Full Timers - What Do You Do About Health Insurance?

COBRA I believe can be extended for up to 18 months after you leave your job. They aren't always the cheapest option though.

I got my health insurance through Health Insurance, Medical Insurance, Individual Health Insurance Quotes . I'm paying a little over $150 per month which is a great deal. I know a lot of other people that pay $400+ per month but it depends on your age.

Your best option is this... setup your own insurance. Don't buy it from someone else. If you are young, then you might as well just save $x per month out of your revenue to pay for medical costs. More than likely all you will need each year is 1 maybe 2 visits to the doctor... unless you are involved in risky behavior like injury prone sports and things of that nature. There may even be a legal way you set this up that will provide the same tax benefits as paying an insurance company premiums. This way you can insure that your premiums never go up. On top of that get a prescription plan. Usually for a few dollars per month you can get substanital saving on prescriptions.

My wife and I have Horizon BC/BS (HMO), and next month my monthly payment will be $1,500+, up 40% from my current monthly rate of $1,100+ which was already hard to swallow.

We have a home business that we both work and I'm 55 and she's 43 and we live in NJ. I "WISH" there were another option but I haven't seen any that are "REAL" health insurance that will not just reimburse me but where the doctors and hospitals will bill the insurance company for payment directly.

If anyone knows of any real insurance I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks,
Mike

Hi there, I use the insurance from NASE. I am single with no kids, so it is a nice program and affordable for me.
here is the link to the health area of the site.
NASE - Health Resource Center
There is a neat questionnaire that will help you decide what you need, and they don't push their own service

I keep my money and stay away from the doctor..

James

If you can get term insurance with the benefits you require, go for it. Avoid whole life insurance that are way expensive and lets you pay "forever". Just don't forget to invest some money. At some point as you go along with your business you will be so rich and you will no longer need insurance so you don't have to pay for the fixed contract insurance bills.

I think I'll move to Cuba where they have free health care.

I don't have health insurance so I'm going to learn from HeySal how to use herbs to cure myself of anything.

It sucks we have the best doctors, best technology, best equipment here in the USA but millions and millions of Americans have no access to it.

If I need a doc I'll just have to pay the cost out of pocket. For someone who only gets sick a few times a year or less it's actually a lot cheaper to do it that way than insure yourself. There is a clinic here that costs $65 just to see the doc. (Assuming no lab work, Xrays, etc. are needed.) If you have an infection and need some antibiotics, that's available for $4. So if I had to go to the doc 3 times a year that would be $65x3. Much cheaper than paying $500 a month or so.

If you are a female of child bearing age the rates are crazy because you could become pregnant so they punish you for being female. It's cheaper for males cause lucky for them they can't get pregnant.

Don't even get me started on the health care problem here It's hard to get me to shut up about it

We have a pretty good healthcare system here compared top the US.

I had to get a anti-vomit tablet in Las Vegas for the Zero G flight and the consult took two hours, $100 and I had to see four people.

Here you stroll in, wait a little while - get your prescription and leave - all paid for by the Government.

Here in the u.k we have the NHS, and from what iv read about on here thank god for it.

theres lots of horror storys but i have found it gives good service.

Health insurance is one of our big gripes...we've had an individual policy for over 15 years and it is a struggle every month to pay it, but absolutely necessary. I've done the comparison shopping and there are some great sites on the web for that.
I recently found out that Costco & Sam's Club offer health insurance to their members and, because it is a 'group plan' , it is very reasonable and many choices and plans. I looked into it, and the best price, etc, was the same company we have (Blue Shield). They said they couldn't transfer us to their plan if we were already BS members. Bummer!

I agree with everyone you say Ryan Leisure. Private companies are definitely way better than anything the government provides. There was a good 20/20 episode about greed that shows how much better private for profit companies are so much better than government services.

The only problem is when there are people are in serious need of medical treatment but they end up getting nothing because they can't afford it. For some low wage workers, private health insurance costs more than their entire paycheck. It would just be nice if there was a way to give health care to more people or at least make it affordable to the millions of low wage workers out there.

Are there any Canadians in here using a PHSP? I'm looking into that now that I'm FT.

Just to throw in 2c here. If you are full time and registered as a corporation as I am then you can get full corporate packages for small business. This tends to be a much cheaper deal that getting private health care and they do not come and do a lot of tests on you so you can get good coverage regardless of whether you are a smoker, overweight or have previous conditions. Private healthcare takes all of those factors into consideration and raise your rates astronomically accordingly. You can do this for any LLC, C-Corp or S-Corp (I run a full C-Corp) and it is directly tax deductible. Also, as a corp you can provision 401k's for yourself and get nice deductions from both private and the corporate side if you are divierting any funds to your future retirement.

My best advice is to speak to your CPA if you have one and explore the best options for you from the tax side of things and if going corporate is the best option for you in regards to the other protections it offers so you can also explore the healthcare possiblities.

I have slashed my healthcare costs for my entire family by over 75% doing this.

Hey bro,

This isn't going to help much, but I am lucky enough to have a wife who does not WANT to quit her job. She's an elementary school nurse and she says even if we won the lottery she would still continue her job.

So...my solution would be to get your significant other into the workplace!! LOL

AL

It is a great shame that here in the US you can have everything taken from you if you don't have health insurance and you get sick. I had a short visit to the emergency room. Cost, almost $6000. Anyone who advocates going uninsured in this country is insane. Another example: my youngest was 3 months premature. Two months in neonatal ICU. Cost $250,000. Without insurance, we'd be finished financially.

TomG.

PS - Our deductible was over $30,000 even with the insurance.