Guest Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 (edited) .... Edited June 20, 2016 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 We went with Medi-share. That's exactly what happened to us. Dh got a new job, health care premiums more than doubled, still had a high deductible. So, going with company insurance just wasn't doable. It was a little scary doing something that is not "mainstream", but so far so good. We started it the beginning of September, so we're still really new on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 My friend was in a similar position. Even with the subsidies offered through the .gov site, THOSE plans were even more expensive than those through her husband's employer, so they ended up going with the very cheapest (and crappiest, unfortunately) plan offered by the employer. Does your husband's employer only offer one plan? Be aware that you may be subject to a fine for not having health insurance. I know that whether that happens or not depends on many factors, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 You may be able to purchase health insurance through the healthcare.gov exchange. We don't qualify for any subsidies either, but the plans available were cheaper/better than our self-employed individual options not through the exchange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in OR Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Are your kids maybe able to qualify for state health insurance? Here, the max family income for kids to qualify is much higher than for adults to qualify. Then, employer insurance for just two adults might be doable. Erica in OR 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 I wish I knew the answer. We are currently paying $2200/m with a per person deductible of $6500. We have used our insurance exactly ZERO times this year. Sigh. It's crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 We went without. When the choice was food or insurance it's kind of a no-brainer. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Like a PP we also went with the Health-Share option, though we chose Samaritan Ministries as our source. We've been with them for over a decade and the amount of money we've saved vs having chosen health insurance at the time is definitely in the high 5 and possibly 6 digits - mainly due to my major health issue having been covered at 100% with no OOP or deductible on our end. We pay $405/month for our family (4 still covered). We pay for all "routine" health deals OOP (like flu shots and well-care), BUT we save so much monthly there's plenty to pay for that. When I priced insurance for us, it would have cost $500 more per month for coverage that only covered 80% with roughly a 25K OOP annual deal. This leaves me with 6K annually for "routine" deals - easily more than we need - and we'd be in the 75K OOP range based upon our bills for the past three years on top of that. The 100% coverage for "need" issues is worth its weight in gold IME. Being able to choose any doctor or hospital is nice too. However, health-shares don't fit everyone. One has to be an active Christian (Congress won't let others start up :glare: ) and there are limits on what it will cover for pre-existing conditions. One needs to see if it fits them. If it fits a family, I can't say enough positive about our experience. I'm incredibly thankful we went that route years ago! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 The Medi-share type programs are good, but often will not take people with previously exisiting serious medical conditions. We checked and none of them will take my Dh, who has a lifelong neuro-vascular condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 We are without this year, for the first time ever. Could not afford the payments, don't qualify for subsidies. It makes me sick to think about it. Thinking about trying Medishare next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 ladybugs Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Don't forget that uninsured penalties go up next year. They are going to $695 or 2.5% of taxable income. Whatever is greater. Depending on your income it may be worth it to get the high deductible, doesn't cover much plan, rather then doing without. At least then you can pay it over a year rather then all at once in 2017. We have had awful insurance for the last 3+ years. Most of our current debt (other then house) is the OOP bills we have had. Ironically now that we have good insurance, we are less demanding on healthcare. I don't even have a remission scan next year or the cardiologist for another 5 years. I had both this year. So I feel your pain. Hopefully this will be a temporary situation for your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Are your kids maybe able to qualify for state health insurance? Here, the max family income for kids to qualify is much higher than for adults to qualify. Then, employer insurance for just two adults might be doable. Erica in OR Even though my DH's employer offers insurance, my kids are still eligible for state insurance. It's no cost to us and they cover nearly everything (including orthodontia with a $3.00 co-pay). This has truly made the difference in on financial solvency. DH and I still are on his crappy high deductible insurance through work but at least I don't have to worry about the kids and taking them off his work policy has brought the monthly premium cost down quite a bit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 The Medi-share type programs are good, but often will not take people with previously exisiting serious medical conditions. We checked and none of them will take my Dh, who has a lifelong neuro-vascular condition. When DH was looking at early retirement, I had access to insurance through my work, but it was expensive then (and still is) we could NOT have afforded it on his disability and my pay. I would have had to find other work to do that. This was prior the ACA. We looked into the share programs, but they would not have taken the family member who needs insurance the most. It would have made more sense for me just to find other work with less expensive insurance, although homeschooling would have been harder with me gone all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RKWAcademy Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 We're in a tough situation, too. My husband's employer offers him (alone) a great plan but the family plans are a third of his pay. So, we are stuck going to an insurance plan for the kids and me. It's outrageously expensive but it's still much cheaper than the family plan through my husband's job. We don't qualify for any subsidy if we went with obamacare because my husband's job does offer a plan to him. As a SAHM, I don't count. Huge financial burden on our lowish income. The plan we buy straight from Blue Cross is a high deductible plan for which we would never come close to meeting the deductible (except for last year's neck surgery - score!). So on top of our very high premiums that keep going up by double digit percentages, we pay out of pocket for every check up, pap smear, speech therapy (!), etc. Trust me that speech therapy out of pocket adds up! If the insurance keeps going up, we're probably going to have to consider kids to school and me back to work. We've talked about doing that starting next school year. Sad that it's that big of a share of our income but it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Have you talked to the social services office in your county? I'm sure it varies by state, but here in MN you can sometimes qualify for the state's heavily subsidized insurance even if you're above the income guidelines if your employer insurance isn't "cost effective." And like others have said above, the guidelines for kids to get on state insurance are usually much more generous than for adults. Always go into the social services office and talk to them in person, even if it looks like you don't qualify for anything based on the income guidelines. There can be a lot of loopholes and waivers and supplemental programs they don't exactly advertise on the websites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 If health share works for a family except for an individual, it's usually possible for those it works for to be with it and the individual it doesn't to have an insurance policy. Same goes for those when an individual is covered at work, but it's too expensive for family members. And I'll add that I wish our country would get together and fix the whole darn problem to begin with. Saying more than that would delve into politics, etc. (sigh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 The Medi-share type programs are good, but often will not take people with previously exisiting serious medical conditions. We checked and none of them will take my Dh, who has a lifelong neuro-vascular condition. Unfortunately, that is the case. It's not for everyone. They're picky. And they make sure we realize "this is not insurance". It's health care coverage. They use different terms for everything. And it's not really insurance. Our allergy injections are not "covered". But, like a PP said, it is more cost effective. We have a high "annual family contribution" (with an insurance co. It would be a deductible), but the amount we pay per month is very low. We pay all our own medical bills up to $10,000. That sounds like a lot, but we would have been paying $1100/month premiums with DH's work. Then a $2600 deductible. Then the co-pays. But it's the premiums that get me. That $ is gone. Whether you go to the doctor or not, it's gone. We put a certain amount away each month to cover our medical expenses if we have them, but if we don't, then, unlike the premium, we still have the money. It makes us more careful about going to the doctor, but I think we all need to be more careful. If you have good insurance, most people don't think twice about going to the doctor, getting expensive tests done, etc. and all that costs money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TX Native Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Op, you're singing my song. We kept dh on his work's insurance. He has pre existing things and needs ongoing insurance. Kids and I are in a Christian medical sharing group. We could not have afforded to keep us all on regulat insurance. If we didn't meet requirements for the Christian medical sharing group, we would have had to rebel and go without. Would have planned to pay monthly payments to the hospital indefinately if something major were to happen. Isn't that what people did before medical insurance? IDK. I want to be a responsible citizen, but I can't pay more to insure us in case something happens than I pay to feed, clothe, and shelter us. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 The coverage my husband used to get through work was great for individuals but awful for families. We purchased indivdual coverage for me through Anthem. It's expensive, but was cheaper than his family plan. One thing to note, maternity coverage was only available if you had children also on the plan. Long story, but we learned an expensive lesson the hard way, so if you plan to have more children, make sure your individual plan has maternity coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Health insurance, among other expenses that are required to do my fair share, why I am not a homeowner. But I refuse to put my kids on benefits just so I can own property. Provided you have a cheap old car you own cash, are renting, and still do not qualify for subsidies nor do you have spare money to pay for health insurance (of course none of us have cable, media, no vacations, no camping, anything other than pay as you go phone plans), then I think you are truly in that gray area and should call the state to make an exception. Or you can join a health savings group. Worst case scenario, see what you can do for the kids. They may be eligible for benefits when you are not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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