We feel that we made good decisions. It is still costing us quite a lot of money, but we
know that we can travel and still have good coverage.

I'm late to the party on this topic .. I'm trying to get better about posting now that the holidays are behind us.

It's amazing how expensive health insurance has become and how little it covers these days. It's more of an expensive "discount program" than an insurance program. In part, I get it, boomers are getting older and health care needs go up -- costs go up -- etc. This "feels" different though then just that. My wife is a school teacher and we are on her insurance and have been for 20 years. We used to pay about $200 per month and unless we saw a specialist (which was more rare back then as Doctors seemed to be more knowledgeable than they are now on a wider range of topics,) we never paid more than our $20 copay and meds were never more then $10.

Now we have a $3500 deductible per member of our 5 family household, we pay $400 every two weeks, our copay is $40, we get referred to a specialist for just about everything $90 copay, and it's 100% out of pocket until our deductible is reached, THEN they begin paying up to 80% of each bill.

One thing that has begun surfacing in our area is a neat concept of a monthly membership program doctors want to charge (over 50 $150-200 per month) to visit the doctor as much as I want! Sarcasm aside, as I can't imagine wanting to see my doctor that often, it's less than insurance and they aren't required to be "insurance compliant" which is nice that I'd be seeing someone who maybe isn't a drug pusher. However, there is the specialist, hospital stay, surgical procedure, heaven forbid cancer, bi-annual cancer screenings for my lungs, and so on. None of which is included in their club. So basically that would increase my costs to $1100 per month for just my wife and I for the "privilage" of seeing a doctor who might tell me to exercise prior to pushing a weight loss medication.

There has to be a better solution to what we have now, without being trapped in socialism. Our health care system is broken, and expensive.

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... There are three kinds of people: Those who can count, and those who can't

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: |08theunderground|12.|08us|12:|0810023 (999:1/9)

On 1/21/2025 6:33 PM, The Godfather wrote to Mike Dippel:

We feel that we made good decisions. It is still costing us quite a lot
of money, but we
know that we can travel and still have good coverage.

I'm late to the party on this topic .. I'm trying to get better about posting
now that the holidays are behind us.

It's amazing how expensive health insurance has become and how little it covers
these days. It's more of an expensive "discount program" than an insurance program. In part, I get it, boomers are getting older and health care needs go
up -- costs go up -- etc. This "feels" different though then just that. My wife is a school teacher and we are on her insurance and have been for 20 years. We used to pay about $200 per month and unless we saw a specialist (which was more rare back then as Doctors seemed to be more knowledgeable than
they are now on a wider range of topics,) we never paid more than our $20 copay
and meds were never more then $10.

Now we have a $3500 deductible per member of our 5 family household, we pay $400 every two weeks, our copay is $40, we get referred to a specialist for just about everything $90 copay, and it's 100% out of pocket until our deductible is reached, THEN they begin paying up to 80% of each bill.

One thing that has begun surfacing in our area is a neat concept of a monthly
membership program doctors want to charge (over 50 $150-200 per month) to visit
the doctor as much as I want! Sarcasm aside, as I can't imagine wanting to see
my doctor that often, it's less than insurance and they aren't required to be
"insurance compliant" which is nice that I'd be seeing someone who maybe isn't
a drug pusher. However, there is the specialist, hospital stay, surgical procedure, heaven forbid cancer, bi-annual cancer screenings for my lungs, and
so on. None of which is included in their club. So basically that would increase my costs to $1100 per month for just my wife and I for the "privilage"
of seeing a doctor who might tell me to exercise prior to pushing a weight loss medication.

There has to be a better solution to what we have now, without being trapped in
socialism. Our health care system is broken, and expensive.

When I retired, we had a health care specialist visit our home and he suggested the
"Cadillac" of coverage, and we haven't looked back. The plan we have is no longer
available, so I can't suggest it to you.

But yes, insurance premiums have gone up. Unfortunately that is a fact of life.
Sometimes the area you live in can affect your premiums. Our insurance premiums
actually went down when we moved from the Fort Lauderdale area to the Tampa area.
Not sure why, but it was a welcome thing.

Mike Dippel

--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v7.0
* Origin: The Hobby Line! BBS (999:1/1)

On 21 Jan 2025, The Godfather exclaimed the following...

I'm late to the party on this topic .. I'm trying to get better about posting now that the holidays are behind us.

Interesting look at healthcare cost. We in Canada certainly have an excellent system, abiet taxed to the limit these days. I myself having had cancer treatments (torture) and by-pass surgery that didn't cost me a cent, believe the system to be incridible. It's also very expensive to run for the government. I think over 60% of our government's budget is required to pay for it and it's future is questionable at the moment.

Free isn't all it appears to be.

Mick Manning
@ Mick's Place
centralontarioremote.net:23
https://centralontarioremote.net

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Central Ontario Remote Health (999:11/1)

But yes, insurance premiums have gone up. Unfortunately that is a fact
of life.

For sure, and expected. What was not expected was the decline in coverage. Ours has become an expensive discount program off medical procedures and medications moreso than insurance coverage these days. That is, until we hit our deductible. With me requiring cancer screening bi-annually for my lung nodules, I have learned a few tricks to shop around for the least expensive cat scan. As of 2 years ago I foun done for $800 whereas at the hospital it was $2500+. Our deductible is $3500 so it's entirely out of pocket, with some discounting prior to those fees (I don't know under our new insurance yet but will find out this year). I remember 20 years ago not having deductibles at all, we had a copay that varied based on specialist versus GP. Mind you I was much younger back then and never had to go to the doctor for more then a bout of strep throat; until we had our first child. The entire birth was covered minus a slightly inflated hospital co-pay if I recall. These "deductibles" change frequently now.

You were wise staying with your flagship plan. My wifes school presents us with new plans during every annual enrollement now. We can keep our current "flagship" plan (not your type of flagship though,) at higher rates, or they introduce two new lesser coverage plans at almost half the cost. While we feel "whittled (sp)" in coverage we have decided that saving the full cost of total out of pocket potential is more beneficial for us, particularly if we end up not needing most if any of it for a year.

Sometimes the area you live in can affect your premiums.

Our insurance MD> premiums

actually went down when we moved from the Fort Lauderdale area to the Tampa area.

I sold insurance for a couple of years as I transitioned out of corporate and into my own Business. AI will change this even more I'm sure, however when I had been selling insurance they could drill down to zip code and get good analytics on many variables that determine rates. Here in Indiana we have zip codes adjecant to one another that are more prone to wind damage than others simply over the age of the homes or elevation of the land. I would assume same is true with health? When I moved from Colorado to Indiana, I was (and still am) heart broken over losing my King Soopers grocery store (I miss their cookies (ha!)). When in corporate most of my years were within the merchandising / training space of retail. Kroger stocks its shelves based on rate of sale, so if the eating habits of Ft. Lauderdale are considered less healthy than Tampa, or consumes more alchohol, or stastically has more smokers, etc.. the rates will be higher. I think many of the reduction of roof, flood, fire coverage within home owner policies will only restrict more as AI begins analysing risk factors at a more granular level.

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... I wish life had a scroll-back buffer.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: |08theunderground|12.|08us|12:|0810023 (999:1/9)

Interesting look at healthcare cost. We in Canada certainly have an excellent system, abiet taxed to the limit these days. I myself having
had cancer treatments (torture) and by-pass surgery that didn't cost me
a cent, believe the system to be incridible. It's also very expensive to run for the government. I think over 60% of our government's budget is required to pay for it and it's future is questionable at the moment.

It's worst case scenarios like what you endured that health care should be used for. I can't speak for Canada, but know that here two factors to increased cost of health care and reduction of coverage are a direct result of "human nature" being to go to the doctor everytime they have a sniffle; while also the catch 22 necessity to never decline treatement within our hopsitals. Beit illegal immigration or simply uninsured legal citizens hospitals can not refuse to triage a patient. Those costs get absorbed by someone .. that I'm less knowledgable to however collectively have contributed to rising costs of insurance for sure. To your point, nothing is ever free. Either you're paying for insurance or you're paying through taxation. While we like our choices in America sometimes they come with different negative outcomes such as discused, but same result -- higher costs.

I hope Canada is able to solve and become a good model of health care without it being lost and or consuming an even higher tax rate.

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... WOMAN.ZIP - Great program but no documentation

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