anyone buy there own health insurance looking for help

cj5walt

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Location
mooresville, nc
Where is a good place to start looking for a provider. Rates through my work are getting crazy, and have increased between 8 and 18%at the last three years. Now im having to add the wife and that more than triples what it is now, and we just can't afford it.

So im just looking for some pointers from the good people here. Thanks a bunch
 
I have BCBS Blue Advantage. Like it. I am what the insurance companies call "profit". Pay the premiums, rarely use the benefits. (I do take advantage of free annual physical (well, not every year like I should...) and it pays for eye exam every year). I have 80/20 plan with 1k deductible. I forget, but think my max out of pocket per year is 5,000. I am thinking about changing deductible to 2.5k, will save about 16% per year. I am 48 and my rate is cheaper than getting on my wife's insurance at work (BCBS state plan).

I messed with other companies over the years, went BCBS about 10 years ago.

edit: I got mine thru a local agent/representive. I think you can get the Blue Advantage straight from BCBS, not sure.

edit2: Just looked at the bcbs.com website. You can get a ballpark quote online, w/o giving any personal information.

If you got some savings in the bank, you can go with a high-deductible, 100% pay plan, with a right low monthly premium. You pay everything out of pocket up to your deductible (5k or 10k) and then they pay 100% after that. Good if you are young and don't run to the doctor every time you sneeze. I have a couple of friends that have this, works for them.
 
I will check into that. Me and my wife are both in our early twenties. No medical problems really. But my wife is a CNA at a nursing home and manages to catch some nasty cold flu type things each year that she ends up at the doc for.
 
Better to be 20 than over 50!

My Company had to drop insurance in 09. Most of us there, are 50, or over, with medical conditions. NO one could afford their own plan, under BCBS! I checked 6 other companies, turned down by 2, not affordable, with the rest. Finally found 1, basically a major medical, because you pay 100%, up to a high deductible [$2700]. After 6 mo., had an premium increase, that they blamed on NC increase. 6 mo. later, another increase, theirs! Would cost me $100 per week! NO THANKS. Only ones at my work, that have insurance, are on their spouses plan.
You won't have these problems, but WILL, cost you more than a group plan.
 
I had a private plan with BCBS while I was unemployed few years back. It was a decent plan and was ~$400/month for both of us. It had good coverage with reasonable copays and deductibles. Though with my current 'medical condition' I'm not sure I'd get the same prices now.
 
As said above the higher the deductible the lower the premium . We are with Humana and have been for five years . For my wife two kids and myslef its a little over $400 a month . Where we save the most is we pay 100% of the prescription cost up to $1000 then they pay 80% . We dont need much for meds so it works for us .

I think all of the insurance companies are in cahoots .
 
If you are paying 18% at work you still in better shape than you would be on your own.
The one time I tried to find my own insurance I was told by a friend in the industry I would not be able to touch what I had.

I was still unhappy up until I was laid off, but even paying $400 a month In was still paying only 30%.


Matt
 
sammi_davis said:
I think all of the insurance companies are in cahoots .
Click to expand...


Any way you look at it ..... it's a money making bizniz.
I think any and all insurance companies are all crooks.


Matt
 
My BCBS has steadily gone up every year where it's as much as my house payment. I have a policy for me and my son. Luckily my wife just took a job with Novant Healthcare that has great insurance at a great family cost.
I was talking to a friend who used to have BCBS and just like me, his rates went out the roof. He now has Coventry http://coventryhealthcare.com/ insurance and he says the rates were 2/3 less. It may be worth a look.
 
Our was a "self-financed" set up at one time ...... they had to disclose all financial info.
The last year they did it ..... they took in $300,000+, paid out $135,000, in vested the rest and made 1.3 mil.

Then went up on our insurance 3 weeks later.

Quiet an uproar from the empolyees only led them to change the policy type ..... to keep from telling us how much they made.

Our company actually profited from the insurance for a long time.



Matt
 
Lizooki said:
Our was a "self-financed" set up at one time ...... they had to disclose all financial info.
The last year they did it ..... they took in $300,000+, paid out $135,000, in vested the rest and made 1.3 mil.
Then went up on our insurance 3 weeks later.
Quiet an uproar from the empolyees only led them to change the policy type ..... to keep from telling us how much they made.
Our company actually profited from the insurance for a long time.
Matt
Click to expand...
That's messed up. I hate having to pay like we do for something that is hardly used.
 
R Q said:
Luckily my wife just took a job with Novant Healthcare that has great insurance at a great family cost.
Click to expand...

Novant should provide great something... I just stopped at my doctor's office (which is now under Novant) to ask a simple question regarding a prescription and had to make a damned appointment for that. It's my opinion that Novant is screwing the eyeballs out of people... glad your family is getting something from them. Rant finished...
 
well I talked to human resources a little bit ago and found out that since my wife is eligable for insurance at her job there would be a $50 a week penalty charge. Man they know how to screw a person over. So I guess we will try to get her on at her job. Even though both our insurance plans suck it look s to be cheapest that way.
 
My BCBS policy started out around $130/month and went up to $275/month in a period of about 5 years. I never had any health conditions or injuries during that time and only used the plan for a couple of physicals (which checked out fine) and an ear infection or two. Part of it was the rate increases BCBS did every year and part of it was that I turned 30 my last year with them.

Now I have a plan that I got through "Alliance for Affordable Services". A friend of my girlfriend was working for this company at the time and he turned me on to it. Basically I pay $25 a month for membership into the AAS and another $120 or so for my actual insurance plan through Mid-West Life. The coverage was pretty good when I was in a car accident about 11 months ago and had to go to several doctor visits, get a CT scan, get an MRI, etc so I can't really complain. I've also gotten discount rental cars through AAS. There are a bunch of other benefits, but I haven't really taken the time to use them.

Here is a link if you want to check it out. They sent out a person who helped me go over all the plan options and signed me up.
http://www.affordableservices.org/
 
Obummer care immediately raised my insurance at work by 77%. Insurance costs will keep going up faster than inflation as more of the insane mandatory coverages increase.
Major medical will soon be illegal, that being coverage that is affordable with high deductibles to cover major things like accidents and surgery. This type of coverage became illegal on Massachusetts in 2007 after the democrat controlled bureaucracy got power mad.
When the government decides what coverage we all have to have, costs go up, not down.
By 2014 individual coverage will not be obtainable in the private insurance market. You will only be able to get insurance from the government. FYI, the highest rate of claim denial comes from Medicare/Medicaid, not the private sector.
Something to think about.
 
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