I thought I would just see what policies were out there, plus the Feb 15th deadline was ominous. Website seemed professional, asking one question at a time, and many redundant questions, like are you the mother/guardian of child 1, is child 1 living with you full time, is male living at the residence father/guardian of child 1, is male living at residence husband/father of you, is child 1 in school full time, and living at residence full time going to school, omg, site crashed 5 times, and had to re enter everything again. Took a week to finish application, entering social security numbers multiple times, but it knew who I was, knew what car I drove, where I lived 20 years ago. Scary. It said I am responsible for child 2 till he is 26, however I cannot use him as a deduction on my taxes since he pays his own way in college, with a part time job, Grandpa money, and student loan. He works for a grocery store and has insurance with them. Site asks if the insurance he has meets minimum requirements, like doctor visits, drug plan, etc. Wants ME to prove to THEM it meets these.
Finally site says we do not qualify for medicaid (surprise) since we are both self employed we make too much money gross, (you may build 100k worth of fence a year, but 70k of it was materials to build those fences, but they say you made 100k), 17 year old son doesn’t qualify for CHIPS for same reason, and we are too young for Medicare. We qualify for 617$ per person healthcare assistance.
OK, lets look at plans. 4 levels of plans, bronze, gold, silver, etc. Lets look at cheapest. Bronze, says it covers 60% of costs. Its with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, good company. Cost is 200 and change, down from 800 and change, that’s 617 difference, theres the gov assistance. Doesn’t say if that’s per month, per year, per person. So look at details of the plan, its 1207 deductible per person per year, 12700 per person max per year. Click on more details...covers doctor visits and drug plan after the minimum deductible has been met of 1270 per person per year. Now didn’t they say the minimum requirements for my sons grocery store insurance should cover these things? So it pops up with a CHat box, “do you want to chat with a representative?”, absolutly. Wait and wait, then “all representative are busy right now, email your question and we will get back to you”. My question was is this price “200” a monthly or yearly charge, is this price x3 for the 3 of us, and is there a up front plan membership fee and what is it.” A week goes by no response.
Now Im getting healthcare.gov emails daily with veiled threats that the assistance will go away after the deadline date. So I go back to bronze policies, look again at Blue cross, it says again that it covers only after deductible is met, and only at hospitals and doctors “within network”. Uh oh. Look up doctors within 25 miles, none, ok, widen the search 50 miles, none, yikes, widen to 200 miles, still none. Blue Cross not going to work. Next down is Scott and White, local, this is good. Its 254 cost, per month per year per person, still I don’t know. It has same deductible perameters, 1270 and 12700 max. It covers 60 toward doctor visits, now wait when I pay cash at the doctor I negotiate with him for only 75 per visit. So im only saving 15$? OMG. Try to find what this policy actually covers, very vague. Im done, Frustration has reached its max.
Now if I took this 200 a month and put it into an account, in a year Id have 2400 to spend at what ever doctor I want, and could pay cash. Doctors are more than happy to accept payment TODAY and will cut prices from 10-50%. Earl cut his hand, about 1.5 inch cut, and we went to minor emergency. The asked for insurance, and we said we didn’t have any, they kind of gave us the look, poor people are pathetic. We said we are paying cash, what deal can we make for you to be paid today. It went from 1290 to 680$. That’s almost 50% discount. If Obamacare would allow for this kind of medical account instead of insurance companies who are making it rich, and dictating which doctors, which procedures, which hospitals we use, giving us the power to negotiate, to say I don’t want that drug or test or procedure, just so you can bill the insurance. We are pretty healthy people, we eat well, we take herbs and vitamins to keep up our immune systems, we exercise, this is how we choose to take control of our health, not drugs and doctors. The people who come into my store tell me horror stories about hospitals, and the many procedures they do, and drugs they push on you, and doctors that poke their head in the door to ask how youre doing and bill you for a “visit”.