Do you have health insurance

Good luck. Hope everything goes well and that job comes through.

 

I was without insurance while I was changing jobs last fall. I had a scheduled checkup during that time and it cost me $120 at the office. The receptionist told me it would have been $300 if I had put it on my insurance, and that would’ve not even dented my deductible.

 

The ACA fucked me over pretty hard, and I'm paying a goodly amount for fairly worthless insurance that doesn't cover my cardiologist of 20 years. Went to see him last week, explained the situation, and he only charged me $50 for the visit (included EKG). I was stunned, and very thankful.

 

I couldn’t imagine being insurance-less.

The plan my parents had in the ’80s only picked up 80 percent of the tab, as I recall.

 

I've thought about going without it, to try it out, for a year, anyway, just to save some money.

But I always back away from the idea. First of all, I get my health insurance through work, and it is one of the really legitimate perks of working in a full-time job that offers such coverage. It would seem silly, even dumb, not to take advantage of it, and as if it's too much of an unnecessary risk. Even if you're relatively healthy, you never know when you might get in a car accident, or suddenly become less relatively healthy.

Also, my job offers three levels/different plans to choose from, so you can, at least to some extent, pick how much you want to pay, and settle, or not, for a certain level of coverage. For now, I've opted for the middle-level plan, which allows me a PPO plan and gives me pretty decent coverage -- 80 percent or better of most procedures, good prescription costs and including good-enough dental and vision coverage -- for very little cost (about $75 a month). I've heard from others at work who have it that the top-tier plan that's offered is really excellent. But there is a significant difference, cost-wise, and I'm not at a point, or in a condition, where I feel like I need or want to pay out for that right now.

I re-evaluate every year around open-enrollment time.

 

Very fortunate that my employer covers all but about $250 of what would be an $1100/mo PPO with $1500 family deductible. Also covers dental premium entirely.

Best plan I've had, and at the best rate I've had.

 

I've always had health insurance, and it was a deal-breaker as I was looking for a new job two years ago. But now, my daughter is considering just having her two girls insured for the coming year and not herself.

I think that's like walking a tightrope without a safety net. One injury or illness, and you're a welfare family. It's that simple.

 

I've always had health insurance and now that I'm of a certain age, my wife and I have transitioned to Medicare. Our medigap policy is with AARP. Last year my wife had a hip replaced and we paid zero, as in nothing, for the operation or any other medical care throughout the year. What Medicare didn't pay, the medigap policy paid. And, we found out, that her long-time employer has an HCA or HSA program for retirees where we get X amount of dollars a year that we can use to offset any medical costs. Found out last week we can get our Medicare and medigap premiums reimbursed under the program.

 

Unless you're using it, I doubt you even think about it.

I could have been insurance-less my entire 35-year working career, and the only difference would be I'd have a ton more money.

We actually went without insurance for my wife one year. Sure enough, she had a kidney stone attack that required a late night ER visit.

Everything wound up costing around $6,000. "Aha! You should have had insurance. That'll teach you!"
Eh, my yearly premiums and $4,000 deductible and what I would have had to pay that insurance didn't cover STILL would have cost more than that for the year. So insurance would have done zero good --- in that narrow example.

Not necessarily. Self-pay automatically knocks 33 percent off almost every bill. And even then, "I can't fucking pay this, and I refuse to be destitute for the rest of my life" likely will get you into the charity basket where the hospital will eat most of it.

 

And people who do that are what fucks the system for the rest of us. Don't stick us with your bill!

 

Don't worry about me. I pay my bills. And I'll fly 5,500 miles to get treated if I can't.

And charity care is available for people who do everything by the book, too.

WashingtonLawHelp.org | Free legal help for Washingtonians who cannot afford a lawyer.

 

Last year my family had:
—Me with an ulcer that required a hospital stay to get me well
—Me with a broken appendix that required a hospital stay
—My wife with surgery
—My youngest daughter needing tubes in her ears
—Regular doctor visits for the four of us

My appendix alone cost more than $20,000 between the ER visit, the surgery, the knock-out drugs, the hospital room, etc. I didn't add it up, but we probably had at least $50,000 in medical costs last year. We paid our family deductible (about $6,500, I think) with the HSA my wife paid into every paycheck, and insurance covered the rest.

Without insurance, we'd be destitute, and that's a crying fucking shame for a country this wealthy.