Health Insurance

[CathyCDK]

Health insurance through my husband's company is going up again, and will now be more expensive than we can afford. I've been looking at alternatives at ehealthinsurance.com. So. Many. Choices! How do I pick the right one for us? Any warnings I should heed?

If you've had experience with this, how is the application process?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Cathy

[jennsmile]

I did that 8 years ago. For a year we had private insurance for my son and I. I fought the whole year with them when it came to vaccines. They covered the vaccine but not the injection. :confused: Once they covered it fine and the rest I went round and round with them. Then they double the insurance and 1/2'd the coverage. Since then there was a class action lawsuit against them. I looked elsewhere and went with Altrua Healthshare. It is not insurance but a health sharing organization. It meets my families needs.

[Halcyon]

Another health sharing org that a friend of mine has had great success with is Samaritan Ministries. I don't have first hand experience, but we're considering using them. Our insurance costs are insane.

[heart'sjoy]

Medishare.

We've used this for 10+ years. It's not insurance, just sharing.

It's suppose to be exempt from 2014 universal stuff.

There are some areas that aren't covered to keep costs reasonable.

We've never had a problem with getting bills paid.

[acurtis75]

We are self employed business's owners and for years have struggled with ridiculous insurance premiums. Last year we switched to a health sharing company and have been pleased so far. The premium is much more reasonable with a lower deductible (they call it family sharing portion but it's basically the same as a deductible). Part of the reason for switching was that no private insurance covers maternity but Samaritan ministries and Medi-Share which is the one we decided to go with both do. There's a third company Christian Healthshare ministries that we considered.

 

In the end we went with Medi-share because it is the one that functioned the most like health insurance. The network of doctors is pretty extensive.

 

If you decide to check out Medi-share pm me. I think there 's some sort of referral incentive.

[frugalmama]

depending on income and how many children you have - look into health insurance through the state. My state does CHIP, and the rates are very very low. I was really really surprised how much you can make and still qualify - it's very generous.

[fhjmom]

depending on income and how many children you have - look into health insurance through the state. My state does CHIP, and the rates are very very low. I was really really surprised how much you can make and still qualify - it's very generous.

:iagree: We are in the same exact place you are, except the reason for the price increase is because DH switched jobs and the insurance cost at the new company is quite a bit more. I just got our approval letter for CHIP for the kids yesterday and am working through all the enrollment paperwork now. So far the only drawback I can see is that the provider list is much more limited on CHIP than on our private insurance, but CHIP also pays for hearing aids and both of my girls will need new aids very soon so I figure we can put up with it because of that.

 

I will stay on DH's employer policy.

[creekland]

VERY pleased Samaritan's Ministries members here. We've had two "claims" and both went without a hitch. Health sharing with a non-profit sure helps with the bills, but at this point we'd stay with them even if we could afford "normal" insurance.

 

For Samaritan's Ministries you must be an active Christian. I believe Medi-Share is the same (we compared them and went with Samaritan's, but it was some years ago). I'm not sure about some of the other health sharing places listed above.

 

I personally think these groups should increase (different groups for different types of people - beliefs, etc) and for profit companies should decrease.

[ChandlerMom]

We did private insurance for a couple years when I was self-employed. A couple warnings: it's cheaper, but for a reason. Private insurance is NOT the same as what you can get from an employer!!! They are not held to the same regulations.

 

Examples: most will exclude any maternity care, so you better be sure you won't have any more kids. Any pre-existing condition they can (and will) exclude forever (not just for a waiting period), if you or dh have any issues (high blood pressure/diabetes/other, non-ideal BMI) they will likely simply refuse to cover you, so before you do this make sure you can get coverage.

 

They also can issue a policy, and then if you need it, go back over your application and pull all you medical records to find anything they can use to invalidate the policy.

 

Fortunately, we have coverage thru dh's employer now, but before I got a private policy I would check to see if there is any group you belong to that would offer a cheaper group plan (group policies are usually more like employer ones).

 

I think most states won't allow you to join state programs if you even have the option to get insurance thru work. Some have programs to help you pay the employer premiums, though, so I would check that first.

 

Insurance is a racket -- the companies pay 10-30% of what the hospital/Dr/lab would charge you for the service. If they started charging everyone the same, insured and non-insured, it wouldn't be so risky to be un/under-insured.