Estimate on private health insurance

[niccig]

DH is toying with idea of going self-employed as freelancer. One question is how much private health insurance will cost us. Is there a way to get an estimate - online or through a broker? We need to know how much it will cost us and what would/would not be covered on that plan. We have good insurance through his work, but the industry is changing so much, DH might be better off freelancing at different companies.

Oh health issues for us are thyroid for me, which is under control. DH does have high cholesterol and triglcerides but he is losing weight and those numbers are going down. I don't think DH will make a move for at least 6 months, so DH might be able to get his blood tests within normal range by then. DS went to the Dr. once last year. DH and I wear glasses. We see the dentist twice a year for cleanings. That's it.

Thanks for any advice.

[Kestrel]

Well, be prepared for "sticker shock".

We have what I feel is fairly good private-pay insurance, with excellent well-baby and preventitive. For DH (39 years old), myself (38 years old) and infant DS (13 months) we pay $985 per month, just under 12K a year. That does cover eye exam and $200 per year for glasses, but not dentist. {For pre-existing problems, I cannot get dental, and DH choose not to.}

Plans vary by state, though. Good luck! The looking process really, REALLY sucks.

[luza]

There are some online brokers who can give you quotes along with information on the ratings for different insurance companies. Here's a New York Times article that mentions some, and also gives some guidelines on what to look for: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/your-money/health-insurance/primerhealth.html?_r=1&ref=your-money

[kozachka]

Check out www.eheathinsurance.com (http://www.eheathinsurance.com) for private insurance options. Not sure about pre-existing condition coverage, but it will get you an idea. You can screen plans using many criteria, including your doctor. Be sure to look into high deductible plans with health savings account, that's what we ended up doing. It can be quite attractive if you pay a lot of taxes and are relatively healthy. I also like to have a lower maximum spend per year.

[mommylamb]

I can't help but shamelessly put in a plug for health care reform here. This is exactly why the bill would set up health insurance exchanges. Someone like you could go to the exchange and get an apples to apples comparison of the various plans available to you in your state and all the plans would be held to a standard requiring that they do not consider pre-existing conditions, cover the basics, etc.

[DietCokeLover]

Check out www.eheathinsurance.com (http://www.eheathinsurance.com) for private insurance options. Not sure about pre-existing condition coverage, but it will get you an idea. You can screen plans using many criteria, including your doctor. Be sure to look into high deductible plans with health savings account, that's what we ended up doing. It can be quite attractive if you pay a lot of taxes and are relatively healthy. I also like to have a lower maximum spend per year.

This is how we found our health insurance. We are self employed, so we used this to search multiple companies.

[BeachBum]

We are a family of 5 and pay about $1K a month for a high deductible plan. Well visits are covered for the kids and my OB, and we pay for everything else out of pocket (well out of our HSA).

[ChristinaLucia]

We pay about $12k a year for our family of 3 - we are self-employed. It stinks!

[niccig]

I can't help but shamelessly put in a plug for health care reform here. This is exactly why the bill would set up health insurance exchanges. Someone like you could go to the exchange and get an apples to apples comparison of the various plans available to you in your state and all the plans would be held to a standard requiring that they do not consider pre-existing conditions, cover the basics, etc.

You don't have to convince me.
I think your DH is same natonality as me??? If yes, then I'm sure you've heard his take on not changing a job just because of health insurance. It boggles my mind...

[niccig]

Thanks everyone. I'll look into the links. Friends pay about $1000 a month, so we may go with that estimate, as it seems about average. DH may not make the change, or if he works freelance at one of the companies that is union and does enough hours there, we can get health insurance through the union. But we wouldn't be able to count on getting enough every year. If we decide this is the best, I'll kick myself into looking for a job with benefits.

[MissyAg94]

I can't help but shamelessly put in a plug for health care reform here. This is exactly why the bill would set up health insurance exchanges. Someone like you could go to the exchange and get an apples to apples comparison of the various plans available to you in your state and all the plans would be held to a standard requiring that they do not consider pre-existing conditions, cover the basics, etc.
Since you brought it up, what happens to those folks who presently choose to have only catastrophic coverage and HSA's (who don't want comprehensive coverage at $1000/month) if this bill passes?

[mommylamb]

Since you brought it up, what happens to those folks who presently choose to have only catastrophic coverage and HSA's (who don't want comprehensive coverage at $1000/month) if this bill passes?

I don't know off hand. I haven't heard anything about a change to this, so I'm inclined to say that things stay the same, but I don't want to make a claim of which I'm not positive.

[mommylamb]

You don't have to convince me.
I think your DH is same natonality as me??? If yes, then I'm sure you've heard his take on not changing a job just because of health insurance. It boggles my mind...

He's actually English, but he works for the Aussies.

[HIU8]

Up until last year I was on an indemnity plan with just myself, DS and DD. I would not go on DD's plan b/c it was an HMO. I was still on the plan my parents had when I was a kid. When I was 23 the plan moved me to a new group. For me and 2 kids I was paying $590 a year. We looked at adding DH to it (his HMO plan sucked and his employer wasn't going to change it). For a family of 4 it was $935 I believe. We paid through the nose and it didn't include vision or dental.

We are now on a plan through DH's new job that is much more economical and almost identical in benefits to the old indemnity plan.

[mamicka]

I don't know off hand. I haven't heard anything about a change to this, so I'm inclined to say that things stay the same, but I don't want to make a claim of which I'm not positive.

According to the link you posted in the other thread, here's what it says about HSA's (there are other sections dealing with HSA's so you can do a search on the document yourself - my cutting & pasting patience has been tested today):
Impose a tax on individuals without qualifying coverage of the greater of $695 per year up to a maximum of three times that amount or 2.5% of household income to be phased-in beginning in 2014.
Impose an excise tax on insurers of employer-sponsored health plans with aggregate values that exceed $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage (these threshold values will be indexed to the consumer price index for urban consumers (CPI-U) for years beginning in 2020). The threshold amounts will be increased for retired individuals age 55 and older who are not eligible for Medicare and for employees engaged in high-risk professions by $1,650 for individual coverage and $3,450 for family coverage. The threshold amounts may be adjusted upwards if health care costs rise more than expected prior to implementation of the tax in 2018. The thresholds will be increased for firms that may have higher health care costs because of the age or gender of their workers. The tax is equal to 40% of the value of the plan that exceeds the threshold amounts and is imposed on the issuer of the health insurance policy, which in the case of a self-insured plan is the plan administrator or, in some cases, the employer. The aggregate value of the health insurance plan includes reimbursements under a flexible spending account for medical expenses (health FSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), employer contributions to a health savings account (HSA), and coverage for supplementary health insurance coverage, excluding dental and vision coverage. (Effective January 1, 2018)
Exclude the costs for over-the-counter drugs not prescribed by a doctor from being reimbursed through an HRA or health FSA and from being reimbursed on a tax-free basis through an HSA or Archer Medical Savings Account. (Effective January 1, 2011)
Increase the tax on distributions from a health savings account or an Archer MSA that are not used for qualified medical expenses to 20% (from 10% for HSAs and from 15% for Archer MSAs) of the disbursed amount. (Effective January 1, 2011)
Limit the amount of contributions to a flexible spending account for medical expenses to $2,500 per year increased annually by the cost of living adjustment. (Effective January 1, 2013)
Increase the threshold for the itemized deduction for unreimbursed medical expenses from 7.5% of adjusted gross income to 10% of adjusted gross income for regular tax purposes; waive the increase for individuals age 65 and older for tax years 2013 through 2016. (Effective January 1, 2013)
Increase the Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) tax rate on wages by 0.9% (from 1.45% to 2.35%) on earnings over $200,000 for individual taxpayers and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly and impose a 3.8% tax on unearned income for higher-income taxpayers (thresholds are not indexed). Funds from the additional tax on earned income will be credited to the Part A Trust Fund and funds from the new tax on unearned income will be credited to the Part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) Trust Fund. (Effective January 1, 2013)
Eliminate the tax deduction for employers who receive Medicare Part D retiree drug subsidy payments (Effective January 1, 2013)
Impose new annual fees on the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, according to the following schedule:

$2.5 billion in 2011;
$3.0 billion in 2012-2016;
$3.5 billion in 2017;
$4.2 billion in 2018; and
$2.8 billion in 2019 and later.

Impose an annual fee on the health insurance sector, according to the following schedule:

$8 billion in 2014;
$11.3 billion in 2015-2016;
$13.9 billion in 2017;
$14.3 billion in 2018
For subsequent years, the fee shall be the amount from the previous year increased by the rate of premium growth.
For non-profit insurers, only 50% of net premiums are taken into account in calculating the fee. Exemptions granted for non-profit plans that receive more than 80% of their income from government programs targeting low-income or elderly populations, or people with disabilities, and voluntary employees’ beneficiary associations (VEBAs) not established by an employer. (Effective January 1, 2014)
Impose an excise tax of 2.9% on the sale of any taxable medical device. (Effective for sales after December 31, 2012)
Limit the deductibility of executive and employee compensation to $500,000 per applicable individual for health insurance providers. (Effective January 1, 2009)
Impose a tax of 10% on the amount paid for indoor tanning services. (Effective January 1, 2010)
Exclude unprocessed fuels from the definition of cellulosic biofuel for purposes of applying the cellulosic biofuel producer credit. (Effective January 1, 2010)
Clarify application of the economic substance doctrine and increase penalties for underpayments attributable to a transaction lacking economic substance. (Effective upon enactment)

[MissyAg94]

Apparently high deductible or catastrophic plans won't meet the federal requirement for minimum coverage so folks desiring those plans will be facing fines as a result. HSA's are basically gutted and worthless. What happened to "if you like your insurance, you can keep it?"

[secchick]

Apparently high deductible or catastrophic plans won't meet the federal requirement for minimum coverage so folks desiring those plans will be facing fines as a result. HSA's are basically gutted and worthless. What happened to "if you like your insurance, you can keep it?"

This is my huge problem. The mandate is that you have "acceptable" health insurance, as deemed by IRS agents. I read an article about a young freelance writer who had a high deductible policy that covered major medical. He lived in New Jersey, and as you may know, NJ is one of the most expensive health insurance markets in the country, in large measure because of idiotic state mandates about what has to be covered, for example, in NJ, health insurance policies must cover hair plugs. No joke. Thing is, the young guy was healthy and couldn't afford $1K per month for a traditional plan on the individual market, but the high deductible policy was a couple grand a year and the premium savings more than covered any necessary well or sick visits, and the guy still had coverage if something really terrible happened. Now, that policy isn't acceptable under federal law, he probably still won't be able to afford coverage, even with subsidies, and the fines that he'll have to pay, ironically, depending on which version of the bill you're talking about, could almost equal what he was paying for his high deductible policy that provided coverage. And high deductible policies actually DO reduce costs, because people directly see the cost impact of generic medications and explore the costs and effectiveness of alternative treatments. I believe that people should not be denied basic life saving care based on ability to pay, but that's entirely different from requiring me to subsidize coverage for someone's hair plugs. Everyone except the truly indigent should have to pay *something*, even a nominal amount ($5 or $10), for care. My big issue with Medicaid, in my experience, is that if people don't pay a dime, they consume it as if it is free.

[niccig]

He lived in New Jersey, and as you may know, NJ is one of the most expensive health insurance markets in the country, in large measure because of idiotic state mandates about what has to be covered, for example, in NJ, health insurance policies must cover hair plugs. No joke.

Now that is crazy. Hair plugs are a necessary medical procedure?? Seriously?? What are the people in the legislature, both State and Federal, on when silly stuff like this gets included???

[Jo..]

Health Insurance is a CONSTANT worry for me. We pay $700 per month towards DH's employer sponsored plan (Blue Cross Blue Shield). Additionally, the deductibles and co-pays are awful. His employer offers one plan and one plan only. Every year we wind up with several thousand dollars out of pocket in addition to the insurance cost. Usually we wind up paying 10-12,000 yearly in total medical costs. This is a SIGNIFICANT chunk of our income.

However, when we explore outside plans, we're basically screwed. We'd love to pay higher premiums for lower deductibles and copays. DH had cancer and has to undergo routine screening, I have other issues. Health costs are HUGE HUGE HUGE for us. We failed to take this fully into account when switching jobs. A huge raise and a move cross country has actually resulted in way less discretionary income due to huge medical bills.