health insurance

[dirty]

my health benefits have finally run out. they where kind enough to offer me the COBRA extension, at a mere 1100.00 a month. i decided to pass. i have no preexisting conditions.

i have been Googling and :(reading. the rates i'm finding don't seem unreasonable. but how do you tell which company is the least likely to rip me off while I'm unconscious in the hospital.

i was hoping to hear if anybody has any helpful advice or websites. oh yea and any feedback on HSAs would be helpful.

[Kathy]

I don't know what independent policies are out there but if one of them is Prudential-run, run like the wind in the opposite direction.

I was insured with a company sponsored Prudential policy when I had abdominal surgery. The total for the whole hospitalization(not the doctors) was over $70,000 & Prudential found ways to not pay close to $30,000 using the pre existing argument except I had no previous diagnosis of Crohns disease. After 9 mos of trying to fight the giants ; I was convinced it was impossible so we had to pay the rest out of our own pockets.

[angiem2]

Have you checked out the "open enrollment" that blue cross/blue shield sometimes has.? PUll up their web site and check it out. It would be a lot less expensive and a more known company.

Angie

[Deleted]

I think a high deductible Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy coupled with a health care spending account (HSA) would be a good way to go. If you set your deductible at $5k or so, I bet the rates for a single person would drop to a fraction of what you were quoted on COBRA. Check with your local bank or credit union to see if they offer HSA's. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

[dirty]

angiem2 said:

Have you checked out the "open enrollment" that blue cross/blue shield sometimes has.? PUll up their web site and check it out. It would be a lot less expensive and a more known company.

Angie

thanks.

found their michigan website. like what i see. i think i may call or go to the major hospital in the area. i would like to ask around to see which companies they have the least problems with.

[dirty]

ramblinwreck said:

I think a high deductible Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy coupled with a health care spending account (HSA) would be a good way to go. If you set your deductible at $5k or so, I bet the rates for a single person would drop to a fraction of what you were quoted on COBRA. Check with your local bank or credit union to see if they offer HSA's. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

this is the same thought process i'm currently trying to investigate. i am a little unsure about these HSA's.

[Deleted]

dirty said:

i am a little unsure about these HSA's.

I've been trying to get our credit union to offer an HSA. Although most of our members have health coverage at work and carry it into retirement (making them ineligible for HSA's), their children (or other family members who are also elibible to join the credit union) might not have coverage. I actually think HSA's are part (but only part) of the solution to our health care problems in this country.

[momo]

Around here BC/BS is the 800 pound gorilla. There is very little competition. Sometimes this is good but other times it is bad. I enrolled in an open enrollment last year and it was alot cheaper than the insurance I had before. Both were BC/BS but through different organizations.

[dirty]

well i got health insurance effective in august. i got a plan with a high deductible. which makes me eligible for a HSA(health savings account). i am finally getting around to setting my HSA up.

the reason i am updating this thread is to give anybody who might be looking into a HSA a heads up of sorts.

before setting up the HSA, goto the IRS website. find form 8889 and read the pamphlet. i'm not that good at that paper work stuff. BUT it looks like in the year you start or stop the Health Insurance and/or the HSA. you need to figure out the proper amortization of how much is tax deductible. of coarse nobody tells you this and not doing this WILL cause real problems.

i was going to type an example. however i just barely figured out my situation. i don't think i can really explain it well enough. anyway, before you fund a HSA read and try to understand form 8889 and the pamphlet.

[Kathy]

Here's the IRS link with all of the necessary information on HSA's and the requirements for filing.

www.irs.gov/instructions/i8889/index.html

Thanks for bringing this up Dirty, since there's a number of self employed folks who read Phoenix; I'm sure there's others who will benefit from your post!