Do any of you go WITHOUT health insurance? By choice?

[me&thegals]

Dragging up this old thread again.

I will be losing my employer-sponsored health insurance as of Feb 1, so this has become a real and urgent issue for our family. This past year we spent $11,000 for healthcare and insurance. Four thousand was garnered from wages for insurance. The rest was last year's deductible paid in this calendar year, then this year's deductible and stop-gap, medication, dental. Yikes! We had rabies vaccines for the entire family (5 bat exposures), so it was an unexpectedly expensive year. The kind of year I cringe to think of happening again without good coverage.

Anyway, I believe we are heading for a high-decuductible plan. Not sure how high yet, but possibly as high as $5000/person or $10,000/family.

Does anyone understand Health Savings Accounts? I can't get a good handle on them and whether they would be a good idea for us.

 

[Leta]

Health Savings Accounts require you to also carry a high deductible insurance policy. The IRS decides how high the deductible needs to be. We do not qualify for an HSA because our health insurance covers too much, basically.

HSAs, unlike FSAs, allow you to keep and grow the balance from one year to the next. You are able to save tax free dollars. These are usually set up through an employer.

Example: you set aside $50 per week to go into your HSA. This is pretax, so it's like $30 coming out of your net paycheck. The $50 sits in your HSA, which probably has a debit card attached to it. Anytime you need to pay for a doctor visit or pick up an rx, you swipe your HSA debit card. If you save $2500 in a year, but only spend $500, the $2000 you saved just sits there, tax free and earning interest.

The catch is this: you must also have a high deductible insurance/catastrophic health insurance policy. These used to be reasonable, especially for the young and healthy, but recently have gotten really expensive. The cheapest one I've heard of is $190/mo, but that's a group rate for college students (who, by and large, are young and healthy). It covers hospital stays and not much else. So you are saving that $50/week in addition to paying $200+/mo in premiums. There are limits to how much you can save per person in your family each year.

If your money starts to pile up and you need/want to use it for a non-medical expense, you can, but you have to pay payroll taxes on it.

The problem is that $400/mo is a lot of money to most folks, but doesn't buy a ton of health care, especially for a whole family. SIL and BIL, who have no children, have an HSA that has managed to grow, but they knew that they were losing the great insurance that came with BIL's last job (he quit and went back to school) so they ran to their doctors and got a bunch of stuff taken care of, got rx's for as much of their maintenance meds as possible, you get the idea. They've been coasting along for a couple of years and are doing okay with it.

 

[nmred]

No one, yet, has mentioned share programs like Medi Share http://mychristiancare.org/medi-share/. While these plans are not "insurance" exactly, they work a lot like it and qualify you for a HSA. My pastor belongs and pays a bit over $500/month for his family. It might be worth checking into for you all.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

We have been without for about 4 or 5 years now. I dropped it when I was working because of the high cost and we never used it.
We were paying for those that ran to the emergency room for a stuffy nose.

Currently - I'm unemployed and my hubby supports us, and if there was something we could get covered by the state.

My son was admitted to hospital last year, the bill was terrible and I had collection calls and crud like that because the state was so slack on paying. The bill was over $12K for a week in the hospital. I finally had to take out the last of my 401K to pay the difference.

my hubby has Aflac for us now, it helps - we get paid more than charged when we go to the chiropractor or anything like that.

How do you access your AFLAC for that? I had a recent trip to the ER, but no inpatient care. It was all outpatient. I need to get hold of AFLAC to see if they will cover any of it, but I don't know how. I tried on another issue a couple of years ago...ended up going through email to a local AFLAC person. I got my policy in 2002, I think.

 

[ORChick]

We have been without for about 4 or 5 years now. I dropped it when I was working because of the high cost and we never used it.
We were paying for those that ran to the emergency room for a stuffy nose.

Currently - I'm unemployed and my hubby supports us, and if there was something we could get covered by the state.

My son was admitted to hospital last year, the bill was terrible and I had collection calls and crud like that because the state was so slack on paying. The bill was over $12K for a week in the hospital. I finally had to take out the last of my 401K to pay the difference.

my hubby has Aflac for us now, it helps - we get paid more than charged when we go to the chiropractor or anything like that.

I didn't see this post when it was originally written, but am flabbergasted now that I do see it. So this poster stopped insurance because "We were paying for those that ran to the emergency room for a stuffy nose". But now (or whenever the post was written) ".... if there was something we could get covered by the state", and, when her son was hospitalized, she "had collection calls and crud like that (emphasis mine) because the state was so slack on paying". In other words (as I read it) she didn't like that her insurance helped cover others, but is more than happy to have "the state" (i.e. taxes paid by others) pay for her family's care, and in fact complains that "the state" is too slow. I find that absolutely incredible!
We have insurance, a very expensive catastrophic plan - high deductable, but also steadily rising premiums. But I don't have a problem that my premiums help cover others; that is, after all what insurance does - we all (theoretically) pay so that those who need it are covered, and those who don't are lucky - and, in the last several years we have needed it, and would be bankrupt and homeless if we hadn't had it, and/or wards of the state which neither of us is willing to do. I don't understand how people can complain about insurance, but feel that it is OK to take advantage of emergency services on the taxpayers' dime. It boggles my mind.

ETA: And the reason we needed the insurance, and still do, has to do with 3 separate cancers that my DH was diagnosed with within a 6 month period, and (at the moment) a completely accidental slip, fall, and badly broken ankle. Not that anyone comes back and says that we should be eating better and living a more healthy lifestyle, and we wouldn't need the insurance. We are both relatively healthy given our ages; the ankle was a freak accident, and there may be a lifestyle element to the various cancers, but not one that can be pinpointed.

 

[me&thegals]

We have been without for about 4 or 5 years now. I dropped it when I was working because of the high cost and we never used it.
We were paying for those that ran to the emergency room for a stuffy nose.

Currently - I'm unemployed and my hubby supports us, and if there was something we could get covered by the state.

My son was admitted to hospital last year, the bill was terrible and I had collection calls and crud like that because the state was so slack on paying. The bill was over $12K for a week in the hospital. I finally had to take out the last of my 401K to pay the difference.

my hubby has Aflac for us now, it helps - we get paid more than charged when we go to the chiropractor or anything like that.

I didn't see this post when it was originally written, but am flabbergasted now that I do see it. So this poster stopped insurance because "We were paying for those that ran to the emergency room for a stuffy nose". But now (or whenever the post was written) ".... if there was something we could get covered by the state", and, when her son was hospitalized, she "had collection calls and crud like that (emphasis mine) because the state was so slack on paying". In other words (as I read it) she didn't like that her insurance helped cover others, but is more than happy to have "the state" (i.e. taxes paid by others) pay for her family's care, and in fact complains that "the state" is too slow. I find that absolutely incredible!
We have insurance, a very expensive catastrophic plan - high deductable, but also steadily rising premiums. But I don't have a problem that my premiums help cover others; that is, after all what insurance does - we all (theoretically) pay so that those who need it are covered, and those who don't are lucky - and, in the last several years we have needed it, and would be bankrupt and homeless if we hadn't had it, and/or wards of the state which neither of us is willing to do. I don't understand how people can complain about insurance, but feel that it is OK to take advantage of emergency services on the taxpayers' dime. It boggles my mind.

Agree with all of the above. It's probably one reason my employer is being priced out of affordable insurance coverage for part-time workers like me.

 

[FarmerChick]

We just had this option at hubbys work.

Stay with traditional plan, increased ded. up to $1500 from $750 and $17 more per week.

It pays a copay to Dr. of $25

The HSA has no copay.

It pays prescriptions of $10,25, 40

The HSA has no copay for prescrips (but does have a list of some common prevent prescrips that might be covered)

The HSA was $50 cheaper per week than the above, with a ded. of $2500. I would then have to put at least $50 per week into the HSA to get some decent amt of money rolling along to pay expenses...so no savings in the end.


I took the traditional plan. (Because lately hubby has been to the Dr. more times than I care to admit to myself and is costing us bucks)

So I thought, hmm...I am staying with traditional because Dr. has been experimenting with diff. prescrips etc. (And I want to know they are covered at a reasonable cost)



HSA vs. traditional.

truly it is the time in life that kinda makes these good plans, do you have kids, are you older with medical troubles, etc.

I hit a ton of websites on the net. I saw pros and cons for both sides. But from what I read I was just pushed a tad to the traditional plan.



I called on one of his prescrips. and this made the deciding factor. Dr. put him on cholesterol medicine. Which is working nicely. It is patented. It will not be made into generic for like another 10 years. Price is $137 for 30 day supply. We pay $40. I called the HSA line and asked if it was under their 'approved paid prevent prescrip' drugs and it was not. So if I went HSA every month I would be on the hook for $137. I like $40 better.

so that swayed me also.



I don't know...honestly it is insanity.

 

[ORChick]

I've been thinking about it, and realize that my last post sounded rather harsh, so I want to apologize to any of you who might have been hurt or offended by it. I want to stress that my vent was about people who choose not to have insurance because they don't feel they should help cover other people's illness, but have no problem taking assistance from the state/taxpayers for themselves. Not at all against people getting needed assistance because they are down on their luck for whatever reason. Insurance is expensive, there is no doubt about that. Our plan, which has a very high deductable so that the premiums will be "cheaper" (!!), costs us (premiums + deductable, before the insurance will actually pay out anything) approximately 2/5 of our income. We are both retired, but not yet old enough for medicare, so we have had to find private insurance, and I can tell you truthfully that it hurts having to write that premium check. Luckily, we were able to become debt free while we were still working, and that makes a huge difference. But I completely understand that many people simply cannot afford insurance, and my heart goes out to them because healthcare costs in this country are enormous.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I've been thinking about it, and realize that my last post sounded rather harsh, so I want to apologize to any of you who might have been hurt or offended by it. I want to stress that my vent was about people who choose not to have insurance because they don't feel they should help cover other people's illness, but have no problem taking assistance from the state/taxpayers for themselves. Not at all against people getting needed assistance because they are down on their luck for whatever reason. Insurance is expensive, there is no doubt about that. Our plan, which has a very high deductable so that the premiums will be "cheaper" (!!), costs us (premiums + deductable, before the insurance will actually pay out anything) approximately 2/5 of our income. We are both retired, but not yet old enough for medicare, so we have had to find private insurance, and I can tell you truthfully that it hurts having to write that premium check. Luckily, we were able to become debt free while we were still working, and that makes a huge difference. But I completely understand that many people simply cannot afford insurance, and my heart goes out to them because healthcare costs in this country are enormous.

The first week of November, one month ago..I had to go to the ER. Dx'd with a kidney stone...sent home with 4 Rx.....and a follow up appt at a Urologist. I am currently un-employed, due to layoff back in 09. There is nothing out there for Health Insurance that is even remotely affordable to someone with no income. The lowest I found, was 125$ a month. My only remaining options are using the county health dept, which still, they would have sent me to the ER.
Things are extremely tight for myself and my fiance right now. I have no income, he has only his job left. No health insurance (his boss dropped it back in 09), no uniforms, no 401K...not even direct deposit. We live in Midlands SC. And using daily..self sufficient ideas to keep our expenses as low as possible. I live with him, but I manage the propery upkeep, food purchases, cooking, cleaning, and NOT spending any money. I make my 15 gallons of gas last for 6 weeks in my truck.
I wish I could have health insurance. I miss having a job. I previously was very employable. Right now, jobs are scarce in SC.
My ER bill was 4,500$..and still arriving in the mail. The walk in price was 7,500$, but because I am self pay, they slashed 40% off the bill. Neither of us is eligible for medicare. He still works 40 hours a week. Driving 25 miles to his job, one way.
There is just not much out there right now.