Full Timer health Insurance

[FolkBus]

Good Morning all,

What as been the health insurance options for those of you who have gone full time?  How have you managed your policy and or changes you have needed to make.  I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CURRENT POLITICAL FEELINGS. I'm looking for full timer health options.

Thanks

--Mike

[Oonrahnjay]

Good Morning all,

What as been the health insurance options for those of you who have gone full time?  How have you managed your policy and or changes you have needed to make.  I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CURRENT POLITICAL FEELINGS. I'm looking for full timer health options.

Thanks

--Mike

    What's your age and current insurance status, Mike?  These conditions will make a difference for you.   (No political axe to grind here.)

[luvrbus]

What difference would it make being full time or not ?

[Seangie]

Mike,

We are fulltiming and currently un-insured.  We have looked at health insurance every year and it never makes any sense to us to pay 800/month when our health care expenses with regular doctors visits, chiropractic care and sick kid visits to the clinics never add up to more than 1200.00 a year without insurance.  We have also contemplated doing catostrophic health coverage which would be a deductable of like 3k but those plans are also about 400/month and with both of these plans we would still pay a good chunk of money for doctors visits.

In the first case we would pay a 25$ co pay each visit when our uninsured visits now range from 50-75$.  This varies depending on where the office is located, any tests they deem necessary when we visit.  And neither insurance plan covers 100% of any medication...always a co-pay.  the first is 10$ co-pay with everything the second covers nothing until you break your deduct but they only cover a percentage at that point.

We did the math and if we put the 800/month away in an interest bearing account within 12 years we would have a nice bankroll that would cover over 2 years of cancer to end of life treatment in a hospital.  (This is based on a little research that most people with cancer in end of life treatment spend an average of 100k over the last 2 years of treatment) And this year we were planning on doing just that (banking away our insurance money) until our govt decided on being a dictatorship...(sorry couldnt resist)

For comparison my wife and I are right around our 40's with good health and have 4 kids.  I have type 2 diabetes that is manageable without medication.

Good luck.  If you find some super deal on insurance let us know. 

-Sean
www.herdofturtles.org

[luvrbus]

It is really a no brainier just be broke,rent a section 8 with no job then it is easy to get,I am a little pissed I just got the bill for my supplemental insurance for Medicare we lost benefits and the price went way up but surely there is way Sean 800 bucks a month for 12 years won't cover heart surgery or the cancer treatment for 2 years I don't know where that study came from, it wasn't from the Mayo they ate up 50 to 60 grand a month from me in 2000

[Seangie]

It is really a no brainier just be broke,rent a section 8 with no job then it is easy to get,I am a little pissed I just got the bill for my supplemental insurance for Medicare we lost benefits and the price went way up but surely there is way Sean 800 bucks a month for 12 years won't cover heart surgery or the cancer treatment for 2 years I don't know where that study came from, it wasn't from the Mayo they ate up 50 to 60 grand a month from me in 2000

Cliff- I might have been looking at a report that showed what insurance company costs are for 2 year end of life... not what we pay.  I did have appendicitis with no insurance and out of pocket costs for everything including the doctors bills were somewhere in the range of 20k (12k for the hospital and 8k for doctors bills)

I did find out later that most doctors and the hospital will give you a big discount up front if you dont have insurance and are willing to pay cash. 

If I ever need an operation I'll probably just head south of the border or maybe over to Asia for a few months   They are happy to take pennies on the dollar for what we pay here and give first class service for anyone with cash.

-Sean

[luvrbus]

Yea at one time we had the best medical system in the world not any longer you are just as well off in a 3rd world country IMO, 2 days in the hospital last month they did nothing and the doctors could not speak English over 8 grand for 2 days

[technomadia]

Here's an article we wrote a while back about healthcare on the road for full-timers of pre-Medicare age.

http://www.technomadia.com/healthcare

I've not updated it yet to reflect the ACA changes now that the exchanges are open, as I'm still gathering information on it as folks navigate the new options. But initial findings are that there are not many, if any, nationwide provider networks available in the exchanges of the typical full-timer friendly domicile states (TX, SD and FL). So if you qualify for subsidies, you may be choosing between 'affordable' healthcare that is only good in your region of domicile, or paying higher premiums to get a nationwide network that will cover you for non-emergency services as you travel. 

We have high-deductible individual PPO plans with a fairly extensive nationwide network, linked to a HSA account.

Best wishes,
- Cherie

[belfert]

Many health insurance plans have a network that is usually fairly local.  Coverage out of the network is often more expensive and can have limits.  Full timers are likely to need most care out of network.

A co-worker of mine has been battling cancer for a year and his medical care has cost over $100,000 and his treatment is ongoing.

[Len Silva]

http://www.escapees.com/ is a great resource for full timers.

[Utahclaimjumper]

 I have a doctor friend that has advised me that by federal law he cannot charge me any less than he charges the government for a procedure, cash or no, period. That says a lot about how much power your uncle has over every part of our lives.>>>Dan

[eagle19952]

As a full timer who travels a reasonable lot.
Cancer treatment is very expensive...having said that, health insurance at any price is cheap. I gladly pay and have for 30 years.
My insurance provider uses a group called beechstreet.com, I can go anywhere in the US, if there is a doctor on the list I can use them. My wife's urologist is the premier kidney transplant surgeon in this area, her hand surgeon is a highly regarded micro surgeon and my ortho doc was the same one that worked for Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates They give a contracted discount to my provider.
I know this doesn't provide the OP with a solution, (it is what I do though) but one really must consider ones FAMILIES future when considering not providing themselves health insurance.
PS I pay more than 9.5% of my net for health insurance, I can keep my plan, and probably will. (The Affordable Care Act says I can opt out of it and probably get a 90% plan for less money)
Even after I turn 65.

See if your doctor is on this list:
http://www.beechstreet.com/beechplus/IPLU/Control?hJSPName=splash.jsp&hButtonMode=Search

Beech Street Patients
More than 560,000 practitioners, 5,000 hospitals, and 85,000 specialty care facilities participate in the Beech Street Network, so it's not difficult to find a participating provider in any area of the country. We offer our online search capabilities so that you can locate the care you need twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  

Another PS:
The point of cancer treatment is to make it past two years....if that's all you get I would consider not being treated, as in my wife and kids would get more benefit from that $115,200.00 @ 2.0% interest....$15365.49. < that # won't pay a bankruptcy attorney.

My Dad's end of life care, is costing more than $12,000.00 a month, since February 2013...

[FolkBus]

Thank you all for the input. I'm 61 and uninsured so I'm looking.

--Mike

[jjrbus]

We did the math and if we put the 800/month away in an interest bearing account within 12 years we would have a nice bankroll that would cover over 2 years of cancer to end of life treatment in a hospital.  (This is based on a little research that most people with cancer in end of life treatment spend an average of 100k over the last 2 years of treatment) And this year we were planning on doing just that (banking away our insurance money) until our govt decided on being a dictatorship...(sorry couldnt resist)

I have a friend that retired with over a million dollar portfolio, and an expensive condo in Chicago and a nice piece of land in Costa Rica to build a retirement home. Plus a premium Health insurance plan from his company.

He came down with some odd infection.   After reaching the life time limits of his health insurance he had to start tapping his funds.   He is now 70 and every thing is gone, he lives in Illinois on Social Security.  Pretty sad.

I had one visit to the ER, 4 hour $15,000!!   $100,000 Is nothing in today's medical industry.

Full timing in Canada or Europe is your best option.                  JIm

[sledhead]

In Ontario ohip ( Ontario health insurance plan ) is free ( we pay for it in taxes ) but its snowing as we speak      dave