Workplace changed insurance

**jacqueline** · 08-01-2007, 10:59 AM

Starting today my insurance has a $2000 deductible. I already pay around $80 a month and in addition to that now I will be paying $46 more to put into a health savings account to help me pay on the deductible. My workplace is putting in $750 (this full amount won't be in there until 8-2008) The $46 is to make up the rest of the $2000 by next year. Also my workplace is helping with the $750 this year but I am sure they won't next year. (The years runs from Aug 1st to July 31st) These are pre-tax dollars. I went on esurance.com and Blue Cross Blue Shield would cost me almost $400 with a $500 deductible (which was my previous deductible at work) and pays 80/20. There are a lot of my fellow coworkers that are looking for insurance elsewhere and quite a few are going to quit or are presently looking for another job.
I'm not going to change jobs-I just got back close to home (I was driving an hour away and couldn't afford the gas). I'm trying to not be as negative as the rest of the people at work (and they are being very doomsday about it). I can use the HSA (health savings account) towards my deductible-I'm supposed to be getting a debit card for this. And I can also use that money for other medical things (such as glasses/contacts) that aren't included and wouldn't go towards my deductible. The money does roll over from year to year if I don't use it all. I'm already looking for ways to cut back (even more) to adjust to the extra $92 being taken out per month. I'm thankful for FV for ideas! I'm not as upset as the rest of my coworkers but I do worry because insurance is a major factor to me since I am single (I actually told everyone to look out for a well-insured man for me haha)

Sorry about the long post. Just wondering what the rest of you have for insurance and your thoughts.

**dcompton** · 08-01-2007, 12:38 PM

Our insurance at work, at least the plan I chose, is in some ways a little strange. There are around 5000 employees and four or five plans to choose among.

I pay $128 a month, with $1500 deductible. At the beginning of the insurance year (July 1 for us) the facility puts $1000 in the "Patient Care Account" or something like that. It is all there from July 1st, to be used against the deductible, making my deductible, effectively, $500. BUT, I can also be liable for up to $1000 more. This is the part I don't understand. Last year when I was had major surgery and chemo and ran up around $65,000 in bills (their negotiated amount), I was charged about $250, if I remember, against this extra mysterious $1000. I could never quite figure out why it was, and why nothing else was. After the deductible and those charges, that may have had to do with the provider, it paid 100%. It has been fantastic insurance.

The nice thing is that if there is any of the $1000 that the facility contributes left over at the end of the year, it rolls over and can accumulate to $4000. Because I had used little in previous years I was carrying a higher deductible with lower premium when the cancer was diagnosed. Fortunately, enough had rolled over that the entire higher deductible was covered, so I went though a very expensive medical treatment with very, very little out of pocket money. (God bless my employer!)

This however depleted that, so this year I changed it back to the lower deductible; apparently with their arrangement with the school, they cannot deny the lower deductible --we can freely choose. I now have much more expensive medication and more ongoing medical monitoring, so that rollover is a thing of the past, and I expect to be paying out of pocket for some medical expenses this year.

We can do the savings account too, but for me, it's not a deal. I would not spend much on non-insurance things, and I don't know how the deductible is going to play out this first year. There is an administration charge against it each month, nothing so simple as a debit card (receipts have to be submitted), and any money in it not used at the end of the year is lost; there is no rollover. So I didn't do that. I may regret it, but I thought it better to wait and see my expenses go this year.

I am very lucky with my insurance. I work for a state hospital/medical school, a huge employer (the 5000 is just on our campus), so I guess they have a lot of clout with the insurance folks. But my experience makes me understand how easily you can be bankrupted by medical. Without such good insurance, I would have been wiped out. I guess I'll work there forever, since a well insured man doesn't seem to be in my future.

Sorry for the long post, but insurance is so very complicated.

**Michelle68** · 08-01-2007, 12:47 PM

I work for a hospital system and we pay $340/month for the family with a $3000/person deductible. (Total $9000 for the family) After the deductible our insurance pays 100%. We have 4 tiers of insurance to choose from and this is the lowest tier. It's been fine, since we haven't had any hospitilizations until yesterday when I had gallbladder surgery. Now I'm thinking about moving up to the next tire, but with that one you have a higher premium per month and a $1500 deductible/person and after the deductible you're responsible for 20%. It seems to be six one way, a half a dozen the other. Insurance can be so complicated.

--Michelle

**jacqueline** · 08-01-2007, 01:35 PM

michelle after the deductible is paid my new insurance is supposed to pay 100% too. so while i'm never gonna meet that deductible on a normal year--if something major would happen i should be covered. that for one reason im grateful that i'm still being able to have/afford health insurance.

d - i don't think a well-insured man is in my future either LOL i'd surely settle for someone that would treat me well and muddle thru life with me

thankfully your insurance took care of ya when you needed it. that's why i know having insurance is so important. yes insurance seems so complicated to me too. that's why i was wondering what everyone else was dealing with. no apologies needed for the long post. i appreciate any and all comments--i feel upset in a way about this but then again feel it's still something that is in my range of coping with as long as i watch my money. i'm afraid that the people who are leaving may see things as greener on the other side when maybe they really aren't.

and i work in a hospital too.you would think that hospital workers would have the best insurance around. i heard there were people that just got up and walked out when they went to their insurance meeting.another thing that is sad about this is even though i don't make very much, (i'm a unit secretary at beginning wage)there are people at work that make less than i do. i don't know what they are going to do.