Friday, April 27, 2007
Boring title
I was looking at my title "Health Insurance as I see it" and thought 'how boring! I'm not a boring person, so why should I have a boring title?' But, why is it boring? I've decided it's boring because people don't know how exciting health insurance is! There are SO many intricacies that I can't even begin to wrap my mind around them sometimes. For instance if you want the short-cut way, just offer someone a basic plan, but if they are a business owner, and could use group insurance, there are a myriad of add ons that can be thrown in that could save some SERIOUS money! For instance you could toss in a FLEX plan (FSA) that could enable a company to go around paying FICA taxes. Not a bad deal. So with that, who said insurance was boring? (It's especially not boring when I'm about to go home for the weekend)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Paying for my car
So a friend of mine stopped by yesterday. He needs health insurance. I can help. We've met numerous times before to sign him up, and realized that, yes, I can save him about $50 per month. This is a good thing. However, a lot of people think WORST case scenarios when shopping for health insurance. What if I get sick, what if I sprain my ankle, what if I BREAK my ankle, what if I get run over by a bus!? What if, what if. I've found that one of the best ways to think about this issue is to look a few months back, then try to look forward.
As always, "Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results" however, it can give you a fairly good sense of how you are doing health wise I think. I'm rarely sick, so it's probably not likely that I'll get sick tomorrow. I've only broken one bone in my body (doing a stupid human trick) so providing I steer clear of stupid human tricks, I'm probably not likely to break another bone anytime soon. Seeing as I'm relatively healthy, I don't need all the bells and whistles that come with an incredibly expensive plan. Yes, if I need to go to the hospital, I don't pay anything, but I really AM paying for it in my premiums. I may pay close to $200 a month just so I don't have to pay $500 at the hospital...... If I cut my premiums down to say $90 or $110 a month, I'm saving around $100 a month and after 5 months, I can easily afford to pay the $500! The beauty is what if I DON'T go to the hospital in 5 months, what if I don't go for a year? I just saved almost a grand! I could sure use that grand elsewhere...... like paying for my car insurance.
As always, "Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results" however, it can give you a fairly good sense of how you are doing health wise I think. I'm rarely sick, so it's probably not likely that I'll get sick tomorrow. I've only broken one bone in my body (doing a stupid human trick) so providing I steer clear of stupid human tricks, I'm probably not likely to break another bone anytime soon. Seeing as I'm relatively healthy, I don't need all the bells and whistles that come with an incredibly expensive plan. Yes, if I need to go to the hospital, I don't pay anything, but I really AM paying for it in my premiums. I may pay close to $200 a month just so I don't have to pay $500 at the hospital...... If I cut my premiums down to say $90 or $110 a month, I'm saving around $100 a month and after 5 months, I can easily afford to pay the $500! The beauty is what if I DON'T go to the hospital in 5 months, what if I don't go for a year? I just saved almost a grand! I could sure use that grand elsewhere...... like paying for my car insurance.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Why did I choose my plan?
This is MY opinion. This is not necessarily how you should choose your plan, it's just how I did....
My wife and I are relatively healthy, we rarely go to the doctor (and for that he loves us). I get up every morning and hit the gym before going to the office. She makes amazingly healthy and delicious, well balanced meals. And we hike almost every weekend.
We were paying close to $500 a month for health insurance we never used. (That's $6,000 a year btw) After becoming licensed to sell health insurance, I quickly learned about things called HSAs (Health Savings Accounts). These are high deductible health care plans which allow you to pay for EVERYTHING up to a certain deductible. Bad idea right, that's a lot of money out of my pocket! For some people, yes, an HSA is a bad idea. However, for my wife and me, it makes a lot of sense.
Our monthly premium was more than cut in half, saving us over $3,000 a year.
Problem - what if I have to go to the doctor? Well, I pay what the insurance company would pay. In our case, somewhere in the neighborhood of $75 instead of our prior $10 copay. That's pretty steep, except when I look back and remember that I'm saving about $250 a month, so I can afford to pay for at least three doctor visits that month with what I just saved!
If, Heaven forbid, I have a major hospitalization, I have to cover up to my deductible, which I strategically placed at around $3,000 (the amount I've saved a year) and then my insurance covers 100% of the rest! Good deal, and for all that heartache (and body-ache), I break even. If I don't have to go through crazy hospitalization or other numerous testings that will cost me an arm and a leg, I end up ahead and, if the past is any forecaster of the future, I will almost every time! Oh, did I mention that the money I put into my HSA is TAX deductible!? Now, not only do I end up ahead, but I can take tax deductions for my own money.
That seems to make good sense to me. Does it make sense to you?
My wife and I are relatively healthy, we rarely go to the doctor (and for that he loves us). I get up every morning and hit the gym before going to the office. She makes amazingly healthy and delicious, well balanced meals. And we hike almost every weekend.
We were paying close to $500 a month for health insurance we never used. (That's $6,000 a year btw) After becoming licensed to sell health insurance, I quickly learned about things called HSAs (Health Savings Accounts). These are high deductible health care plans which allow you to pay for EVERYTHING up to a certain deductible. Bad idea right, that's a lot of money out of my pocket! For some people, yes, an HSA is a bad idea. However, for my wife and me, it makes a lot of sense.
Our monthly premium was more than cut in half, saving us over $3,000 a year.
Problem - what if I have to go to the doctor? Well, I pay what the insurance company would pay. In our case, somewhere in the neighborhood of $75 instead of our prior $10 copay. That's pretty steep, except when I look back and remember that I'm saving about $250 a month, so I can afford to pay for at least three doctor visits that month with what I just saved!
If, Heaven forbid, I have a major hospitalization, I have to cover up to my deductible, which I strategically placed at around $3,000 (the amount I've saved a year) and then my insurance covers 100% of the rest! Good deal, and for all that heartache (and body-ache), I break even. If I don't have to go through crazy hospitalization or other numerous testings that will cost me an arm and a leg, I end up ahead and, if the past is any forecaster of the future, I will almost every time! Oh, did I mention that the money I put into my HSA is TAX deductible!? Now, not only do I end up ahead, but I can take tax deductions for my own money.
That seems to make good sense to me. Does it make sense to you?
Why a blog?
As I sit here, I realize that there is a lot of confusion surrounding Health Insurance. If I could in any way, shape, or form, help eliminate some of that confusion, I'd help at least someone. I am not by any stretch of the imagination a "health insurance guru", but if I can help clear something up I will! So let's get started and see if I have anything to offer.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Universal Health Care
According to a recent news article which recounted Obama's interaction with a crowd in Trenton, NJ a woman complained about health care costs.
"Sharon Masino, a card dealer since 1984 at Caesars casino in Atlantic City, told Obama dealers there decided to unionize recently in part to oppose a new health care plan she said would have cost her $20,000 per year to help treat her ill husband."
Unionized health care is wonderful for those who are too sick or ill or old to be able to afford less expensive health coverage, however since money as of yet fails to appear out of thin air someone gets stuck with that bill. That would be the healthier individuals. The healthier people of the nation have to pay more. This is almost akin to a tax on being healthy and fit!
"Sharon Masino, a card dealer since 1984 at Caesars casino in Atlantic City, told Obama dealers there decided to unionize recently in part to oppose a new health care plan she said would have cost her $20,000 per year to help treat her ill husband."
Unionized health care is wonderful for those who are too sick or ill or old to be able to afford less expensive health coverage, however since money as of yet fails to appear out of thin air someone gets stuck with that bill. That would be the healthier individuals. The healthier people of the nation have to pay more. This is almost akin to a tax on being healthy and fit!
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