traditional" student, when at 25 I was still an under-grad. But, I was too old to be covered under my parents insurance. I was able to purchase the same insurance coverage that that graduate students could as an under-grad. It wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't horribly expensive.

Other than that, I'm not sure what the best way to get reasonable coverage is. I think the price you got for BCBS is fairly typical for tha kind of coverage. For less expensive, you'll probably have to have high deductibles and high out-of-pocket expenses.

Good luck.

[Emmas Mom]

Thanks for the info ladies. Because DH already has his undergrad & is doing the pre-reqs at the local CC's he cannot get insurance through them. So, unfortunately that's not an option.

However, if COBRA extends for 18 months that will be more than enough time to cover us, so I'll have to look into that. You're right though, I cannot say anything at work until after my maternity leave is up!

[daniele_ut]

As the PP noted, you can elect Cobra for 18 months, but it will be quite expensive. When I left my previous employer, the COBRA notification letter noted that I would be paying $1000 a month for insurance on dh and me (pregnant at the time) for insurance that was previously free. Luckily I was leaving for a better job with better benefits so it wasn't an issue for me.

The state I live in has the youngest average age for people to get married, so there are lots of young families with SAHMs and husbands in college. Private health insurance is pretty cost prohibitive for most of my friends (DH is a student but I have to work, and many of our friends are students). The University DH attends offers a health insurance plan for students, but it is still expensive and only covers visits to the student health center (45 miles away for us) for illness and then offers catastrophic coverage. There is no coverage for well baby checkups or for preventative. His undergrad had the same type of plan. The rates you quoted are similar to what one of my friends is currently paying for a private plan for just her and her DH. Her DS is covered under medicaid because he was premature and didn't qualify for the private plan, so it would be even more expensive for all 3 of them.

At the very least you really should have some kind of catastrophic coverage if the plans that include preventative coverage are too expensive. As a last resort, you could look into state health plans for just the children.

[Momof3Labs]

COBRA is VERY VERY expensive, so keep on looking on your own - you can probably find something less expensive on your own.

Make sure that you return to work (even for just a day) after your maternity leave and THEN quit, otherwise you may have to pay back all the benefits you received while on leave.

I would recommend a high deductible, catastrophic plan. Think $3000 or $5000 deductible. It will be much cheaper than a plan that offers full benefits with just a low co-pay, but will still keep you from suffering too much financially should you be hit with a big expense. And you and your DH should absolutely have coverage (not just the girls) since if you do not, you will be subject to pre-existing condition requirements when you eventually obtain insurance. That means that if one of you develops a health condition while not insured, you may have a hard time getting insurance to cover any expenses related to it down the road. This varies from employer to employer and plan to plan, but is a very real risk to consider. Normally, if you can prove that you have had continuous health insurance (even if moving from job to job or plan to plan), the pre-existing condition requirements are waived, particularly under group plans.

In addition, you would have a safety net should anything happen to either of you (surprise pregnancy, emergency appendectomy, you name it) during that time.

[caridura]

I would also keep looking for other rates. COBRA is SO expensive. Usually, you can find cheaper insurance on your own.

I think I just went to one of those insurance comparison sites and found one that was good for us. We ended up with BCBS and we pay a little over what you mentioned was the price for your 2 children. That covers me, DH and DD.

[crayonblue]

Good question. We have BCBS and yes, it is ridiculous. DH is an independent contractor so we don't have much choice. I will say that BCBS has been great for us and has covered every medical expense we have had.

[Sheila]

Yes, I totally agree with all of this. My husband owns his own business, and we did BC/BS for a while, but it was SO expensive. We originally had it through COBRA. It was outrageous then, too.

We ended up switching to a high deductible catastrophic plan, as suggested above. We get our coverage through the NASE (National Assoc of Self Employed). Maybe not an option in your situation? We have a $5,000 deductible. Doctor's visits are not covered, though we do get discounted rates (sometimes 50% off). Annual cost is about $5,800 for a family of 3. It is still expensive, but much less than anything else we could find.

Under this plan, we are basically just paying to cover ourselves in case something major medical comes up. We end up just paying for everything out of pocket, since we don't reach the $5K deductible. And the plan does not cover dental, vision, etc... FYI - we could reduce our annual cost by about $800 or so if we switched to a $10K deductible.

Also, the point above re: continuous coverage is SO TRUE. I've known people that had trouble getting coverage later, once they had had a lapse in med insurance.

Good luck. It is tough, that's for sure. When you pay for your own coverage, it ends up being a major expense!!!

Sheila
________
YAMAHA MUSIC FOUNDATION (http://www.yamaha-tech.com/wiki/Yamaha_Music_Foundation)

[LD92599]

Another idea that i found to be cheaper per month is this:

Get one plan that covers a single person and one plan that covers parent and child(ren). Also, if you go w/ an HMO ask for the premium cost for a $30 co-pay. We have HUNDREDS of $$ per month w/ a $30 co-pay but i found that i need to ask for it as the norm is usually $20 on the various websites.

Laura
mom to William

LKibala at optonline dot net

[img]http://lilypie.com/baby3/030305/1/2/0/-5/.png

[Twin Mom]

I am not endorsing this site b/c I haven't used it personally but I have heard that it is a good resource for those who don't have employer insurance available. At a minimum you can compare it to COBRA and whatever other options you find. Good luck with your search.

www.ehealthinsurance.com

HTH.

[SeekerMage]

you might also look to see if you are eligible for medicaid- state provided insurance. I know it tends to get lots of bad raps...we were on it a while when DH was out of work, but it rocked! There are a lot of good drs out there that accept it, and ER/urgent care visits are covered 100% without question. I dont know what state you are in, but in IL they have Kid Care which is insurance for kids and pregnant moms...there are two different plans, and depending upon your income you are more or less guarunteed coverage. Especially with the high costs of health benefits, I would look into it. Another place to look is your car insurance company some of them cover health care as well. Good Luck!

[kijip]

This is exactly why so many are uninsured- paying $1000 a month isn't an option if you work in a low wage job or are in school trying to get somewhere. My husband is in the EXACT situation as yours with taking pre-reqs to go to a Pharm D program after a total non-science education. Luckily for us he is able to do this while working a job that has insurance. It is expensive but manageable and the coverage is great.

One thought- have you considered looking into a state run program for basic coverage for at least the kids till he is in the Pharm program? In Washington State there are a limited number of affordable slots available in a public plan with decent coverage. With a student and a SAHP and a family size of 4 if AZ has anything similar you may very well qualify. Just a thought to get you through the 18 months!

[HannaAddict]

I would also second getting one plan for husband that is catastrophic and doesn't offer maternity benefits since he can't get pregnant. And then have you and kiddos on another plan, maybe with better coverage if you can afford it. When I was deciding not to go back to work and hubby was solo practioner, that was what we were going to do. The premium for his plan was under $100 a month with $3,500 or $5,000 deductible. The plan for me and baby was lower deductible and included maternity care, etc. (just in case). But Cobra was going to be well over $1,200 a month for our little family. Ouch. Good luck finding something affordable but don't go without coverage or your whole family could be in jepordy. The new bankruptcy laws have made it horrible for people with medical expenses they can't pay. Even bankruptcy can't really help.

Kimberly