RVer selecting health insurance

[cire]

I like many others needs to pick an new insurance carrier quickly. Now that the website is working better I can look at some of my options. Because we're full timers we must have a policy that can work anywhere in the country. First question: How do I find which carrier will cover me when I travel. I'm not afraid of doing homework. I just don't know where to start.

[cire]

After spending a LOT of time evaluating my options I discovered that Nevada does not offer a PPO plan that qualifies for a subsidy. (We qualify for a substantial subsidy.) Even the BCBS MultiState HMO does not work out. This is a much longer story because we feel we must have a PPO plan because we have Doctors in various states and we spend little time in NV. The ObamaCare plans in NV cover only NV locations except for emergencies in other states. Of course everything is more complicated than I am portraying here but you don't want to read 5 paragraphs on the details.

Bottom line is I must move my domicile from NV to another state in order to get a PPO plan. Right now Texas looks like a likely candidate. I need more time to evaluate alternative states. Fortunately because changing domiciles is not real hard for us, we can do it. It just that we expect to spend a several hundred hours of work to transfer everything over.

[IndyCamp]

safn1949 wrote:
That's very true on location,it is twice as much in Rochester then Mankato MN. What I had was a $4000 deductible, then 100% paid from there on to $5,000,000.I reckon I need to be buried long before 5 mil.

It can happen in the blink of an eye, my friend. You never know when you might get sick. You could get in your car tomorrow, get in an accident, and suffer a traumatic brain injury. You could have a stroke. You could be diagnosed with cancer.

There are young children in this country who have racked up $2 million hospital bills because of their conditions.

Before Obamacare, that sometimes meant those children were hitting their "lifetime caps," something that is no longer allowed, by the time they were six years old.

They could literally be denied coverage at six years old because they had an illness that caused them to rack up too much in hospital bills.

I'm a parent and I don't think ANYONE'S sick child should be denied coverage because an insurance company or a government wants to make more money.

[pawatt]

After a great deal of time on the phone with Blue Cross / Blue Shield today I purchased a policy, The Blue Access Plan. Total Deductible & Annual out of pocket $3150. My age is 63. This saves me about $150.00 a month over what I was paying and decreases my deductible by $2000.00 The cost is $515.00 per month with NO subsidy. This plan is good in any state at participating hospitals, clinics & pharmacies and according to BCBS most participate.

So call BCBS and tell them your situation & see if they can help you. Do it soon and be aware phone wait times are very long as they are swamped right now.

[safn1949]

Nothing is free my friend,as I stated the wife is from England. Taxed to death on
everything and anything to pay for theirs.The price of goods and services there is amazingly high. Survival rate.....not so much.

I understand how it is a good deal for some,but somebody has to pay for it. Now if I could just post that darn pdf showing costs,I also bought my own.It wasn't thru work just for information sakes.

[Cobra21]

safn1949 wrote:
Anyway......if I can get on my laptop later I will post a pdf showing info from MN under the new law,my rates went up 2.5 times what I was paying for the same plan and $500 more on the deductable.

That's a fact,but I will try to get it uploaded so you can make your own judgements. And my wife is from England so I will pass on that arguement,I know the facts from there.

I'm in your same area and since we are self employed we have always
been gouged real bad. This is a God send for us.
Sorry to hear it isn't working for you.

Brian

[safn1949]

That's very true on location,it is twice as much in Rochester then Mankato MN. What I had was a $4000 deductible, then 100% paid from there on to $5,000,000.I reckon I need to be buried long before 5 mil.

$250 a month give or take,now $4500,20% copay after that to a limit of out of pocket,about $600 a month.I'm using round figures here.

So tell me,is there a way to upload a pdf here cuz I don't see it.:?

[TechWriter]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

safn1949 wrote:
Anyway......if I can get on my laptop later I will post a pdf showing info from MN under the new law,my rates went up 2.5 times what I was paying for the same plan and $500 more on the deductable.

That's a fact,but I will try to get it uploaded so you can make your own judgements. And my wife is from England so I will pass on that arguement, I know the facts from there.

And mine could go down by half and I live in the same state. lol Wonder why that is?

Well, since you asked . . .

ACA (aka ObamaCare) rates are based on the following:
- Whether you're buying an individual or family plan (family plans will cost more).
- Where you live (This can vary by individual state counties).
- Age (The older you get, the more you pay.)
- Tobacco use (You smoke? Guess what, you're paying more).

If going to the gov't site (www.healthcare.gov) makes you all nervous and sweaty, then try these guys: www.thehealthsherpa.com.

This was the site created by a couple of San Francisco computer nerds who actually made a web site that worked when the ACA first opened and kept crashing.

[CavemanCharlie]

safn1949 wrote:
Anyway......if I can get on my laptop later I will post a pdf showing info from MN under the new law,my rates went up 2.5 times what I was paying for the same plan and $500 more on the deductable.

That's a fact,but I will try to get it uploaded so you can make your own judgements. And my wife is from England so I will pass on that arguement,I know the facts from there.

And mine could go down by half and I live in the same state. lol Wonder why that is? But, there is a catch. I work for a farmer that pays for my medical insurance and then takes it off of his taxes. When I went to him and said "Just give me what your paying for my insurance now and let me get my own policy cheaper through MN Sure". He said he is not sure he can do that. And, if he can legally only pay me for the cheaper plan he looses money because he then can't take the extra off he taxes. See, he has to come up with ways to spend money to get his taxes lower. So were both confused. It sucks because I would like to have that 200 dollar a month raise that the cheaper plan would save me. But, by saving money I could cost him money. Which is why I'm confused.

[TucsonJim]

dahkota wrote:

camperkilgore wrote:
Very high deductibles would seem to dictate that one would be better off with no insurance until something happens.....then buy a policy. Since preexisting conditions will have to be covered. I think that is probably what most young people will do. May be something wrong with this reasoning, but it seems to be logical given the situation today. I am like most people, I have no idea what to do.

That would work, if you could wait until January 1 to get treatment. You can only sign up once per year (during open enrollment) for insurance effective beginning January 1. The only exception is if you loose your current insurance (a life changing event - being fired, spousal death, etc.).

So if you are diagnosed with a brain tumor, or fall on a slippery sidewalk and end up in a coma, or have a heart attack while shoveling snow, can you wait for treatment until your insurance kicks in?

Health insurance is like car insurance - just in case the worst happens. My total out of pocket max is $5500. The insurance company pays 100% after that. I can afford a $5500 hit if I have a major medical emergency. However, I cannot afford a $250,000 bill like a friend of mine recently racked up. Luckily, she had insurance that covered 97% of it.

I spent one day in the hospital, and had a six hour heart procedure. The one day cost for hospital, room, doctors, drugs, etc. was $115,000.00. My final cost was $750. I tried to buy insurance on the open market earlier this year and was refused time after time due to the pre-existing condition.

With the advent of the ACA, I can now buy insurance through the exchanges and have enough coverage that I can retire with peace of mind. Yes, it's still expensive, but at least I can get coverage now.

[dahkota]

camperkilgore wrote:
Very high deductibles would seem to dictate that one would be better off with no insurance until something happens.....then buy a policy. Since preexisting conditions will have to be covered. I think that is probably what most young people will do. May be something wrong with this reasoning, but it seems to be logical given the situation today. I am like most people, I have no idea what to do.

That would work, if you could wait until January 1 to get treatment. You can only sign up once per year (during open enrollment) for insurance effective beginning January 1. The only exception is if you loose your current insurance (a life changing event - being fired, spousal death, etc.).

So if you are diagnosed with a brain tumor, or fall on a slippery sidewalk and end up in a coma, or have a heart attack while shoveling snow, can you wait for treatment until your insurance kicks in?

Health insurance is like car insurance - just in case the worst happens. My total out of pocket max is $5500. The insurance company pays 100% after that. I can afford a $5500 hit if I have a major medical emergency. However, I cannot afford a $250,000 bill like a friend of mine recently racked up. Luckily, she had insurance that covered 97% of it.

[safn1949]

Anyway......if I can get on my laptop later I will post a pdf showing info from MN under the new law,my rates went up 2.5 times what I was paying for the same plan and $500 more on the deductable.

That's a fact,but I will try to get it uploaded so you can make your own judgements. And my wife is from England so I will pass on that arguement,I know the facts from there.

[Redsky]

Pre Obamacare I could not even shop for insurance as my pre-existing condition would force me into an insurance pool where my rates would more than double. Cobra is a temporary solution to bridge people going from employer provided insurance plans to a private plan. Rates are going to be extremely high with Cobra but no one should stay with it for more than a few months.

For general care I need a policy. For emergency medical care when traveling I use a different type of insurance or take the risk of having to pay my own bills should I go into an emergency room for any reason.

[dahkota]

mpierce wrote:
Don't worry about. Obama said you could keep your plan. He said it would be better, and cheaper. So, there is no way you would not be covered! Trust him, he said so.

I didn't want to keep my plan - it was a costly HMO. So I got a better, cheaper plan under the ACA. And, the insurance companies couldn't deny me for pre-existing conditions. Works for me!

[camperkilgore]

Very high deductibles would seem to dictate that one would be better off with no insurance until something happens.....then buy a policy. Since preexisting conditions will have to be covered. I think that is probably what most young people will do. May be something wrong with this reasoning, but it seems to be logical given the situation today. I am like most people, I have no idea what to do.

[dahkota]

Old-Biscuit wrote:


According to the link provided FL doesn't have multi-state plan either only TX (of the three popular FTrs states) is offering the multi-state plan (at this time).

That is true - for plans offered on the exchanges.
BCBS offers what they call a BlueCard PPO. If you do not need the subsidy, or can wait until the end of the year for a credit on your taxes, you can go directly to the insurance company to purchase your insurance. One of the best advantages of the national network is that all the doctors listed are in your network (those out of network charges can be huge). According to BCBS, more than 6000 hospitals in 48 states. I have not yet figured out which states are not included (national directory). They also have international members in the network.