Bob and I are really upset. We opened our insurance bills and between 2 health policies, boat and car insurance...they are going up $6,000 bucks next year. Damn that is a lot of money. Insurance is 3/4 of our monthly expenses at this point. $30,000+ a year. They tell us it is because we live in South Florida. Well they used to tell us it was because we lived in New Jersey. This is totally wacked out. What have you guys done to contain costs? We are thinking of moving to Nebraska. They tell us the rates are the lowest there. :eek: :eek:
cat, you may want to look at medical savings plans. it's a high deductible policy that is tied to a tax deductible savings account to cover the deductible. sorry to hear about the increases. surfer
Other than being a policy holder, I have no affiliation with them, but there rates were much cheaper than the competition. Not quite sure on their costs for medical coverage, but a few months ago I had to find homeowners insurance because I was dropped for--get this--filing a claim, lol. To be honest, it was my second water damage claim in 3 years, but before the claim I paid about $900/yr for my insurance. After calling every major company (and several shady small ones), I was resigned to the fact that the lowest premium I could find was $1350 (the high was $4000 !!!!!!!!!!)--a 50% increase--which I almost took. I put my information on the web at Insure.net (or Insure.com, one of those) and got a call from the Nationwide guy saying he can do it for $391 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $1000 cheaper than anyone else with more coverage even. Switched over my auto to them also to get 10% discount for multiple policies. Definitely worth checking into, hope this helps. Vega
Another reason this whole deflation argument falls on deaf ears. Between insurane premiums, property taxes, education expenses, food prices, new home sales prices, energy prices, etc, etc...its all runaway inflation. Of course, you can buy a tv, personal computer or some other electronic gadget cheaper each year, but hell those arent the basic necessities of life...
FWIW, I opted for Major Medical coverage with the highest possible deduction. My guess is that this is probably not something you would be inclined to do, but it does save alot of money. Kind of like buying far OTM puts. Other than that, Marketsurfer's idea seems very solid. I have read about those medical savings plans for people who are either high risk underwriting candidates or people who have filed numerous claims in the past and therefore fall into the high risk pool for insurers. One caveat about those plans that I read about was that in certain states they had long waiting lists. However, I am somewhat ill informed on all of the details...
an angle--- you may want to look at commercial auto/boat insurance. have your corporation own your vehicles and insure them that way. it may be cheaper.... surfer
Insurance is used today, not to protect against emergency, but to manage costs. As a result, most plans are designed to cover regularly occuring expenses - and for this you pay. If you use insurance to protect against emergencies and self-manage the remaining health costs you can save a great deal of money. The key is to know what you have at risk and what your chances of catastrophic need are: just like the insurance companies do - and just like you would for any given trading opportunity. With this in mind and a rudimentary ability to asses risk and plan financially, you need only pay for catastrophic insurance - with a deductible that fits your financial situation. Also, it pays to find a doctor who appreciates your cash payment and not having to deal with insurance companies. They exist, and they usually have a great deal of experience and talent because they are the last remaining holdouts of a dieing breed. good health, RLB
Vulture, I'm in the process of getting insurance and would like to consider MM. Who did you get it from? Also, anyone using MSPs and do you like them. Who sells them. My broker says to stay away from them because he says they are too much trouble for the insurance company to administer. Is he correct or is it because his commission is lower. DS
Your comments are very helpful. To ratchet it up to a higher level, the original post shows that a major improvement could be made in several ways where a wholistic approach considered. The two best considerations may be to get a highly qualified LEAP practitioner in volved (This is a no fee thing) or to go to a purchasable do it yourself software package. The beta version of ESPLANNER (commercial version) would be my choice. A couple weeks back Business Week did a survey article on the software choices currently in the marketplace. I am not in the Fla area but I am well acquainted with the head trainer of LEAP and I have researched the the premises upon which ESplanner is founded (prior to the advent of ESplanner) to set up an national (250 citeies) umbrella JV related to all this stuff. It is a replacement for the untennable "asset allocation" models so prevalent in financial planning prior to the most recent market and economic retracement. Franco Modigliani's 1985 Nobel winning Life-Cycle Hypothesis is what inspired the ESplanner and other "asset allocation" alternatives.
Bob has Mutual Of Omaha 100% $3,500 deductible insurance. That we can't change if we wanted to. It is FAR cheaper than paying his expenses out of pocket. I am trying to get BlueCross Major Med. I have a really expensive Pacific Life Policy that is terminating all Florida policies next year. I do not need all the bells and whistles, I can partially self insure to save some bread. You are right, all doctors give discounts for cash. That is a good idea. Thanks rlb and surf! But no one is writing Monroe county health insurance policies. So..... We called our insurance companies and think the best thing we can do is move to north Florida. So we are moving to St. Augustine as soon as we sell the truck which was the most expensive vehicle to insure as it was the newest. We don't need two cars. Our boat insurance will be 1/2 of what it is in the Keys with the new policy. Though the joke is we are still in the hurricane belt. Our current health insurance also will be cut in half. Though we are the same two people. Go figure! I hate leaving the Keys since we have lived here 7 years. But the heat and the tourists are getting kind of old anyway.