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View Poll Results: How are you covering your major health care expenses in ER?
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Company Health Plan
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55 |
50.93% |
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Purchased Personal Health Insurance (out of pocket)
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46 |
42.59% |
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Purchased Group plan personally (e.g., out of pocket via AARP or other)
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3 |
2.78% |
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No Health Insurance - Paying out of pocket (in USA)
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1 |
0.93% |
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No Health Insurance - Paying out of pocket (going international for expensive procedures & medicine)
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3 |
2.78% |
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Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
02-19-2007, 06:04 AM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
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Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
I am wondering how people are covering their health care needs in ER. I think I covered the basic categories without slicing it too fine.
If you have a variation of one of the listed categories, please vote the category that closest fits your situation and add comments to explain further.
Cheers 
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-19-2007, 08:14 AM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,183
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
I currently have a company plan. Do I think it wil last? NO. So I have monies earmarked and invested so when it is over I can cover it. If it continues then I will get a retiremnt bonus later on or leave money on the table for the heirs.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-19-2007, 09:54 AM
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#3
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 577
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
I don't remember the exact name, but NY has a community rating approach, like other northeastern states, which means healthy young people pay the same as older and possibly sicker people, but everyone has the opportunity to buy health insurance. I shopped around for the best bare bones/cheapest among the providers, which isn't cheap. I only decided to buy it because I wanted to protect my assets. (I rarely go to the doctor.) When I find a high deductible type policy, I'm bolting.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-19-2007, 01:59 PM
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#4
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 51
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
My approach isn't listed as one of the poll choices -- become a Permanent Resident of a country with nationalized health insurance (Canada).
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-19-2007, 02:06 PM
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#5
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 927
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
 Quote:
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My approach isn't listed as one of the poll choices -- become a Permanent Resident of a country with nationalized health insurance (Canada).
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I have a British passport (born there to a US serviceman) and may well get an Irish passport (mother's birthplace) for this very purpose. Originally I thought these would be useful for work in Europe.
Lately I think of having them as a fallback medical plan in case of financial catastrophy.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-19-2007, 03:42 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: LaLa Land
Posts: 4,698
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
NYState is crazy, my DW went back to work after 27 years taking care of the family. After working for 5 years she was vested and left with health bennies that we pay 10% for. It's about $1500 a year and I'm not complaining.
__________________
Work is something you do to get enough $ so you don't have to....Me.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-20-2007, 10:40 AM
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#7
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: North of Montana
Posts: 2,769
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Red-y
My approach isn't listed as one of the poll choices -- become a Permanent Resident of a country with nationalized health insurance (Canada).
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Ah, but we pay dearly. It's called income tax
__________________
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate conclusions from insufficient data and ..
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-20-2007, 01:36 PM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 13,186
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Company plan, but it's not cheap at about $700 a month for DW and myself. Megacorp capped their subsidy a while back and the monthly premium has been climbing quickly.
__________________
"I wasn't born blue blood. I was born blue-collar." John Wort Hannam
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-20-2007, 04:43 PM
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#9
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 529
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by 73ss454
NYState is crazy, my DW went back to work after 27 years taking care of the family. After working for 5 years she was vested and left with health bennies that we pay 10% for. It's about $1500 a year and I'm not complaining.
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Wow...
You meant she worked for the State of NY?
Does any one know any similar examples working for other state governments? Is there corporations vesting employees after 5 years too?
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-20-2007, 04:57 PM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
I work for a company and get retirement insurance if I retire with >= 15 years of service. I can retire early @ 55 if I choose and receive health insurance... of course, the pension amount is reduced @ 55.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-20-2007, 06:36 PM
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#11
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Confused about dryer sheets
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 1
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Does anyone have an HSA "health savings account"? I've been looking at those, but don't know very much about them.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-20-2007, 06:48 PM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,021
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by amaryllis
Does anyone have an HSA "health savings account"? I've been looking at those, but don't know very much about them.
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Several posters have HSA's, including me. This information is a little outdated, but it will give you a good overview of HSA basics: http://www.hsaadministrators.com/forms/hsa-basics.pdf
You can find other threads discussing HSA's by going to the search button at the top of the page and searching on "HSA" and "health savings account". Be sure to use the quotation marks.
__________________
Numbers is hard
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-22-2007, 06:46 AM
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#13
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 149
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
I've been writing out checks for my own health insurance since I was 19. I've had it worked in my budget since then, and it's in my projected RE budget. I've seen the tax laws change to allow the self employed to write off 100% of their premium, that was a big change. Now I just hope it changes to allow EVERYONE to deduct their premium weather self employed or not (including Early Retiree's) that would take a nice bite out of the tax load in retirement.
HSA's are deductible for everyone, I've had one since they became available, and a MSA before that. They work well, I plan on contributing the maximum each year, even into retirement - it's fully deductible for everyone (without itemizing) and it's still your money. Without getting into too much detail, if you're paying your own health insurance they're definitely worth considering.
I've been self employed paying my own Health Insurance for 23 years. Even if I went to an employer that offered a health plan, I'd rather keep my own and pay the premium, that way I can go if I want and not have to worry about finding health insurance again. I'm with BCBS and I plan on staying there til I become eligible for Medicare (assuming there is any in 24 years) and then converting to a supplement.
__________________
"Watch your topknot"
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-22-2007, 07:53 PM
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#14
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 655
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
We have a group health plan paid for by my former employer. Our cost is $371 a month.
__________________
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately... and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
--Henry David Thoreau
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-23-2007, 12:21 AM
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#15
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 321
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by chinaco
I work for a company and get retirement insurance if I retire with >= 15 years of service. I can retire early @ 55 if I choose and receive health insurance... of course, the pension amount is reduced @ 55.
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I could have posted this last week. This week -- no longer true, Mega Corp has just revoked this benefit. (See topic "Rolling with the Punches..." in Young Dreamers forum)
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-23-2007, 11:57 AM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Linney
I could have posted this last week. This week -- no longer true, Mega Corp has just revoked this benefit. (See topic "Rolling with the Punches..." in Young Dreamers forum)
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Yeah, it seems like "the deal" just keeps getting worse for each successive generation. I worked at a megacorp from 1987 to 1999, and I'm vested in a small pension there (about $250 a month at 55 or $620 a month at 65, which ought to buy one tank of gas by then). Every now and then I worried that I made a mistake by leaving a company with a pension and at least some early retiree medical coverage.
Of course, they have since frozen the pension and discontinued the early retiree medical plan, making them like almost every other company these days. If nothing else, it helped me stop regretting my decision to leave.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-23-2007, 01:27 PM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,145
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
I am truly blown away that so many ER people have a company health plan. You guys are so lucky! That is a huge benefit.
Audrey
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-23-2007, 01:32 PM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Needs another option "Pay for group insurance through spouses employer" 
If its not a majority situation for many posters here, its at least a strong contender...
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-23-2007, 03:45 PM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,433
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by audreyh1
I am truly blown away that so many ER people have a company health plan. You guys are so lucky! That is a huge benefit.
Audrey
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My guess is that most of those plans are for government retirees.
__________________
I'd rather be governed by the first one hundred names in the telephone book than the Harvard faculty - William F. Buckley
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
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02-23-2007, 04:24 PM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,674
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Re: Poll: How do you cover health care expenses in ER?
No choice for my situation, so I failed to cast a vote in the poll.
As a retired military reservist, I am eligible for Tricare. It costs me $19.17 each month. No co-pay, free meds, labs etc. Not a bad plan. When DW retires in May she will jump on it also at the same monthly rate.
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Part-Owner of Texas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
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