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These plans are especially bad when companies have them.
If your employer does not offer health insurance you can deduct your private insurance. If they offer one of these crap plans (as Addeco used to) you can't deduct a private plane
These plans are especially bad when companies have them.
If your employer does not offer health insurance you can deduct your private insurance. If they offer one of these crap plans (as Addeco used to) you can't deduct a private plane
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Okay, this isn't going to be one of those \"blame the customer\" posts, so don't take it that way. It's more of a precautionary statement. The best way to protect yourself against insurance practices like this is to read the fine print and know what your coverage entails. Every day, I get people who come in and have no idea what their benefits are, why they're getting charged X, Y, and Z, and why certain things are paid for and certain things aren't.
If you are armed with knowledge, it makes the battle infinitely easier. Read your plan, make sure you understand it, and if you don't, call them and get clarification. Since it's your health we're talking about, you can't exactly plan, \"Okay, I'll be needing a gallbladder surgery in a couple months, so how can I accomodate for that?\" But what you can do is look and say, \"Will my insurance cover for me if I get in a catastrophic accident or I need an expensive surgery?\" and if not, look at your savings and say, \"Do I have enough money to cover for myself if I get into a catastrophic accident or I need an expensive surgery?\"
If the answer to both of those is no, one of them needs to change, post haste. Too many people adopt the \"It could never happen to me,\" attitude, and when it does, they're left completely clueless and end up blaming the insurance companies and the government for the problem. Whether or not you think we should have socialized health care is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if you think big pharma, big business, or big government is to blame. The fact is, right now, we don't have socialized health care, and right now, health care is expensive. If you live your life pretending that neither of these two things are facts, chances are sooner or later, you're gonna get bit in the ass.
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I'm a freelancer currently covered under COBRA. I shudder at the thought of having to purchase health insurance. Anyone have advice on how to find a policy similar to what I have now, which is pretty good even though it's with Aetna.
Personally, in times of no insurance, I'd pay good money just to have insurance, no matter how bad. Even if the insurance provides 0% coverage (I pay everything), I'd still dish out a decent sum for it. Insurance companies negotiate pay rates with hospitals and insurance companies. If an uninsured person comes into a hospital for emergency care and an x-ray, they're typically out $1k for the ambulance and $1k for the hospital. An insurance company, in contrast, would pay about $500 for the hospital and $200 for the ambulance. Insurance with 0 percent coverage? I still get insurance company rates, which, in my area, are less than half of uninsured person rates.
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@cypherpunks: There are other approaches to getting reduced rates. My current company's founder is an ER doctor; before the company got to the point where we could afford health insurance, he would call the hospital and negotiate our bills on our behalf.
That negotiation did quite a bit of good when I wrecked my motorcycle (and my ankle) on the way in to work one morning.
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I had this at my former employer. Called Starbridge which is now owned by Cigna. Paid like $40 every 2 weeks only to find out it had an annual limit of $2000. Yes, that's Two Thousand Dollars - for the whole year.
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What about HSA's? Anyone have any insight into those?
Unfortunately these plans are being marketed to more than just part time and temp employees. At my work, all hourly employees below the level of supervisor are on an Aetna SRC plan. Everyone on salary or that is at least a supervisor are on a real insurance plan. HR ignores inquiries into the SRC plan (except for telling them its good health insurance backed by Aetna and that it \"should\" cover everything they need) and refers all questions to Aetna. When employees sign-up for this plan, they have no idea what limited coverage they are getting.