If both spouses are self-employed, what do you do for medical insurance?
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Anonymous
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My husband is currently self-employed and I'm thinking of doing the same in a different area of work. My main reason is flexibility. Our biggest issue is good health insurance. If you are in this situation, do you have good health insurance and if do, with which company do you have it?
Thank you in advance. |
Anonymous
| BCBS...$1790 a month for family to include 2 kids. $20 co-pay, vision, no dental, $50 emergency visits, no deductiblel. |
Anonymous
| Ours is similar to 14:37 with vision, dental, $30 copay ($40 specialist) |
Anonymous
Website: https://member.carefirst.com/wps/portal/Member/MemberHome |
Anonymous
Thank you PP. That sounds reasonable. What do you do for dental coverage? Have you ever had any problems getting coverage for the areas the insurance does cover? My husband is very concerned about this. Also, did you have any pre-existing issues? Thanks again. |
Anonymous
For dental we pay out of pocket, well I do pay $52 for a plan offerered by NASE but only certain dentist accept it, and for basic stuff. Basically the dentist gives you a discount, so I had a wisdom tooth extracted a couple months back, and got $50 off - and not a lot of dentist particapte in that plan. Other major work such as implants that I'm getting done now is finaced by Care Credit - and also not a lot of dentist participate. My kids braces are all paid for out of pocket. As far as the insurance, it's like the MBZ of insurance. No problems whatsoever, recent thyroid removal, hospital stay etc, all covered. No pre-existing. However I've had this policy since 1999 when I paid $665. In 2002 I opted out since I went in house, but two years later to get back in I had to go on a strict diet and reduce my cholestrol level before being admitted. Give them a call and see.... |
Anonymous
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OP,
Do you have children, if so, how old? |
Anonymous
| Another BCBS PPO...we pay $885 per month for a family of fourOur limited coverage on prescriptions and no vision. Our dental is through a national organization DH belongs to....Our children our 20 months and 4 weeks....no pre exisiting conditions, been paying on our own for 6+ yrs when we were both under 30 |
Anonymous
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Another poster, here. Note that if you are denied coverage by these individual-type plans because of a medical issue, you can get into your state's high risk insurance pool, which in MD is also from BCBS (not sure about DC or VA). You have to prove that you've been denied coverage elsewhere, though.
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Anonymous
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If the Affordable Care Act is upheld, you're golden. If you get turned down right now there is high-risk insurance that is pretty affordable and has decent coverage, and then in 2014 you will be able to purchase on the exchange. If ACA is overturned, we go back to the Wild Wild West system we had before where you're one health problem away from being uninsurable and/or dropped and/or having your rate jacked up. I applied to United for individual coverage last year and they went out of their way to turn me down even though I didn't have any pre-existing conditions that needed treatment and I am a totally healthy 36 year old woman who doesn't smoke, has no allergies, no asthma, no chronic conditions, perfect cholesterol, normal blood pressure, takes no prescription medications, etc. I am amazed that they agree to cover anyone. I did later find another company who was willing to cover me, and they confirmed that United is particularly conservative in their underwriting, but the whole thing was very eye-opening to me.
Bottom line: Don't apply to United unless you have never ever used medical care in your life; and you might want to wait until June before making this leap into individual insurance so you will know what kind of market you will be dealing with. |
Anonymous
| We pay $460 a month for two adults, 1 child, with maternity rider, for a BCBS plan. We have a high deductible, but all well pediatrician visits are fully covered before the deductible, plus annual physicals, ob-gyn, etc. We could get insurance through my employer but cost would be over $1500 a month plus we'd have to use crappy CIGNA network, so it is much more economical to do BCBS. |
Anonymous
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670 one adult and two children with Carefirst BCBS with maternity. They actually said I can add as many kids as I want and the amount doesnt go up because I stay in the same category. We had thought when we added our new baby a month ago it would raise our rate and then they told us this. I am happy with the coverage.
Beware of NASE - in my experience the coverage was really crappy and for our first baby it was abominable for well visits. They covered 300 max in the first year and then it was on you. So we went through the first 300 quick with the first few visits/weight checks/lactation consulting and suddenly all the vaccines were out of pocket - it was staggering and upsetting since I was paying over 160 a month to add her to my individual plan so the numbers made no sense to us. It was after this experience that I changed to Carefirst. Similar rates and far better coverage. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thank you so much for the responses. I am finding them very useful. We are currently on COBRA for 18 months so I don't have to worry about getting insurance until after that. However, I have been on a two year sabbatical from work. My job is still being kept open but I have to decide in a week or two if I am going to go back, hence my question as our only hesitation is wrt health insurance.
I shall definitely call BCBS. I had tried to insure my nanny through them and she had been declined based on her weight, so I thought they would be difficult wrt the pre existing conditions that apply in our case. BTW, to answer a PP's question, we gave 3 kids -a 10 year old and 2 year old twins. Thanks again. |
Anonymous
| My DH and kids are covered through United. Its a high deductable plan, but with co-pays for doctor appointments and full coverage for well child/adult check ups. I'm covered through the Maryland high risk pool because of high risk issues related to my pregnancies that deem me uninsurable in the private market. |
Anonymous
| We pay about $780/month BCBS PPO plan, no maternity coverage (we're done) for family of 5. We buy a separate dental plan. |