High Deductible Health plan

[Allegany]

For those of you out there that have a high Deductible health plan, what are your premiums, average out of pocket expenses, cost to go to the doctor and any other relevant costs. Unfortunately where I live in New York, High Deductible health plans with Health savings accounts are not legal to sell to individuals so I'm trying to gather some data to give my State Senator. I will also pass the information on to my State Assemblyman in the hope of getting this made legal and cutting my almost $1650/month health care premiums.

 

[Dawg52]

I have a 10k deductible with $15 doc copay and drug copay. I go to the doc twice a year for blood work related to cholesterol and whatever else they run. The copay usually takes care of most of it but seems like I always get a small $10 bill from the clinic for misc crap my plan didn't cover. So not much out of pocket at all with the copays. Been lucky enough not to have any surgery as I would get stung pretty good in that situation. Oh yes, my cholesterol meds come from Walmart under their $4 generic program.

I pay $180/mo for my BCBS plan. I'm single and 53 years old. Oh yes, 2 million lifetime benefit.

 

[Zoocat]

My individual health insurance is a HSA with $2700 deductible. I pay $351/month. No co-payment or co-insurance. $2 million lifetime limit.

 

[stargazer08]

Me (44) and DH (48 ) have 10G ded HSA insurance that costs us $200/month. All medical expenses are out of pocket (no co-pay). This insurance covers Rx but you have to meet the deductible first. There are network doctors and you get the typical in network discounts. I went to the doctor last month and the $90 charge was discounted to $38.

 

[Darryl]

I pay just over $200 a month for a family of four. The HMO I had before this was over $600 per month. I put my $400+ per month savings in to my HSA there is about $5,000 sitting there right now and it's my money, despite the fact I have had above average medical expenses the last two years. On the old plan the HMO would have taken that perfectly good cash.
I have held off on some minor things because I thought they would heal and I didn't want to waste my money and I have had some testing done on issues I was worried about that I'm sure the old HMO would have fought me tooth and nail to avoid paying. Happily the results came back fine
Total deductible is over $5,000 varies in or out of network etc... I believe the max benefit is 3 Mil...
Greatest thing since sliced bread introduces accountabilty to medical expenses. Can improve access to care (nobody fought me when I chose to take an expensive test).
Allows regular people to get in to the very lucrative insurance business at minimal risk (As I self insure for about $5,000 per year exposure (deductible) and $5,000 per year premium savings, healthy years I win high expense years cost what the old high premium program would have been anyway).

Did you say illegal to sell there UUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

[Texarkandy]

Even some of the FEHB plans are starting to introduce some "high deductible" plans for federal employees. I've always picked some of the more traditional ones, but am going to take a hard look at those HD plans this year.

I keep a high deductible on my house & cars (& drop comprehensive on the cars after a few years) I don't file many claims on either - most minor incidents with my house I've always taken care of myself without claim - my 2000 chevy p/u has had a dent in the side (that I put there) for about three years now - I may pull it out myself someday.

I think these HD plans may become more common. I view insurance as basically "a bet" anyway.

I think that's one of the things that's what's wrong with the health insurance system in this country anyway & one reason premiums are going up dramatically year-after-year. So many people have developed a mindset that their insurance company should be like a free universal health care system - you pay your premium & they will pay for every minor ache, pain, scrape, prescription, & blood test you feel like going to the doctor for. This system has become so pervasive many folks don't really even much option of taking personal financial responsibility for their care.

If they are offering to reward me for taking more personal financial responsibility for my care and insuring just for major stuff - I'm certainly going to take a look at that.

However, as long as the current system is in place & medical bills are rung-up to individual consumers at the "rack-rate", I still only want to pay the "discounted" amounts the insurance company gets. I think you still get that under these plans?

 

[ziggy29]

Well, mine is employer-provided group coverage, but for another data point, ours is employee-and-spouse coverage with a $2500 family deductible, $4000 out of pocket family maximum, and no maximum lifetime coverage limits (i.e. currently unlimited). Between Megacorp and us, the total cost is about $700 a month. Of course, that includes about $700 our employer matches into the HSA, so if you eliminate that you could remove about $60 per month from the cost.

 

[dex]

This info can be found at
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association - Leading the Future of Healthcare

 

[FUEGO]

employer provided - $30/month.

Dr's visits are usually $50-75 out of pocket. All physicals and well-baby visits are free.

Prescriptions for us have been $4-9 each, with the exception of one $50 antibiotic. all this is out of pocket too.

Total medical expenses paid out of pocket last year were around $650.

 

[Allegany]

Thanks

Thanks to all who have replied. Are there any more people with these plans?
Allegany

 

[segfault]

Thanks to all who have replied. Are there any more people with these plans?
Allegany

I started one this April. The $4/month fees on the HSA account eat up most of the little interest that the account pays; after I make the 2009 contribution, I should have enough in the account that the fee is waived.

I pay around $90 per month for the health plan, which is at least $30 less than a traditional plan. I pay $55 out of pocket for a doctor's office visit, and the health plan's mail-order pharmacy prices have been reasonable.

I am treating the HSA as another retirement savings vehicle and paying my doctor/prescription bills out of pocket. If you save the receipts, you can always be paid reimbursements out of the HSA later, even if it's years later. After age 65, you can withdraw money from the HSA without penalty (you only have to pay income taxes), so it's like a traditional IRA in that regard.

 

[jIMOh]

For those of you out there that have a high Deductible health plan, what are your premiums, average out of pocket expenses, cost to go to the doctor and any other relevant costs. Unfortunately where I live in New York, High Deductible health plans with Health savings accounts are not legal to sell to individuals so I'm trying to gather some data to give my State Senator. I will also pass the information on to my State Assemblyman in the hope of getting this made legal and cutting my almost $1650/month health care premiums.

I live in Ohio.
I have an HDHP through my employer.
My cost (individual) is $19 per paycheck. I think my company is paying another $60/check (I get paid 24X per year).
My deductable is 1500, my out of pocket max is 5200. My company contributes $750 to my HSA regardless of my own contributions.

My plan is thru cigna. If you need more info, let me know.

 

[unclemick]

Missouri.

BCBS of Kansas City

10k deductible, $158/mo at 63/64. Last year -will hit Medicare late this summer.

?? First office visit still cost me about $100 if I remember right.

heh heh heh - Missouri was a lot cheaper than Louisiana in the 1990's ($5k was max back then I believe).

heh heh heh - take this post with a huge grain of salt - I'm the block head that went 12 yrs without insurance(age 49 - 61) so I could afford ER. .

 

[The Dark Mistress]

Maine--I work for a large health care organization that self-insures.

HDHP: $376.76 every 2 weeks for plan that covers myself and one dependent (my share is $18.84 every 2 weeks).

$1500/year individual deductible
$3000/year family deductible
4k total out of pocket max/year individual
8k total out of pocket/year family

covers yearly screening mammogram, yearly preventive health physical exam, vision exam every 2 years over 18 and yearly under 18, and screening colonoscopy at 100%.

Good luck to you. It's a bit of a gamble, but so far so good for us--my HSA has more than 5k in it after 1.5 years on this plan.

 

[ChrisC]

Dark Mistress, welcome to the forum and that's a great HDHP. I have a similar plan, though the premium for my family coverage is $30.47 biweekly. I also have some dental and vision care coverage (two dental visits and eye exam and some eyeglass coverage). Is your employer also kicking in a monthly/annual contribution to the HSA?

Thus far, I haven't been to the doctor yet but my daughter had a medical preventive care check up and some prescription drugs. Our total out of pocket expense for the year is around $120, a little under 1/10 of my employer's annual contribution to the HSA. So far, so good. But even if had major medical, the castastrophic coverage under our plan is excellent.

 

[kramer]

My plan is based in the Southern California area. I have a $5K deductible in the USA and a separate $10K deductible outside of the USA. I get an almost free physical every year (there might be a $25 co-pay). All (or virtually all) drugs are 100% covered after the deductible. Nothing is covered before the deductible.

I am 42 years old, relatively healthy, and my premium is $95 per month. Also, my insurance is portable to about half of all US states when I decide to move. In most other places, the premium seems to be about 30% higher -- the premium was artificially low in my area, presumably to build up business.

I keep an HSA account with Patelco Credit Union and I max the contributions each year. I do not plan to withdraw money from my HSA for many years, letting the money grow tax free. I keep all my health care receipts and archive electronic backups in case of fire. I help manage my health care expenses by doing some things abroad (like dental care).

Kramer

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/poll-actual-non-subsidized-heatlh-care-cost-er-28313.html

 

[The Dark Mistress]

Dark Mistress, welcome to the forum and that's a great HDHP....Is your employer also kicking in a monthly/annual contribution to the HSA?

Thanks for the welcome.

Employer doesn't contribute to HSA, but about $230 biweekly was freed up when I switched from the other health insurance plan. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to fund an HSA instead of pay for insurance we rarely use (knock wood).

We have separate dental insurance for another $10.82 biweekly.

I forgot about cost to go to doctor, etc. A $92 office visit cost me $71 after an insurance-negotiated discount. I carry a list of $4 prescription meds to any doctor's office visits with the hopes that a suitable choice can be made from it, if a prescription is necessary.

 

[RonBoyd]

We have separate dental insurance for another $10.82 biweekly.

For instance:

Things to insure, things not to insure | Wise Bread

 

[RonBoyd]

Does this belong in this conversation?

Retirees-Need-Up-to-$376,000-to-Pay-Future-Health-Bills: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

 

[easysurfer]

HDHP

My HDHPis with BCBS - Illinois, with a $130/month premium. $5000 deductible, $5 million lifetime limit.

 

[The Dark Mistress]

For instance:

Things to insure, things not to insure | Wise Bread

Good point. Employer pays another $20 biweekly for our dental insurance. Our basic dental expenses yearly are $512 for 2 cleanings each with exams and xrays, covered at 100% by the dental insurance-- which costs me $269/year. So, a good deal for us currently, but definitely worth revisiting from time to time.

On a somewhat related note, I'm always amazed when I'm offered a "protection plan" on some electronic gizmo that would be no sweat to replace if it broke. Do I want to "insure" the $100 ipod? Prolly not.

 

[Jeb-NY]

We dropped dental a few years ago. Was costing us around $400/year for the two of us and it was capped at $1800 each after a $100 deductible each. Plus they only paid half on caps and a few other things. So we were paying $600+/year for $3600 max payback. Normal years it was costing us less than $600 to pay ourself and the down side isn't that big. Not a big discount from the dentist but with no insurance forms to fill out they throw off $5/visit.

Went to High Deductible this year for the first time. I haven't setup the savings account yet but plan to let it build as a way to move more money in to tax deferred accounts, and pay expenses as long as we can out of pocket. For us the Meg-a-Corp I retired from made it an easy decision. They pay a flat amount for retire medical. The cost to switch with rate increases and all was over $8000 a year savings out of my pocket in premiums. We have a $6000/year family deductible, then they pay 70%, $10,000 max out of pocket, no lifetime max that I could find in the fine print. When you roll in the copay and the deductible from the old plan it was really a no brainer to switch. Was initially concerned about the prescription costs since my wife is on a lot of things but with all the $4 plans being offered we found cheap sources for most of the medication.

Unless something catastrophic happens in the second half of the year we will probably not hit our deductible, as it should be.

Jeb