Health Insurance
New health insurance laws took effect at midnight. I am suggesting that before you roll out for your trips, check to make sure that your health insurance coverage is fully functional. It's one t...
Forum Discussion
travelnutz wrote:
You'd best talk to people mostly under 50 years of age who have BCBS or Hummana as I have yet to find or hear of one who produces actual printed health care quotes that their premimum, deductibles, and co-pays haven't increased by 150% or more. We are 72 and I have 10 printout quotes which are the best choice in costs coverage from insurance plans prepared by the Council on Aging. Neither BCBS or Humanna is one of the 10. Tell me again how great their insurance plans really are!
BTW, the 10 range from the lowest cost plan with the same mandated coverage (ACA) to 2175 of the lowest and still neithe BCBS or Humanna is in the top 10! DUH!
DH and I are 47. We both just retired and had to find health insurance. We had a choice of COBRA, at $1404 per month, or looking on the exchange. Our COBRA insurance is an HMO with only regional coverage through BCBS. On the exchange, we found a Silver level PPO with national coverage through BCBS. The cost for the two of us is $538 per month, with no subsidies.
I could not purchase an individual plan on the open market because of pre-existing conditions. My condition? We had a parrot for a couple of years that, it turned out, I was highly allergic to. During molt season, I had allergy induced asthma. We got rid of the bird, the asthma went away; the insurance companies didn't care - I was branded for life.
My deductible has increased, but only because I went from an HMO to a PPO. The max out of pocket is about the same. BUT, we save a little over $10,000 per year, which covers our out of pocket max.
So, by changing healthcare plans, we potentially save a bunch of money but, even in the worst year with huge medical expenses, we pay no more than on our previous plan. We also now have a national network rather than an HMO that is no good more than 500 miles from home except in a dire emergency.
You have now heard of someone who has a great new plan from BCBS where the premiums and out of pocket maxes did not go up 150%. We can't compare the deductibles because our HMO does not have one. But, we also had a limited network of Dr.s we could use. I would be more than happy to show you print outs.
