Health Insurance H%ll

[Darkchild80 0]

I teach in Georgia. Health insurance for teachers is very expensive in Georgia compared to New York. I used to pay $15 per month in New York as single. The single preminum in Georgia was $71. This is for the same health company (Blue Cross Blue Shield). I guess the school systems in New York contribute more to the teachers health plans. I added my husband to my plan. My plan is now $300 monthly including medical and dental. It blows my mind! I don't even use this much insurance.

[tijuanahilton 0]

this sucks

[*JG* 2]

So I work for a nonprofit and just found out that if I add my fiance (he'll be my spouse by this point) to my health insurance, I'd be responsible for the premium for him...I'd go from paying 150 a month to 800. Impossible. So when he's finally here, I'm going to have to quit my job and look for another with a family plan that they pay for.

Of course, hopefully at some point he'd get a job with health coverage, but that could be months. I just don't know what to do in the interim.

Has anyone else dealt with this? What did you do?

Yep. Jomo's costs me $465 a month right now. We have been paying that since June of 2007. He is due to get his own through his job on the 21st of this month and I cannot wait!!!!

The only thing I do have to say about that is he went to the ER twice (sickle cell episode and a broken nose) and to the dentist and oral surgeon several times to have a cleaning, cavities filled, and wisdom teeth pulled. All in all, those premiums, while hurting our bottom line, were far less then us totally responsible for all the bills he would've wracked up.

[GabachaYucateca 0]

I did find a carrier that would only charge around $240 a month with a deductible of $1000. I think that this will work in the interim, as I'm going to be looking for a new job in July after he gets here. Even if it's with a non-profit that doesn't have a family plan, I'm going to make sure that at least I'm covered with either no or very low premiums so the extra $ for him doesn't kill us. And I'm also going to convince him that he wants a union job!

Part of me wants to tell him to be very, very careful in the meantime, but Jomo's girl's post only confirmed what I already knew!!! Obviously your extra expenditures in premiums were well worth it with his doctor's visits.

Oh, how I wish sometimes that things were easier. My fiance's family has NEVER had insurance. They're able to pay for visits for minor things because the fees are so low. And for anything major (when he broke his arm or when his dad had prostate surgery) they paid what they could (not much) and paid to get them out of the hospital in blood. Literally. Family members had to go down and donate blood before they'd release them.

[athena_ny 1]

I did find a carrier that would only charge around $240 a month with a deductible of $1000. I think that this will work in the interim, as I'm going to be looking for a new job in July after he gets here. Even if it's with a non-profit that doesn't have a family plan, I'm going to make sure that at least I'm covered with either no or very low premiums so the extra $ for him doesn't kill us. And I'm also going to convince him that he wants a union job!

Part of me wants to tell him to be very, very careful in the meantime, but Jomo's girl's post only confirmed what I already knew!!! Obviously your extra expenditures in premiums were well worth it with his doctor's visits.

Oh, how I wish sometimes that things were easier. My fiance's family has NEVER had insurance. They're able to pay for visits for minor things because the fees are so low. And for anything major (when he broke his arm or when his dad had prostate surgery) they paid what they could (not much) and paid to get them out of the hospital in blood. Literally. Family members had to go down and donate blood before they'd release them.

Are they charging so much because there's no valid status change, etc? I was able to add my husband to my dental (he has health) at the standard 36 dollars per year price. And if I'd added him to my health, it was going to be 625 a year, but this is when I got my new job. But marriage is a valid status change. I know going through the private sector makes it expensive, and you work for a non profit but in general I can't believe it costs so much.

Edited April 13, 2007 by meow mix

[GabachaYucateca 0]

Well, are you asking why it costs so much through my employer or why the $240 is so much? If it's the former, it's because this particular employer pays 3/4 of an individual's health plan and I pay the remainder. They pay nothing above that, so if I wanted to put him on, it'd be the whole amount for the additional cost, plus what I pay anyways. I've been asking around, and it seems that no nonprofits around here pay for a family plan (don't know about the huge ones like United Way). So even if we had aready been married at the time I started my coverage, it would have been the same story.

The $240 is for an individual plan through the third insurance carrier in the state.

Anyway you look at it, it's not pretty.

Sickening, isn't it? Especially because I bust my butt working for a population receiving government benefits and don't pay a cent for premium, comprehensive health care for themselves and their children. They can even get over the counter medicines like Tylenol or cough syrup for free as long as the doctor writes out a prescription.

And last time I went to the clinic, I put on a sad face so the doctor would feel sorry for me and give me antibiotics he had on hand so I wouldn't have to pay the $50 for them at the pharmacy on top of the $50 copay.

Okay, so now I'm ranting. Sorry.

[athena_ny 1]

Well, are you asking why it costs so much through my employer or why the $240 is so much? If it's the former, it's because this particular employer pays 3/4 of an individual's health plan and I pay the remainder. They pay nothing above that, so if I wanted to put him on, it'd be the whole amount for the additional cost, plus what I pay anyways. I've been asking around, and it seems that no nonprofits around here pay for a family plan (don't know about the huge ones like United Way). So even if we had aready been married at the time I started my coverage, it would have been the same story.

The $240 is for an individual plan through the third insurance carrier in the state.

Anyway you look at it, it's not pretty.

Sickening, isn't it? Especially because I bust my butt working for a population receiving government benefits and don't pay a cent for premium, comprehensive health care for themselves and their children. They can even get over the counter medicines like Tylenol or cough syrup for free as long as the doctor writes out a prescription.

And last time I went to the clinic, I put on a sad face so the doctor would feel sorry for me and give me antibiotics he had on hand so I wouldn't have to pay the $50 for them at the pharmacy on top of the $50 copay.

Okay, so now I'm ranting. Sorry.

I guess I knew the answer...it just makes me sick that if you can't pay an arm and a leg, there's no options. Sure, when I was uninsured I could pay 400 dollars a month to continue my coverage...but I only made 1400 and there was nothing left over after the bills were paid!

I can't believe they won't cover a spouse though...that's insane. What if you had children? Would you have to pay 100% of that too?

God, insurance in this country needs to be fixed but that's one of my soapboxes to begin with.

[GabachaYucateca 0]

I can't believe they won't cover a spouse though...that's insane. What if you had children? Would you have to pay 100% of that too?

God, insurance in this country needs to be fixed but that's one of my soapboxes to begin with.

That's exactly right. Both my future husband and any children we have would fall under this crazy amount. I'm looking for a new job! And this is also one of my soapboxes. As I started typing this a friend came into my office hysterical because she's preggers with her second child and her husband is about to be laid off which means they will lose their health insurance. Since she works for a nonprofit as well, they only provider health care for her, not her toddler her husband or their little pea in the pod.

[*JG* 2]

I, too, work for a non-profit. They pay my premium 100%. None for spouse or family.

And, Jomo was very careful. He could not help the sickle cell episode. And, the broken nose was while working for cash for a friend. The sickle cell ER visit was something like $4,000 alone. And, they wanted to keep him overnight, which I fought against.

Because it went above our 7% threshhold, we were able to claim the insurance premiums and co-pays on our 2006 taxes. It was one bright side to the whole thing.

[Nasturtium 500]

My health insurance (if I could afford to take it) would be $435/monthly for me, and $825 monthly if I added a spouse. I only make $1100/month. The deductable is $5,000 or $10,000 depending on which kind of accident, etc you have or maternity...

[kitkat1 5]

Blue Cross has a plan which may or may not be available where you live. It covers only major catastrophic illnes or injury and usually runs about $75/month. So you are covered for anything really major and anything else like routine dr. visits or prescriptions you pay for on your own.

Better to have emergency coverage of this sort than nothing at all because if something does happen, you then have a pre-existing condition and most insurance companies will either deny you coverage, include a long-term pre-existing coverage rider (meaning no coverage for that condition) or charge you and arm and a leg for future insurance.