Anyone understand health insurance plans?

[JoeyBoy718]

So what is your plan if you get injured in a car wreck or fall down some stairs? You're part of the reason why costs are out of control.

He is probably in his 20s, he goes with what he can afford.

Yes, if under 50 employees, you do not have to offer health insurance.

IF you do not have a family, and are relatively healthy and young, I would not spend too much on health insurance.

@CyberB0b I'm not the one you asked but I thought I'd just share my experience with not having health insurance. I lived in Florida before the Obamacare stuff got passed (actually, not much changed in Florida after Obamacare because it was one of the few states not to expand Medicare). Like @CashMan said, I didn't have much to worry about because I was young, no family and relatively healthy. Well, some unexplained thing happened where I choked twice. I didn't pass out or anything. I drove myself to the hospital and waited hours before being seen, but I had to go to the emergency room (despite never wanting to go) because my esophagus was completely blocked and I couldn't get down a sip of water. It happened twice. Doctors didn't see anything irregular. Might've just been bad luck. Happened twice in two years. Never happened since. Anyway, each trip to the ER was about $5,000 and now I have $10,000 in hospital bills that is hurting my credit. I was in college and didn't have money to pay it back so it went to collections. For the most part, I haven't really needed my credit, but my score is still much lower because of it. I finished a master's degree and got a good job and started making regular payments on my student loans and putting things on credit cards and paying them off immediately just to build credit in case I ever need it. But those hospital bills are still there and I'm not sure if it's even worth it to pay them off. I can afford to start making payments on them now but 1) they're already a few years old so it might just be better to wait until they're wiped off, and 2) I've read that collections continue to hurt your credit for 7 years even after they've been fully paid off. I know they've been trying to pass a law to have medical collections stop hurting your credit after they're paid off, but it's been voted down every year. And by the time it finally does get voted in, I might only have a year left until they're off my credit anyway.

Anyway, so that's my story. Is insurance a scam? Probably. Is credit a scam? Probably. Does having medical collections affect my life? Not really. Do I care about something that should've been free in the first place having a negative impact on my credit when I've otherwise done everything else right in my life? Not really. Is it annoying? A little. Will I care in a few years? Maybe.

 

[CashMan]

@CyberB0b I'm not the one you asked but I thought I'd just share my experience with not having health insurance. I lived in Florida before the Obamacare stuff got passed (actually, not much changed in Florida after Obamacare because it was one of the few states not to expand Medicare). Like @CashMan said, I didn't have much to worry about because I was young, no family and relatively healthy. Well, some unexplained thing happened where I choked twice. I didn't pass out or anything. I drove myself to the hospital and waited hours before being seen, but I had to go to the emergency room (despite never wanting to go) because my esophagus was completely blocked and I couldn't get down a sip of water. It happened twice. Doctors didn't see anything irregular. Might've just been bad luck. Happened twice in two years. Never happened since. Anyway, each trip to the ER was about $5,000 and now I have $10,000 in hospital bills that is hurting my credit. I was in college and didn't have money to pay it back so it went to collections. For the most part, I haven't really needed my credit, but my score is still much lower because of it. I finished a master's degree and got a good job and started making regular payments on my student loans and putting things on credit cards and paying them off immediately just to build credit in case I ever need it. But those hospital bills are still there and I'm not sure if it's even worth it to pay them off. I can afford to start making payments on them now but 1) they're already a few years old so it might just be better to wait until they're wiped off, and 2) I've read that collections continue to hurt your credit for 7 years even after they've been fully paid off. I know they've been trying to pass a law to have medical collections stop hurting your credit after they're paid off, but it's been voted down every year. And by the time it finally does get voted in, I might only have a year left until they're off my credit anyway.

Anyway, so that's my story. Is insurance a scam? Probably. Is credit a scam? Probably. Does having medical collections affect my life? Not really. Do I care about something that should've been free in the first place having a negative impact on my credit when I've otherwise done everything else right in my life? Not really. Is it annoying? A little. Will I care in a few years? Maybe.

A month after my wife had our baby, the hospital collection agency was calling for our part of the deductible. And we have great insurance.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

A month after my wife had our baby, the hospital collection agency was calling for our part of the deductible. And we have great insurance.

Yep. It's crazy. Better just hope you never need it. I guess that's the only way to live these days.

 

[morasp]

We have an HSA with a high deductible plan. It actually pays 100% once the deductible is met and the HSA money is tax free so it's an above line tax deduction. We spend the difference on preventative measures such as healthier food and supplements. We've already invested in gym quality workout equipment (Precor EFX, Hoist V3 elite) so a trip to the gym is as simple as going down to the basement.

 

[CyberB0b]

@CyberB0b I'm not the one you asked but I thought I'd just share my experience with not having health insurance. I lived in Florida before the Obamacare stuff got passed (actually, not much changed in Florida after Obamacare because it was one of the few states not to expand Medicare). Like @CashMan said, I didn't have much to worry about because I was young, no family and relatively healthy. Well, some unexplained thing happened where I choked twice. I didn't pass out or anything. I drove myself to the hospital and waited hours before being seen, but I had to go to the emergency room (despite never wanting to go) because my esophagus was completely blocked and I couldn't get down a sip of water. It happened twice. Doctors didn't see anything irregular. Might've just been bad luck. Happened twice in two years. Never happened since. Anyway, each trip to the ER was about $5,000 and now I have $10,000 in hospital bills that is hurting my credit. I was in college and didn't have money to pay it back so it went to collections. For the most part, I haven't really needed my credit, but my score is still much lower because of it. I finished a master's degree and got a good job and started making regular payments on my student loans and putting things on credit cards and paying them off immediately just to build credit in case I ever need it. But those hospital bills are still there and I'm not sure if it's even worth it to pay them off. I can afford to start making payments on them now but 1) they're already a few years old so it might just be better to wait until they're wiped off, and 2) I've read that collections continue to hurt your credit for 7 years even after they've been fully paid off. I know they've been trying to pass a law to have medical collections stop hurting your credit after they're paid off, but it's been voted down every year. And by the time it finally does get voted in, I might only have a year left until they're off my credit anyway.

Anyway, so that's my story. Is insurance a scam? Probably. Is credit a scam? Probably. Does having medical collections affect my life? Not really. Do I care about something that should've been free in the first place having a negative impact on my credit when I've otherwise done everything else right in my life? Not really. Is it annoying? A little. Will I care in a few years? Maybe.

After 7 years, your medical debt will be written off. It might get illegally re-aged by a shady debt collector if you pay it, so I would probably just wait.

But the issue is that your 10k is sold to a debt collector for pennies on the dollar and is written off by the hospital. Now, when someone who has insurance goes through the same procedure, the insurance company pays an inflated price to absorb the cost of your write off. It doesn't take too many 5k cases before the numbers get extremely large.

It's tough for a hospital, because they have to treat anyone who walks in the door, but they also have to turn a profit. You can't have it both ways. When the modern world was all going towards national healthcare post WWII, we decided to go the private insurance route, and are paying the price for it.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

After 7 years, your medical debt will be written off. It might get illegally re-aged by a shady debt collector if you pay it, so I would probably just wait.

But the issue is that your 10k is sold to a debt collector for pennies on the dollar and is written off by the hospital. Now, when someone who has insurance goes through the same procedure, the insurance company pays an inflated price to absorb the cost of your write off. It doesn't take too many 5k cases before the numbers get extremely large.

It's tough for a hospital, because they have to treat anyone who walks in the door, but they also have to turn a profit. You can't have it both ways. When the modern world was all going towards national healthcare post WWII, we decided to go the private insurance route, and are paying the price for it.

I agree. I don't feel proud about not paying $10k in medical bills, but I didn't have the money when it happened and now that it already went to collection, it probably wouldn't benefit me any more if I paid it than if I just waited a few years. No 20something can afford $200+ a month on an insurance plan that doesn't even start to help you until you've met your $5000+ deductible. It's unrealistic. I guess it's a gamble on the health insurance's part because they figure most 20somethings won't get sick or hurt. It's really a tragedy. It's not easy for people to pay these monthly fees, and if they do pay the fees, they should be able to sleep well at night knowing they're covered. But that's not the case. They struggle to pay these monthly fees that are really no better than not having insurance at all. What's the point? And now people are fined if they don't pay it.

 

[CyberB0b]

I agree. I don't feel proud about not paying $10k in medical bills, but I didn't have the money when it happened and now that it already went to collection, it probably wouldn't benefit me any more if I paid it than if I just waited a few years. No 20something can afford $200+ a month on an insurance plan that doesn't even start to help you until you've met your $5000+ deductible. It's unrealistic. I guess it's a gamble on the health insurance's part because they figure most 20somethings won't get sick or hurt. It's really a tragedy. It's not easy for people to pay these monthly fees, and if they do pay the fees, they should be able to sleep well at night knowing they're covered. But that's not the case. They struggle to pay these monthly fees that are really no better than not having insurance at all. What's the point? And now people are fined if they don't pay it.

You are allowed to be covered under your parent's insurance until your mid 20's. I am too lazy to look it up. I am not blaming you, at all. You gotta do what's best for you. It's a business transaction, not a moral transaction. Businesses all the time make financial decisions like this. I am just saying that people like you are part of the issue, but really, just a small piece.

The biggest problems with healthcare were supposed to be solved by Obamacare, but it fell way short. They tried to emulate Switzerland's model, which is working quite well, but they forgot some key components:

• More transparency in pricing and open competition across state lines
• Better subsidies for the poor, or caps on costs. Like this "The insured person pays the insurance premium for the basic plan up to 8% of their personal income. If a premium is higher than this, the government gives the insured person a cash subsidy to pay for any additional premium."
• Limits on deductibles, which get rid of garbage plans like your 45% coinsurance.

It's a *******ized version of their system, and doesn't work. Obamacare was basically a huge money grab by the insurance providers.

This explains it better than I can:

https://shadowproof.com/2014/09/30/...swiss-health-system-minus-all-the-good-stuff/