Health Insurance

[DanB]

Who here buys their own insurance? Either you work for a company that doesn't provide. You are self employed. You are a drug or gun runner that deals in cash only.

I'm going to be in the need for some health insurance at the end of the month. I really don't want to go to Blue Cross and Blue Shield due to past experiences. I just need some options to start looking into.

 

[rhodesbe]

I hope he doesn't mind mentioning him, but WWB offered to help me recently, and has been in the insurance business for a lot of years.

 

[advmotoxc]

Long term Health Insurance or just like between jobs?

 

[Shadowrider]

I got mine from ehealthinsurance.com. They have a lot of choices. You may want to read up on obamacare's "grandfather provision". If you lose your's you may be automatically put into the fed system whether you want it or not. So that may influence the choice you make for the time period before that happens (in a couple of years or some such). I don't remember the details and frankly was too pissed to read it all that carefully.

 

[okietool]

Isn't there some sort of pool for people that live in Oklahoma? You might ask an independent agent, or call in on one of the Sunday shows on 1520 AM.

 

[BikerHT]

Before adding my wife and kids to my coverage at work, we purchased through goldenrule.com. We opted for a high deductible but after that was met, they paid 100%.

 

[chubbs]

Do you currently have health insurance through your employer? If so it is required by law that they offer you a Cobra plan. It is expensive but you get to keep your current plan

 

[DanB]

Currently have Health through my employer. I'm making a job change at the end of the month. Although Cobra is an option I'd rather just transition to something in one shot.

New employer is not currently offering health insurance but is offering a monthly sum to assist with insurance.

I appreciate the tips I'll have to look into them all before deciding who to start donating money to for a service I rarely use.

 

[Shadowrider]

If you truly rarely use it look at an HSA approved high deductible plan. And open an HSA account and put the premium savings into it. Your employer can also contribute to it IRRC and that might be a good way to go about it for both of you. Also, IRRC your HSA is tax free in addition to an IRA or 401k, but I'm not positive on this point.

 

[dru]

for the average "healthy" family a HDHP really makes a lot of sense. Especially if you can fund it through an HSA. The important part is to have a savings cushion built up to pay the annual deductible before you enroll in the plan or to at least get that cushion in place pronto. Then, simply make sure that you devote enough out of your paycheck each month to add to your savings the annual deductible, prorated over each paycheck. that way, even if major illness or tragedy strikes, when the deductible clock resets, you have already save up your deductible for that upcoming year and won't be left scrambling to pay a 2k-10k deductible.

I had every intention of doing that and then my employer trashed their HDHP. oh well. HDHPs are not as popular I think because it requires much more discipline and attention than a pay-it-and-forget-it health insurance plan. People also tend to be very risk averse and want absolutely everything under the sun covered - including those things that will happen with probability 1 (and which therefore cannot be insured against). HDHPs that are designed to cover scenarios that would truly financially cripple a young person, couple, or family are a great option due to their affordability. You lose some protection and yeah the deductible might sting but probably won't bankrupt most people and you get affordable coverage for the really bad juju