Health Insurance Premiums when FiRED, Pre Medicare, How Much do you Pay?

[socca]

Catastrophic plans are ACA compliant so the penalty is not applicable. However, to be eligible for a Cat plan you must either be under age 30 or live in an area where the lowest cost Bronze plan is more than 8.13% MAGI.

As explained in posts #38 and #40, the Cat plan premium will not be significantly different from a Bronze plan premium in FL.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess there is no 'third option'. I was hoping that there was a 'shadow market' of reputable carriers offering non-ACA compliant insurance policies for people like me, who really only want/need catastrophic coverage but don't qualify under the ACA rules. Too bad.

 

[mpeirce]

me: 54
DW: 63
DS: 21 (in college)
state: Ohio

Annual premium: $6,500 for HDHP w/ HSA and a $11,000 max family deductible. Last year we spent ~$1,400 OOP. Purchased off exchange from BCBS - includes a letter from them saying it complies with current law. Obviously no subsidies.

This also includes annual physical and mammogram and it paid for our recent colonoscopies.

In 2013 we paid $4,300 for the same plan.

 

[LakeRat1]

I too am interested in this thread and suggestions:
Back Ground:
I am 54
DW 62
Income is all from Taxable IRA - we are drawing $110K per year, so we are not getting any credits
Medical Coverage is through Florida Blue for the two of us @$1132 Per Mo with a $6800 Deductible Each

Is there any better / cheaper coverage out there ??

 

[serie1926]

I too am interested in this thread and suggestions:
Back Ground:
I am 54
DW 62
Income is all from Taxable IRA - we are drawing $110K per year, so we are not getting any credits
Medical Coverage is through Florida Blue for the two of us @$1132 Per Mo with a $6800 Deductible Each

Is there any better / cheaper coverage out there ??

God lets hope so!

 

[pb4uski]

I too am interested in this thread and suggestions:
Back Ground:
I am 54
DW 62
Income is all from Taxable IRA - we are drawing $110K per year, so we are not getting any credits
Medical Coverage is through Florida Blue for the two of us @$1132 Per Mo with a $6800 Deductible Each

Is there any better / cheaper coverage out there ??

Have you checked out healthsherpa.com?

 

[LakeRat1]

I just looked at HealthSherpa and it lists the same plans that were available when I signed up for the one we have...... This insurance is just crazy, we are both healthy, go for our annual check-up. It's just to Risky to not have insurance, you never know what can happen

If there are any plans out there, please share

 

[serie1926]

Have you checked out healthsherpa.com?

Thanks for link!

Unfortunately, prices all appear to be what others have shared. Let's pray something changes in the future.

 

[MichaelB]

According to the Milliman Index (here), the average cost of health care in the US is $25k for a family of 4. The KFF annual employer survey (here) shows employer provided health care insurance costs $17k, which typically is the lowest cost for private insurance. Any policy with lower premiums can only mean that coverage is compromised in some way.

Americans are slowly coming to realize just how expensive our healthcare is.

 

[serie1926]

According to the Milliman Index (here), the average cost of health care in the US is $25k for a family of 4. The KFF annual employer survey (here) shows employer provided health care insurance costs $17k, which typically is the lowest cost for private insurance. Any policy with lower premiums can only mean that coverage is compromised in some way.

Americans are slowly coming to realize just how expensive our healthcare is.

And, what a scam insurance is...

 

[ShokWaveRider]

According to the Milliman Index (here), the average cost of health care in the US is $25k for a family of 4. The KFF annual employer survey (here) shows employer provided health care insurance costs $17k, which typically is the lowest cost for private insurance. Any policy with lower premiums can only mean that coverage is compromised in some way.

Americans are slowly coming to realize just how expensive our healthcare is.

Then how do we explain their obscene profits?

 

[travelover]

And, what a scam insurance is...

Insurance has to cover the costs of medical care and drugs. The insurance companies are not the bad guys (or at least not the only bad guys).

 

[Fermion]

Insurance has to cover the costs of medical care and drugs. The insurance companies are not the bad guys (or at least not the only bad guys).

I don't know that there are any bad guys. Perhaps the doctor making $300,000 a year, but she likely spent a lot of effort getting to that point. Maybe the drug manufacturer who lost all of their investor's money trying to get a drug through billion dollar trials is the bad guy?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Seems funny how it seems affordable in a lot of other countries other than the USA. In the land of "Milk & Honey" you would think it be affordable for all including those with Pre-existing conditions here (Subsidies and ACA not withstanding).


Seems all the Milk and Honey is flowing one way.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Maybe the drug manufacturer who lost all of their investor's money trying to get a drug through billion dollar trials is the bad guy?

They could save a ton of money if they did not advertise so much maybe, just a thought.

 

[MichaelB]

Then how do we explain their obscene profits?

Not sure which obscene profits you reference.

And, what a scam insurance is...

Actually, what we call health care insurance really isn't insurance at all. It is more like intermediation between consumers and providers. A small part actually covers risk, but it is mostly transaction oriented. This is one reason the cost has risen to such levels in the US - the consumer of the services has been separated from the price of the transaction, and the top priority of the transaction management is not health or even cost containment, it is profit maximization.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Not sure which obscene profits you reference.

One: United Healthcare 2014.

UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer, reported last week that it made $10.3 billion in profits in 2014 on revenues of $130.5 billion. Both profits and revenues grew seven percent from 2013.

 

[Which Roger]

One: United Healthcare 2014.

UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer, reported last week that it made $10.3 billion in profits in 2014 on revenues of $130.5 billion. Both profits and revenues grew seven percent from 2013.

That's a profit margin of about 8%, which is not out of line compared to other industries.

 

[kcowan]

It is the 7% yearly growth that is the problem!

 

[ivinsfan]

The 2015 numbers will be interesting,as this is where the ACA individual polices started the huge losses for some of these companies. But they are shedding certain states such as BCBS in MN.

 

[mpeirce]

Actually, what we call health care insurance really isn't insurance at all. It is more like intermediation between consumers and providers.

This is my main grip with the current state of paying for health care in the US today.

If someone offered real insurance I'd buy it in an instance. Though I'm pretty sure it would be illegal to offer today.

 

[travelover]

I don't know that there are any bad guys. ........

Oh I think there are definitely bad buys, the real stinkers make the news.

Mr. Shkreli practically gloated about the potential profits in an email he sent last August, just after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, had paid $55 million to acquire the drug Daraprim, and had raised its price more than fiftyfold to $750 a pill, or $75,000 for a bottle of 100.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/b...ases-with-profit-in-mind-memos-show.html?_r=0

I find it amazing that Cleveland Clinic, just as an example, has so many million dollar a year plus employees.

Here are the 10 Cleveland Clinic executives and physicians who earned at least $1 million in FY 2011.

• Delos Cosgrove, MD, president and CEO: $2.56 million
• Joseph Hahn, MD, chief of staff: $1.28 million
• Marc Harrison, MD, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi: $1.31 million
• Bruce Lytle, MD, chair of the Heart and Vascular Institute: $1.34 million
• John Costin, MD, chair of Cleveland Clinic Lorain: $4.04 million
• Victor Fazio, MD, former chair of colorectal surgery: $1.42 million
• Andrew Fishleder, MD, former CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi: $3.30 million
• Constantine Mavroudis, MD, former chair of pediatrics and congenital heart surgery: $1.62 million
• Daniel Martin, MD, chair of ophthalmology: $1.35 million

9 Statistics on Executive Compensation at Cleveland Clinic

 

[ShokWaveRider]

If the Penalty for Not having insurance was NOT HAVING INSURANCE and therefore not getting it when you needed it most, or the financial penalty being something REAL as opposed to a Token, things may even out.


I would argue that those who choose NOT to have any health insurance are just as likely to be in a car,motorcycle, sports or ? accident that requires hundreds of thousands in bills to fix as anyone else.


The best policy is some form of healthcare for all plan where everyone contributes (just like SS & Medicare is today). Anyone who cannot see this is simply too Rich to care, or just plain blinkered and philistine to realize it actually makes sense.

 

[socca]

critical illness insurance

Here is what I had in mind when I mentioned the 'third option' - combining non-ACA-compliant health insurance with the ACA non-participation tax penalty to lower my overall insurance costs. Could this work? I don't know, but it's worth exploring for 2017.

https://resources.ehealthinsurance.com/affordable-care-act/critical-illness-insurance

 

[doxiemama]

I use a Co-Op that is accepted by ACA meaning no penalty. There are three Co-Ops accepted by ACA. I pay $150 per month and have a $500 per incident "Cost-Share".

I started out with Kaiser Bronze, no subsidy, and it cost around $500 per month for a $6,000 deductible. I am fairly healthy but have a fainting problem from time to time. I went to a Kaiser Clinic ($75 cost of visit), for some cough syrup due to Bronchitis. The Nurse Practitioner put me on an inhaler. I felt dizzy and fainted. They carted me off to the local Kaiser hospital via ambulance. All checked out well (it always does after my fainting) and I walked out owing $6,000 and Kaiser paid all of $15.00 of the bills. I call it the World's most expensive case of Bronchitis.

Year one of retirement medical costs = $6,000 in premiums = $6,000 trying to get cough syrup which I never even received, a total of $12,000.

Year two of retirement medical costs = $1,800 for co-op plus $115 for mammogram and $155 for doctor visit and labs = $2,070.

I am 55 and plan on keeping the Co-op until Medicare. Husband is on Medicare he has SCAN (HMO) and his total costs including premiums, co-pays and 6 prescription meds = $2,060 per year.

The Co-op I use is CHM: Christian Healthcare Ministries: Home

 

[pb4uski]

One: United Healthcare 2014.

UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer, reported last week that it made $10.3 billion in profits in 2014 on revenues of $130.5 billion. Both profits and revenues grew seven percent from 2013.

Not sure where you got that number but it is not profit. $10.3 billion was their earnings from operations which excludes interest and income taxes. Their net income for 2014 was $5.6 billion. Their shareholders have $32.1 billion invested as of the beginning of 2014 so their return was about 17.3%... good, but not outrageous by any means.

http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/5768123D517245FBB450B54F73E5E1CD.ashx