How much do you pay for health insurance?

[ironmaiden]

DH starting telling me about next year's health insurance plan.
Keep in mind I started at that same company in 1988 and paid zero dollars for health insurance for just little ole me. And copays were $0.
Well, between what DH has to pay weekly and our "deductible", we simply have to admit that the company is giving us "catastrophe" insurance for our family plan.

The insurance will pay well visits and the first thousand bucks of health care. But since we're paying a thousandish for the insurance (DH isn't sure how much yet), well, we are really paying that first thousand.
Then WE are on the hook for the next $4150!! Then the insurance will paying anything above that. So for us to go past 5 grand, someone has to land in the hospital hence my calling it catastrophe insurance.

What really sucks about this, is that the bills come all at once. When you pay for health insurance out of your check, they take an even amount each week. But this way all of a sudden, the bills start rolling in.

They will "provide" us with a HSA - a healthcare spending account. Where we get to put in OUR money tax free and use that to pay the bills. So in that way we can put money in weekly. So this helps assuming that your catastrophe doesn't come early in the year. It does rollover from year to year unlike the FSA (Flexible Spending Account) and may accrue interest - another thing DH is unsure about.

And DH does NOT work for a small company. It's a 10 billion dollar company that has multiple industries, and many locations across the USA.

He still has his pension - for now anyway.

But it seems like companies are bailing out on their employees - reducing benefits as much as they can get away with.

[Katybird]

I work in a large hospital and mine is right at $100 per pay period (bi-weekly pay periods) for health and $15 per pay period for dental. Our coverage has been really good in the past, we had a $300 co-pay for inpatient hospital stays and $100 for outpatient hospital proceedures. Radiology was $10 if done at our hospital and prescriptions were $5 for generic, $30 for name brand and $50 for non formulary. It is changing beginning January 1 and will be a $1500 copay for hospital and then we pay 10%. One large hospital bill will be catastophic here. Last year my hospital bill alone was $90,721 not including any physicians or the inpatient physical therapy rehab that I was in for a week. We would have been out well over $10,000 just for the hospital . We will be saving for an EF for health care now.

[lottaLove]

My student health insurance is $400.00 per year for me, DS and DH. This covers 75% of dental, up to $100 of eye care, and $2.50 deductible on prescriptions. Any hospital bills, treatments, doctors visits, etc. are paid for by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

[movaly1]

I pay $137 biweekly for my health insurance (family plan). There are still copays and I have a $500 deductible.

I'm looking into joining a HDHP (which is what the first poster is describing I think) as the HSA can be a great long-term savings plan. IF it is a HDHP, you should get a certain % of $ back each month that you can use towards the $4150 costs you are on your own for (or save and invest - it has tax advantages almost like an IRA).

[Buckeye5]

$300 a month, $1000 deductible and then we pay 15% of the rest of the bills, dental is $13 a month and it covers 2 check ups a year and a small percentage of dental work, Eye not too good their either.

[Emerald_Mommy]

Our insurance is like self-employment insurance. It includes an HSA. The company negotiates a lower rate when we have a bill but they are still pricey and we must pay it ourselves. We pay $187 a month. We have a $5500 deductible. Maternity is NOT included so that we pay separately.

We like the HSA & the negotiated rates but it is definitely not your typical insurance. I wish everyone had this instead of typical insurance because I think doctors & hospitals would be forced to lower prices back down into manageable numbers, but that's just my opinion.

[McD]

Zac and I do not pay for health care. It's provided through the military. We have no copays on anything except prescriptions and its 3$ for generic drugs and 9$ for name brand.

I would like to let you know that many banks also offer health savings accounts as well like the one the op described.

[dmvezina]

I'm not sure how much we pay for health and dental insurance, but dh and I were talking about this the other night. It just seems ridiculous the amount of money out of pocket that is spent when we pay all this money for the insurance. After deductibles and co-pays, geez!!
I can remember years & years ago when I used to work, I paid for my insurance but there were no deductibles, maybe a $5 copay but I'm thinking there wasnt' any then. Now, you have to take out a 2nd mortgage just to pay the deductible & copays!

[suzysaver]

$18 a week comes from my paycheck and we both have a deductable of $300right from the start...copay after that is $20 a visit. This includes dental care whick has a co-pay of $20. Also includes vision care with a free pair of glasses each year. I have very good insurance and am very lucky. My hubby had a 14 day stay last year and we only had to come up with about 7,000.00 (unfortunately this went on the visa card). That would have cost us $135,000.00

[suzysaver]

I just wanted to add, we went for some 4 years without insurance at one time...the most frightening time of my life. One of the major reasons I went back to work part-time was to cover our medical insurance.

[Edelweiss]

We pay $62 per month for medical and $52 per month for dental for two people. DH's company gives you 3 options for coverage levels, and we chose the lowest for medical since we rarely have to see a doctor other than basic stuff. Our medical co-pay is $20 for doctor visits, $30 for specialist visits, and $30 for urgent care. Our annual deductible is $1000 individual/$2000 family. I have a lot of expensive dental procedures coming up next year, so we're taking the highest plan for that. The maximum annual benefit is $1500, though, so we'll also be putting $2400 in a flexible spending account. The way we see it, we're going to have to pay that much anyway, so we might as well get the tax shelter. Plus, the good thing about flexible spending accounts is that you have access to the full amount from day one, even though they spread out your payments into it all year long, so we don't have to come up with $2400 all at once, we just put it on the plan's "debit card."

[Dolores]

Well, it is sad to see that I am not the only one getting the shaft with medical insurance. I work for a big Fortune 500 company and have been here since '99. When I first started, medical was completely paid. Since then, each year it keeps creeping up and our insurance providers are a big shell game. I have to change doctors constantly because our health insurance keeps changing.

This year, I am on the 'Cadillac' plan that paid 90% (max) for just about everything. But, the co-pays were still $20 for regular doc and $30 for specialist visit. The meds start at $10-$40 most everything I have had prescribed has been around $30 copay. I pay $230 a month for myself and my husband, that includes dental. I will pay $2760 just to have this insurance and have already paid $1500+ in copays for office visits and drugs. Nothing major either, just back problems and arthritis. Each trip to the chiropractor is $30 and I had to go every weekday for two months early in the year.

I signed up for the 'bargain basement' coverage for next year. The company will give you $1000 to use on this program. I am doing that and an FSA again this year. For how we use the insurance this is the best plan for us.

Dolores

[YankeeMom]

We pay $465/year for our health plan. They pay 100% of all visits & prescriptions done through the military treatment facility. There's a $12/visit copay for care outside the mtf. There's a $3 (generic) or $9 (name brand) copay for prescriptions done outside the mtf.

We pay WAAAY more for our (crappy) dental than we do health insurance. Our (crappy) dental is $100/month. It covers two cleanings per year, one xray per year, and just about nothing else. Twenty percent here, forty percent there. Crappy crappy crappy.

[Darlene]

Consider our family very lucky.We have medical but no dental & one eye exam every 2 years$20 copay. We pay $120 mo.(work pays $720 mo.) for health care for the 4 of us, Nicole will be on her own when she turns 22 this coming March.

Dr. co-pays are $20
Inpatient hospital $240 admit.Outpatient $75 co-pay.
Emergency Room visit $50
Pharm $10 gen/$30 name brand/$50 non formulary
Mail order Pharm 90 day supply $20 generic/60 name brand/$100 non form.

[guest32]

We pay 84.00 per pay period (twice a month). I am totally happy with our coverage. Our medical is excellant and our dental is good. Optical is so-so, but that's typical. No complaints here. Also, Kroger is one of very few companies who cover part time employees (24 hours)