Health Insurance

[JeepGirl6]

So I am putting in my notice as the hospital this Friday, my In-Home Child Care is what I want to do. Until we get married next September I am able to get back on my parents health insurance, so I don't have to worry about it until next September.

My boyfriend has talked about staying at his current job until next Spring and then he hopes to get his lawn care business back up and try to get "big" 40+ yards. Well He would have been the one to then carry the insurance for us( at his current position) with my leaving the hospital. Well since we would both be doing our "own" business we won't have health insurance offered to us from a place of employment. We would be able to get individual insurance through somewhere. Do any of you have this situation, where your family is on individual health insurance? I looked into it and when we decide to have children, its an extra $200 a month through some places for maternity coverage. You have to pay that extra $200 a month for the whole 9 month pregnancy which is $1,800 on top of the health care coverage...You have to have the maternity insurance before you get pregnant or the insurance wont cover you...Thats crazy....so while I would be trying to get pregnant I have to have the insurance enough though I am not pregnant yet....

We think if my daycare and his lawn care business hit it off we will be okay financially but thats just so much money to put out for maternity...Geesh...Anyone have prices they are paying for individual health coverage? Maternity? Thanks

[mac60]

Don't know where you are located, but right now is not the time to be giving up a job with health insurance. If you have a job with insurance, I would keep it for now.

Since my husband lost his job, we had to go to private insurance. It is very very expensive.

We are carrying two policies right now.

1st policy is: Me, my son and daughter. $234 per month. $5000 per person deductible. Covers NOTHING untill we have paid the $5000 deductible. We pay all office visits, meds, x rays, ER, literally everything.

2nd policy is: My husband. $235 per month. $5500 per person deductible. Covers NOTHING untill we have paid the $5500 deductible. We pay all office visits, meds, erays, ER, literally everything.

Private insurance is extremely expensive, and out of reach to most who need it. We work a part time job just to pay for it. Sucks for me, as I end up working about 65 hours per week between daycare and pt job. This is one of the biggest reasons I want out of the dc business, I am spending a weeks pay for health insurance that doesn't cover anything.

[AnneCordelia]

Private health insurance is so expensive. If the thought of adding the maternity coverage to the policy seems like a lot of money then it might be tricky to afford all the little things that come up with kids...injuries, costs, ect. Not to mention that daycare and landscaping aren't the most reliable of incomes at the best of times...and this is the worst of economic times.

If you have a job that offers health coverage I would keep it no matter now icky. My friend's two year old just had 4 stitches in his chin and it cost them $335/stitch. $1300 towards the deductable! Crazy the cost of insurance!

Dang though, I just realized I have no idea how much a landscaper makes so I can't make an educated guess but I'm just reading into tone about $$ for maternity coverage and thinking that insurance is a good thing!

[momofboys]

We have decent insurance (80/20 policy through DH's work) but I can tell you with 3 kids you never know what is going to happen. Having children is expensive & getting sick is even worse, even with insurance.

do you have a daycare provider association in your area>? we have one and they offer group health insurance. I never looked into how much because thankfully I dont need it, but its got to be cheaper than individual.

[SandeeAR]

To give you an idea of cost, For most of our marriage, my DH worked for a large Oil company. They paid all the health care. This was great. Fast forward many years (30 for him,18 years for me). That oil company merged with another and at age 54 he was suddenly "downsized". After a year of looking, he found another job for 1/2 the pay.

We had one in high school and one in college and suddenly were paying the health insurance ourselves. That was 10 years ago, we are still on that plan, just my DH and I. It has a $300 each deductable, is 80/20 payment and has a prescription program. It costs us $765 a month! That is more than our rent.

So, really think hard about what you have, before you give it up. Todays job market is hard.

[JeepGirl6]

I don't know if this is only offered where I live but I have been researching health insurance companies for the past two days. I found one, its through Aultcare. For my boyfriend and I its $246 a month, $500 deductible for each person, 80/20 plan. That is exactly what his insurance is now. At the hospital I am paying $180 a month with a $300 deductible, once we have a child, it goes up to $424 a month...for a hospital, thats crazy) My boyfriend is paying $50 a month where he works, so basically for us to have individual health insurance it comes out to pretty much what we are paying now. To add a child it goes up $120 a month, the deductible is 500 individual/ $1000 Family so that wont increase once we have children which is great. I am glad I found health insurance that we will be able to afford

[MyAngels]

Originally Posted by JeepGirl6

I don't know if this is only offered where I live but I have been researching health insurance companies for the past two days. I found one, its through Aultcare. For my boyfriend and I its $246 a month, $500 deductible for each person, 80/20 plan. That is exactly what his insurance is now. At the hospital I am paying $180 a month with a $300 deductible, once we have a child, it goes up to $424 a month...for a hospital, thats crazy) My boyfriend is paying $50 a month where he works, so basically for us to have individual health insurance it comes out to pretty much what we are paying now. To add a child it goes up $120 a month, the deductible is 500 individual/ $1000 Family so that wont increase once we have children which is great. I am glad I found health insurance that we will be able to afford

Do research about what the conditions are for cancellation. I don't know whether the new healthcare legislation that has been passed will affect it or not, but it used to be that individual policies could be cancelled for virtually any reason, whereas group policies could not be, which is why so many people stay in jobs just for the healthcare.

Just something to think about.

[broncomom1973]

Dh and I are both self employed. I do daycare, he owns a business with no other employees. We have a comprehensive healthcare plan through BCBS and we pay over $1000 per month for our family of 5. They tried to get us to go to a lesser plan last year but the problem was with dh's cholesterol med and diuretic that he has been on for a couple of years, he now had a pre-existing condition (hypertension and high cholesterol) so the downgraded plan cost as much as our comprehensive plan. The problem with our comprehensive plan which is $1000 deductible per person or $2000 per family is that since we are the only people in our group, if we use it for anything other than a few doctors appt.'s, our premium automatically goes up the next year. Two years ago we were just under $800, last year around $960 and now over $1000. The only thing it's been used for in those 3 years is a tonsillectomy and ear tubes a year before that (not in the same plan year). We didnt meet our deductible before either procedures. Insurance sucks!! I read somewhere a year ago that by the year 2017, the avg cost of insurance for a family would be in the $20,000 range.

[mac60]

Since we are talking health insurance......I have done a lot of research on policies and have talked to several insurance agents and asked a lot of questions. I recently talked with an AFLAC agent and learned that the United States actually helped Japan set up a Universal Healthcare system after we bombed them. Ironic to me that the US can set a system up in another country but not our own. I have also been told that when the new laws go into place, that the premiums will go up.....Again ironic to me as the rates that are out there now are not affordable to the lower middle class families, how can we afford higher rates.

The whole health insurance thing is a mess. Healthcare should not be a for profit entity. Medication should not be a for profit entity. Until you have been in a position that you have to tell your child I am sorry, you are not sick enough to go to the doctor, you may not understand the severity of the health insurance industry and how it's high cost affect families.

[wdmmom]

My husband and I have a private pay policy and we pay a little over $450 a month for it.

I've actually considered cancelling the policy because it's cheaper to go to the doctor than it is to continue paying for the insurance!

If you are worried about not having insurance when you choose to expand your family, contact your county's human services office and see what it takes to qualify for Medicaid. If you and your husband's income is low enough, you might be able to qualify for that...even if it is just temporary.

[TomCopeland]

Health insurance is expensive, no doubt about it. The best place to go to find the cheapest insurance on the market is www.ehealthinsurance.com. It's a clearing house of private insurance in your state and will compare prices of all the companies that offer policies. It's a good way to find the cheapest care on the private market.

Both really.Group life is ualulsy very inexpensive, say $6.50 for 100,000 face. Term cannot ualulsy compare with the cost of group live.The real benefit is that if you have term, you own the policy. As long as you make payments, you have coverage for the term. Group ualulsy is lost if you leave the group, cease employment relationship, business closes, lays off, changes benefits, or benefit providers. Group may give you rights to convert group policy to yourself in the form of whole life (expensive) policy upon termination.You have no control with Group. You have control with Term.My recommendation would be to price compare. If Term policy is within say 35% of the group cost, buy all term and for the face amount that your responsibilities to your family are. If group is dirt cheap, buy all you need through the employer. Then in addition, purchase Term in around 1/2 to 3/4 of your needs. This way if you lose employment, you still have protection for your family. Regardless of possible changes in your health, you have the bases covered.Hope this helps.

[itlw8]

my dh wants to retire in 5 years.. I said no go you work for our health ins.

That is what happens when you marry a younger women.

Luckily if he stays with the same company he could take summer lay off and still have the ins.

You are doing good by planning ahead