I have a suggestion for uninsured people who plan on staying uninsured... Get a medical discount card. Hospitals and doctors generally charge uninsured people quite a bit more than people with insurance. A medical discount card gets you those preferred rates. It's not insurance -- you are still paying for all expenses yourself, but you are getting a much better rate. Medical discount cards cost $10-$15 per month and operate like a PPO (preferred provider). You have to go to doctors who are in-plan. Check out whether your doctor (or a nearby doctor) is in the plan before you sign up for it. My plan covers dental and doctor visits but not hospital visits and costs $10 per month. Different plans cover various combinations of dental, doctor, hospital, vision, and prescription drugs. Before we had the card we were spending $95 for dental cleanings plus $55 for x-rays. Now we pay $45 and $30, so our dental savings more than pays for the cost of the card. Medical discount card companies are kind of hard to find. I'd suggest Googling for them. And on the topic of health insurance... it isn't ridiculous to go uninsured if you are either wealth or poor. It is the middle class people that need insurance to guard against losing their homes and retirement funds. If you are poor, you just declare bancruptcy if you accumulate too many bills (an implicit put option on medical bills) and if you are wealth you can cover your bills and self-insure.
I posted a few months ago that I pay $46.00 per month for major medical coverage. Obviously, I dont have family concerns to worry about, and I empathize with people who have these $500+ per month bills. I had not realized the crisis in health insurance for self employed individuals until I read this thread. But some of these rates people are paying are downright scary...
A little while ago, I figured that my health insurance is about the same as my mortgage! Talk about a crisis. The folks in DC don't seem to have any idea what to do and my state government in Austin, Tx is more interested in redistricting in favor of the GOP than anything else. Hell, even HillaryCare is looking good at this point. DS
Health insurance should be a tax credit for people like us. None of this 25% or 50% deductible shit - make it a straight tax credit. Perhaps this is one thing we can all agree on.
Anyone here pay for insurance in the great state of Michigan? Any one care to name names and prices?? -ListedGuru
vanilla: I started with NASE (they hated me because I actually had to go to the doctor once in a while) and ended up with Aetna. If you have an LLC or any other kind of company, then you should be able to get a corporate plan with them. So far so good...