Self paid health insurance

Jimmy_Norton

Jimmy_Norton

Well-Known Member
Does anyone here pay for their own health insurance? If so, where did you get it from? What are some tips and tricks you can suggest? Its just for me and my wife, no kids here or on the way, and we're both pretty healthy. Thanks.
 
Jimmy_Norton said:
Does anyone here pay for their own health insurance? If so, where did you get it from? What are some tips and tricks you can suggest? Its just for me and my wife, no kids here or on the way, and we're both pretty healthy. Thanks.
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I did until recently, called Blue Cross and got a quote. It was actually much cheaper than the same coverage from my employer, but the tax benefits of being in a group plan were enough for me to go back to that.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
I did until recently, called Blue Cross and got a quote. It was actually much cheaper than the same coverage from my employer, but the tax benefits of being in a group plan were enough for me to go back to that.
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I did the same thing several years ago. The group plan my employer offered at the time was total crap so I opted out and got my own higher deductible coverage and had plenty of savings to cover day to day issues.
 
What is a ballpark amount I should expect to pay? Being that we rarely go to the doctor, I'm ok with a higher co pay.
 
Jimmy_Norton said:
What is a ballpark amount I should expect to pay? Being that we rarely go to the doctor, I'm ok with a higher co pay.
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You should be able to get an online quote from Blue Cross pretty easily.
I want to say I paid around $300 for us (young healthy couple) but it was several years ago so I dont recall exactly.
 
rframe said:
I did the same thing several years ago. The group plan my employer offered at the time was total crap so I opted out and got my own higher deductible coverage and had plenty of savings to cover day to day issues.
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Yeah, I wish it would have made sense to keep the individual policy. If you are young and in a low tax bracket, it may well be much cheaper to get a non-employer policy.

I have no idea how things will change under the Affordable Care Act, but I have certainly looked (and haven't been able to find much detail). As best as I can tell, if my employer offers a plan, I'm pretty much forced into taking it (no exchange plans allowed), and therefore no tax subsidy unless I take the employer plan. The employer seems to have huge leeway when it comes to cost - as long as they pay 60% of the "cost" of the coverage, they can essentially set any deductibles and co-pays they like. The pessimist in me fears that it will not take Wall Street and Insurance companies long to figure out how to fleece this "captive" audience, my guess is by paying kickbacks to employers. The government, of course, will prefer employees to get stuck paying more in after-tax dollars, rather than pre-tax premiums, so I don't see much incentive to prevent that behavior.

If you look at the interpretations from the IRS, they are incredibly vague and open to abuse (in my opinion).
 
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