May 2012 Weddings
mancila60
mod
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Insurance
So H and I don't have insurance and had always planned on getting it through work when H got hired on the police dept. Well we have been considering getting it ourself so that we always know we have it and it fits us. Anyways I got some quotes and everything but I was wondering do any of you have insurance through yourself and not work? And is there any questions I should ask? I guess I'm just lost on all this. I mean PPO or HMO? We are looking at Blue Cross Blue Shield if that helps.
Re: Insurance
We are self insured. We have Geisinger, which is a local health system. Our is a bit more b/c we elected the maternity rider and I have a chronic health condition that requires pretty regular bloodwork and annual ultrasound.
Your really need to look at how you use your insurance. Do you have something chronic that requires more than a yearly physical? Do you take prescription drugs beyond the occasional antibiotic.
The blues offer many choices, most of them cover a yearly physical and gyn exam for routine medical exam with no copay. Then you have to look at deductibles, what are you willing to shell out of your own pocket in addition to premiums. The higher the deductible, the lower the premium. There is more flexibilty with the PPO's and they usually don't require referrals which the HMO's do. I would recommend calling a health insurance broker, telling what your needs are and letting them come up with a few solutions.
Also, watch the coinsurance bit, it can cost you a lot of money if your coinsurance % is high.
HTH,
We have Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, we buy it ourselves. Be wary that in order to get the maternity rider that you have to buy pretty much the top tier health plan, and that there is an 18 month waiting period for the maternity coverage to become active.
H and I are pretty healthy and have no major medical problems. In Nov 2010 we started out at $290 per month (includes both of us + maternity). In Nov. 2011 they upped our rate for no apparent reason to $360 per month. In Nov. 2012 I just received a letter that we are now going to be charged $460 a month (again, we hardly use it, no real reason).
I suspect is is the insurance company passing on the costs of the new healthcare law onto the consumer (which really isn't solving anything, IMO). Not sure how the new healthcare law affects maternity coverage either. I am in the process of looking at other companies to see what kind of rate we could get there. $5520 a year is a lot more than I'd like to spend, if I could get maternity coverage with a cheaper plan I'd prefer to pay more out of pocket in co-pays or a higher deductible since we don't use it a lot.
And other than that...get insurance ASAP! One major hospitalization could literally bankrupt you guys...even if it's only catastrophic coverage, it's really important to have something in place.
My Blog:Through My Eyes
I have had blue cross blue shield in the past and they are a good company. I have a chronic health condition and have used lots of my benefits before :-)
Honestly an HMO (now) is cheaper and has IMHO better coverage. I've never had a problem getting to see a doctor I know and liked with an HMO. But I've always lived in locations with large health organizations (intentionally). I do not and never will recommend a Kaiser HMO though.
I have more of a PPO now and while it's more expensive in general we have it so I can pick my doctors (in my current area the only HMO is Kaiser).
So my #1 suggestion is if you have a chronic condition find the doctor you want and pick something they offer. If you use certain drugs ensure they are on the formulary. If you are wanting to use a specific type of coverage check the date you would be eligible.
Good luck and ask more if you have more Qs... I've been dealing with this stuff since I was 18.
I have health insurance through work. It's Harvard Pilgrim and its a plan with a deductable ($1000, I'm responsible for $500, work pays the other $500)
H is on his own plan through Blue Cross. He pays about $400/month and he also has a deductable.
I dont know if it's just in Mass. but everyone has to have health insurance or we get fined when it comes time for filing our taxes. H got his health ins. the day before this new law came into effect, thankfully!
Missing Our July Sparkler
BFP#1-11/12/12, MMC 1/16/13-baby stopped growing @ 9wks, found out at 13wks, D&E 1/25/13
BFP#2-4/23/13 EDD-01/02/14 baby BOY born 12/31/13 Michael Cameron
i used to have blue cross and blue shield through my parents when i was in college. they seemed to have good coverage and included a lot of doctors and anytime i had to deal with them on the phone they were pleasant. sorry i can't offer any more help than that.
we are insured with united health care through our work policy, i had them at my last job too and i really like that insurance company. i had a REALLY bad mountain bike accident that involved major reconstructive surgery and extensive physical therapy while i was insured by UHC and I only paid $3000 out of pocket total, the rest was covered 100%. (I had a high deductable, low premium, no co-pay plan) i think you can do private insurance with them as well, you might want to look up their rates to at least compare with what else you're looking at.
My BFP Chart Danger Love Blog
This is just Mass as far as I know.
Outside of that I'm no help. H & I have always had insurance through our work. I do know that when we got married we looked into one policy and, at least for my work, it's either an individual plan or a family plan, which I think is kind of crazy. At least for my HCP (Health New England) it doesn't matter if you have 2 or 50 people on your family plan, it's the same rate, which doesn't make sense to me. That's my health insurance rant (just one of them) for now.
That drives me crazy! It's either individual or family and the amount I'd have to pay to have the family plan is outrageous....I won't even consider doing that until we have our first child since it's crazy expensive just for me and H to be on it. I wish they had a plan for married couples, it would make a LOT more sense!
Missing Our July Sparkler
BFP#1-11/12/12, MMC 1/16/13-baby stopped growing @ 9wks, found out at 13wks, D&E 1/25/13
BFP#2-4/23/13 EDD-01/02/14 baby BOY born 12/31/13 Michael Cameron
Or even a per person plan. It's $50 a week for me or $350 a week for a family plan!! How does one or two more people make my insurance 7x more expensive? I feel like if you have have a family of 4 you should pay less than a family of 16.