Getting your own health insurance

[Binky]

Hopefully without this turning into an obamacare rant thread...

I have a friend who works for a small business and the owner has failed to keep up premiums and they got dropped. He's been dragging his feet getting it reinstated and they are invesigating getting themselves individually covered.

They had BC/BS, and I know they already have some information from them, but she wants to explore other options as well.

Any thoughts?

[Stng5Pnt8]

It's expensive as crap either way you look at it.
<--- Signing up in the next few days for health/vision/dental.

[BlackGT]

Did they sign any agreements with the company where the company stated they would provide benefits including Med/Dent/Vis insurance? If so, there may be some recourse to be had or have the owner pay the same % of their premium for getting their own insurance.

Other thing, if he has more than 50 employees, he's going to have to pay the $5,000 "Tax" at the end of the year for each employee because he doesn't have any insurance benefits for them...Cheaper for him to pay say $250/month towards each employess insurance plan that the employees get for themselves...

[Binky]

has 3 employees and he is shady as fuck. employees don't have the resources for a legal fight (has has 4 lawsuits pending between himself, vendors and even the other owner of the company that have been going on for at least 4 years at least)

if there is potential recourse in a legal sense he'll fight it tooth n nail and bleed the employees dry before they ever see a courtroom.

[Geor!]

I shopped around for my policy through ehealthinsurance.com. I'm paying more than I should because I'm a "smoker" and a fat sack of shit, but it's a good site to compare prices of policies between different providers.

[dblack1]

He isn't required to cover them, but if he was and he stopped he should've given them some warning as lapses in coverage can cause higher premiums.

I have BCBS and it is decent, but I have a high deductible and specialist visits aren't covered. I just went to see a ENT and the visit set be back $200.

[mstng86]

I am sick of this 80/20 bullshit we went to recently. max out of pocket went up another thousand this year as well. Its all fucked up. I would get a secondary insurance but that is an even bigger pain in the ass.

[bcoop]

It will be ridiculously expensive. Also, you're going to hear a lot of "BC/BS sucks" and "Aetna sucks".


People don't understand how insurance works, and they fail to realize that every company out there has good plans and shitty plans. Of course, the biggest difference is the premiums.

[Geor!]

I am sick of this 80/20 bullshit we went to recently. max out of pocket went up another thousand this year as well. Its all fucked up. I would get a secondary insurance but that is an even bigger pain in the ass.

That's why I posted my question about HSA plans vs. 80/20 plans. Seems like you get screwed either way.

[03mustangdude]

Railroad ftw. That's all.