Health ins ?

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Duchess - I have the answer - stay where you are.

Well I can't do that much longer due to the extreme COL here but yeah ,even though I am from the south I have changed too much to make this area a permanent deal .

Originally Posted by LCTMadison

Alabama has some of the highest insurance premiums in the nation....it was like that before ACA and it has gotten worse since.

When we lived in FL I had a BCBS plan for myself and my son that cost $100/month, my husband's group insurance was much more expensive. He got a job offer from a contractor here that he ended up not taking...again, pricey group insurance....so I checked what my BCBS plan would be here. Same plan...same two people...$600/month. There were far more options in FL than AL thus more competition and lower premiums. Ridiculous.

Why there is restrictions on insurance selling across state lines I have never understood....well, I do...its people in DC making big bucks from lobbyists instead of actually doing what would help their constituents, but that is a whole different discussion.

Yeah Texas was like that too and it's really bad right now also . Some days I wish I could go home but it is just not feasible due to that very thing. We left before the ACA and I was uninsurable and I think $750 a month for insurance for last kid at home and my husband . We had one job when there and it was BCBS Anthem that the company provided and it was fair . I guess . It covered some . For healthy people it would be fine .I think ... `

From these answers it is probably why they are offering him an unusual amount of money not too unusual but a good deal higher . The contractor's plans are almost all BUT discount programs they just barely skirt the line Agree 100% on the Lobbyist/big bucks issue .

[toosie]

quick reminder to keep the convo local please.

[robrath]

Originally Posted by DutchessCottonPuff

I think I was wondering about your insurance options . I certainly agree with Vanderbilt AND U at B . Am I reading right that BCBS is the only carrier there ? I started to fill out an app for the ACA to check out plans but had to put in an address of a shopping center there because I obviously don't live there and I stopped it at my SS numbers until I could try to get some answers here . Do people live in Tenn ? and work there ? The ins issue is a stumbling block . I should have worded it better . Afraid to go any farther on a fake ins application to try to find out .

Dutchess, I'm part of the Seattle forum where you posted in the housing costs thread. I used to live in HSV and recently moved to Seattle. There are a lot of people that I worked with in HSV that live just across the state line in TN, it is very common. The TN line is only about 20 minutes north of downtown HSV alone 231/431 or 40 minutes NE of HSV along 72. Keep in mind the only "large" town just into TN north is Fayetteville, and outskirts of Chattanooga to the NE edge of the state, HSV is still going to be the largest town of those choices. There are excellent hospitals in HSV (Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood) and there are more specialists available in Nashville or Birmingham (both about a 1.5 to 2 hr drive). I can't speak for what is available via obamacare in AL since I was on my employer's healthcare plan (I had BCBS and it was accepted everywhere I went).


COL in HSV is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than Seattle, as you know the average $/sqft in Seattle now is $300+ (and still climbing) and HSV can still be found around $100/sqft, gas and food are also cheaper in HSV than SEA. But you will have a state income tax (unless you live in TN) but you won't have the BS Sound Transit tax on your car tabs. No tent cities, open drug dealing, heroin needles, and general craziness that you see downtown Seattle. Also the traffic is much much easier to deal with.


Having lived in both places now, HSV is still better in terms of overall quality of life and COL IMO. Can't speak for the other places you've looked at since I never lived there.

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by robrath

COL in HSV is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than Seattle, as you know the average $/sqft in Seattle now is $300+ (and still climbing) and HSV can still be found around $100/sqft, gas and food are also cheaper in HSV than SEA. But you will have a state income tax (unless you live in TN) but you won't have the BS Sound Transit tax on your car tabs.

Just an FYI, even if you live in Tennessee and work in Alabama you still have to pay the Alabama state income tax. You have to pay Alabama state income tax if you work in Alabama regardless of where you live. The double whammy is you also get dinged by the Tennessee "wheel" tax when you register your vehicles and get Tennessee license plates. You essentially end up paying taxes to both states.