Health Insurance Premiums?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We argue about costs of healthcare. But what do people really pay? How much per month do you pay in health insurance premiums and what percentage of your income is it? Is it a regular HMO or do you have a High Deductible Health plan? What is your deductibles?

Here's where it should get interesting. We complain about taxes, about SS, about medicare. But what do we really pay? Don't we pay a portion of our health insurance premium? Is it cheap or expensive?

We pay about $120/month for PPO for a family plan. Ridiculously good coverage, prescription is $5 generic and $15 regular. No referrals required with blue cross blue shield. $15 co-pay, used to be $10/visit. No deductible, except $500 hospital stay. I think it's about 1% of my DH's salary. But the company pays a large portion of the premium as our benefit. Very nice, but what about others?

What are you really paying for your health insurance?

[Hector]

I pay ~20 bucks per paycheck, but I dont have PPO. Its high deductible. I think it is cheaper because I chose high deductible.

[MonkeyMama]

Premiums are $9k per year. 11% of income.

I don't have much issue with that. We have a HDHP and a $3k annual deductible. ($6k out-of-pocket, which would only kick in if we were hospitalized for a prolonged time, etc. - something really catastrophic).

With the deductible, which we usually have to pay, we pay 15% of our income to healthcare. Potentially 20% if we maxed our out-of-pocket any given year.

I can actually live with that. I have made the choice to pay for GOOD private insurance versus the crap employers have offered me through the years. My spouse had brain surgery last year so no regrets whatsoever for that choice. We've gotten our money's worth. Since we were healthy "never go to the doctor" types, we were planning to switch to cheap insurance. Since then, my spouse had MAJOR surgery as I mentioned, and my dad was dropped from his coverage (disability/unemployment/COBRA) and told he needs to pay $40k per year to get his insurance back once COBRA is over. For reference, he has had the same insurer for about 40 years through his employers. But he has to buy with pre-existing conditions on the private market - same insurer. His employer laid him off when he became disabled for 3 months. I decided though my insurance is ridiculously expensive, it beats the alternatives. I have a renewed commitment to keep it, at almost any cost.

Anyway, my issue is that our premiums go up 15% - 40% or something like that every single year. This year will be a doozie because I turn 35. 40% increase was for turning 30. I was paying $1200/year for insurance in 2002, for reference. I Wasn't covering my kids, but that means I pay another $8k per year for a family. Most of that is price inflation. The saving grace is my spouse hasn't worked in many years and so when he returns to work, we have his whole income to pay for health insurance. Will stick with the private health insurance market.

[maat55]

We pay 220.00 for PPO. Our employer pays roughly 550.00 per month. I would gladly take the 550.00 to get an HDHP and put the rest into an HSA. IMO, insurnces is only for catastrophic occurances, the rest should be paid out of pocket to promote market forces.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

maat, are you sure you could buy an HDHP for an extra $550/month? Did you see MM's post? Are you sure you would qualify for only $8400/year? Are you older than 35?

I'd probably pick an HDHP but then again only if I got what the company covered our portion as salary. If not then I'd take the benefit. The only issue I see is what MM pointed out about losing a job and losing benefits.

[LuckyRobin]

Our portion of medical/vision/dental is $650 a month. It's got a $2500 family deductible or $1250 per person for the medical portion. Once the deductible is met prescriptions are $10/$20/$40, but nothing until it's met. We have no co-pay with this plan and once deductible is met they pay 90%. $650 is roughly 8% of DH's monthly net income. Vision is no deductible with 100% coverage of office visits and up to $200 for lenses/frames per person. Dental is 90% coverage of exams/cleanings/x-rays, and 70% of anything else, with no deductible.

[frugalgirl]

$300/month for HMO. $10 co-pay for PCP visits (yearly physical is free), $20 for specialist visit. No deductible.

The co-pays are what go up every year for us and the prescription drug coverage is now pretty awful. We have to get the generic or pay a tremendous amount for the non-generic. Drugs that used to be covered are no longer part of the plan (mostly things that don't have a generic). Our PCPs often have prescribed something that the pharmacist then tells me will cost between $75 and $200 to fill. I then have to either have the pharmacist call the doctor to find something else or decide whether we have to have the drug or not. We are pretty healthy thank goodness or the prescription drug costs would kill our budget.

The insurance has been very good. My spouse had cancer 3 years ago, and except for the $20 co-pays, everything else was covered. He also had access to all the best doctors through the HMO which really surprised me.

I feel often how lucky we are to have access to such affordable insurance. And it is luck. Different profession, different company could equal really crappy or nonexistant insurance.

[readytorock]

$146.60 per month for myself. Just medical. No dental or vision. High deductible ($5,000 I think). I'm self-employed so I have it just for huge emergencies like broken limbs, etc. But it's only 1.25% of my income.

[loulou]

We pay $350.14/month for a HDHP for two people. I'm 26 and my DH is 28. The employer pays 50% of the premium and also puts 75% of our deductible into an HSA. Our deductible is $2400. Another $350/month comes out of my paycheck and is deposited into our HSA. So per month we pay $700.14.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

We have insurance through the workplace from which my spouse retired. For the two of us we pay $980 per month (which was a big break from last year's $1320 per month). So that is more than 25% of my husband's pension (gross), though we have additional income. Office co-pays are $20, urgent care $50, ER $100. Pharmacy coverage has 3 co-pay tiers, the highest being $35. There is no dental, optometric, or hearing coverage.

We decided to stick with whatever plan the workplace offers because as part of the group we cannot be turned down. We both have pre-existing conditions and when we looked for insurance privately, we were advised to stick with what we have, that no one was going to meet it,much less beat it. We did not think it a good idea to buy a high deductible plan which might not be renewed by the insurance company in any year after we'd actually needed them. At our age, we thought it could become too easy to have zero insurance that way.

[marvholly]

right now I am on Cobra paying $438/month which is 30% of my current income.

If I was working it would be about $130/month = 4% of income.

All deductables & co-pays are the same.

I will be on Medicare this summer and I am going w/an Advantage Plan (HMO like I have now). Payments will only be for Part B coverage. Need to determine all co-pays & deductables.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I already posted above, but just got in the mail our choices for the coming fiscal year.

A quick look shows our insurance will most likely be up to $1100 per month (this, BTW, is not the best coverage plan either). That is with a small $500 deductible. Looks like non-pharmacy co-pays will be $25/$50/$150. Pharmacy co-pays will be $10/$25/$40. Anyway, that is a certain 12.24% rise in bottom line price. This would put us as paying out 29.7% of my husband's pension for health insurance.

[asmom]

My husband pays $34.80 per month for our family of four. We have a health care account out of which our medications and routine office visits are charged. We are not charged for physicals. Once we exhaust that account, our regular coverage kicks in 85/15 of negotiated rates up until a maximum of $5400 out of pocket annually. In 2009, we paid nothing out of pocket for our health care after the cost of premiums because we are basically healthy. Last year, I ended up spending ~$400 total because I had a surgery and I used up the account. Still not a bad deal. When we were with Aetna, we paid more in premiums and co-pays than that for the year.

[Frugal]

We pay a lot more for health insurance, probably around $300 total for two people. Used to pay a lot more when I was single. It was about $375 a month when I was single, for just me.