Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP- My husband lost his job recently. I was hpoing to get some info about health insurance when not employed.

You have a limited window to sign up for COBRA, so take a look at the paperwork his employer provided. You can also look at ACA plans on healthcare.gov. You can also check out ehealthinsurance.com to compare plans in your state.

Yes cobra is 60 or 90 days to sign up, and it can be retroactive.

But check your cobra costs versus the ACA plans. For us, cobra is over $1K/month less, more coverage and a $1.5K/$3K deductible versus $7K/$14K. So a no brainer. We will use COBRA for as long as we can at start of retirement.

If you're in good health, you can get private insurance through an insurance broker. The plans are cheaper and more comprehensive than through the ACA. They do a pretty extensive medical background check though so if you have history of anything significant, they can refuse to cover you.

For me (over 50, in good health), a private plan costs about $150 less per month than a similar ACA plan.

^^ It cost more than $2000/month because we’re well over 50. So I guess I can afford to start a business when I’m on Medicare!?

Our friends retired early from high paying careers and they are ACA-subsidized due to lower reported income, despite living in a multi million dollar Arlington home and sending a kid to private school!! And they can afford to travel often.

Those subsidies everyone was railing about, don’t just cover lower income families ! The rest of us are paying more to cover our well off friends.

Yes PP it’s “pathetic “ especially since most folks won’t reach that $7000 deductible unless hospitalized or bilked for an ER visit. I can’t understand why I’d have to pay for every single healthcare need (except for annual checkup, where I can’t bring up any sort of problem without being charged extra$) on top of paying almost $2000/ month for our family aca plan.

That’s why I had to go back to work in my long term career after being laid off—to get better health insurance—even though our house is paid off. DH is self employed so we couldn’t afford for me to start a (long ago planned) business.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our healthcare system seems so complicated and it’s overwhelming to me. I recently was laid off and want to simplify things, but don’t even know if that’s possible? I’m looking to just buy private insurance on my own with no job not through Obamacare. Does this even exist? Ideally I’d like coverage just for major emergencies like surgery or cancer. I already pay my basic care out of pocket. Does something like this exist?

Unfortunately, what you are asking for (and a lot of people would like) is not available. I want true insurance for unexpected issues and emergencies. I don't need all the bells and whistles of Obamacare and certainly don't want to pay for them.

Yes, I want insurance for "negotiated rates". If my mammogram payment from BCBS is $250, I don't want them to bill me $900 and then have BCBS pay the negotiated part of $250 and I pay my part and be done. I want that $250 charge for myself, and I will pay cash/CC the day of service (so you don't have to bill me). Then I want a $15-20K deducible. I will pay everything up to that, I just want the "negotiated rate".

We so desperately need a single payer system for everyone, where this is the case and we can get rid of for profit healthcare.

But instead, I get to pay $1600 for me, and another $1600 for spouse (and if our kid hadn't just graduated college, it would be $800 for them). so $3.2K for a silver plan, with a $7K/$14K ded, and this is just medical, no dental or vision (and I want those solely to have the negotiated rates for dental---would happily pay everything else myself, just give me cash/negotiated rates that you give Delta Dental In my state.

So for us in mid 50s, the 2 of us, with prescriptions and typical medical/dental/vision we will spend $4K per month, and still have a $7k/14K ded.

That is pathetic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obamacare will be cheaper. It's very hard to not be in a group. Even with no subsidy it's not more expensive

What? Mine was $1400 a month for one person with no subsidy. In my state subsidies are not available if your gross paycheck per year is over $49,000.

Quit lying. Your policy was not that much and the Feds set the subsidy income limits which are higher than 49k.

DP: it's $1600/month for a non tobacco user age 55 in my state for a Silver plan $7K ind deductible

It will be $2300 at age 62.

Anonymous wrote:Many of the ACA plans are already setup to offer low premiums combined with catastrophic coverage that OP wants. For example, if you are 50 years old, you can get a BCBS HMO plan with a $7,500 deductible and $10,000 out of pocket max for around $600 a month. That's very affordable.

Also, if your income is less than $62K as a single person household, your premiums will be subsidized.

In what universe is $600 a month a "low premium" and "very affordable"? The low premium, high deductible plans are a thing of the past.

Anonymous wrote:Our healthcare system seems so complicated and it’s overwhelming to me. I recently was laid off and want to simplify things, but don’t even know if that’s possible? I’m looking to just buy private insurance on my own with no job not through Obamacare. Does this even exist? Ideally I’d like coverage just for major emergencies like surgery or cancer. I already pay my basic care out of pocket. Does something like this exist?

Just do Kaiser through healthcare.gov

or call them. They have a landing page Just For You.
https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/shop-plans/continue-coverage/losing-job-coverage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obamacare or insurance through some religious entities, like the Mennonites are the only options.

Simple insurance was made illegal under the affordable healthcare act.

"Simple insurance" is a misnomer. The plans often had significant coverage limitation- either limited in dollar amounts, limited in covered treatments, or limited refusing to cover preexisting conditions. A lot of people didn't realize they bought a worthless plan until it was too late.

+1. The catastrophic plans were a known scam. They would find reasons to drop you the second you needed coverage. Heart attack in your 50s? That was obviously due to the minor heart murmur you were born with that was corrected on birth. Coverage denied, no refund.

Many of the ACA plans are already setup to offer low premiums combined with catastrophic coverage that OP wants. For example, if you are 50 years old, you can get a BCBS HMO plan with a $7,500 deductible and $10,000 out of pocket max for around $600 a month. That's very affordable.

Also, if your income is less than $62K as a single person household, your premiums will be subsidized.

Anonymous wrote:
Do you remember what urgent care you used? The last time I paid out of pocket it was $250 per visit.

We didn’t go to an urgent care center, instead visited DC’s large pediatric practice which offers urgent care appointments on weekends. My insurance was inactive so the practice sent me a bill for $200 charges. I called business office to explain we were currently uninsured and asked for the cash/no insurance price. That was $90.

Medstar Health has a menu of cash payment options for uninsured patients, some charges posted on website (example, $75 virtual visit charge for pediatric specialists)

We also had to see orthopedic sports medicine. Ortho On Call (part of OrthoVirginia) charges $300 for urgent care ortho visit which includes X-rays. Casts would be extra charge.

Anonymous wrote:NP- My husband lost his job recently. I was hpoing to get some info about health insurance when not employed.

You have a limited window to sign up for COBRA, so take a look at the paperwork his employer provided. You can also look at ACA plans on healthcare.gov. You can also check out ehealthinsurance.com to compare plans in your state.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP- My husband lost his job recently. I was hpoing to get some info about health insurance when not employed.

According to prior posters you’re not allowed to ask questions about this. They don’t owe you.

That’s just for people like you who post dog whistles.

Anonymous wrote:I too lost my job in June but I discovered my the cobra rates to continue my former employer’s low deductible primo PPO were much lower than any decent (lower deductible) family policies on the exchange. But I’m over 50 so my ACA rates start higher.

We ended up not activating cobra because I felt confident I’d find a new job before the cobra acceptance period ended, and thankfully I did! In the interim, we paid out of pocket for a few appointments and even a planned MRI (still cheaper by half then one month of cobra). I called ahead to get the uninsured rates. Even the uninsured pediatrician urgent care fee was under $100 vs my $50 copay. And a specialist virtual visit apx $75 instead of $50.

Do you remember what urgent care you used? The last time I paid out of pocket it was $250 per visit.

Anonymous wrote:Obamacare or insurance through some religious entities, like the Mennonites are the only options.

Simple insurance was made illegal under the affordable healthcare act.

"Simple insurance" is a misnomer. The plans often had significant coverage limitation- either limited in dollar amounts, limited in covered treatments, or limited refusing to cover preexisting conditions. A lot of people didn't realize they bought a worthless plan until it was too late.