Health Insurance in NE Florida (Mayo: 2015, dermatologist, deductible) - Jacksonville - (FL) - City-Data Forum

sithlord72 · 02-02-2017, 04:55 PM

Hi. We are moving this summer to St John's County and we can't wait. Currently live in NY and have GHI for health insurance. Been looking at their website and there aren't that many doctors as there are where I live currently. So I've been toying with the idea of possibly switching my health insurance. I've looked at Aetna and Blue Cross, which are very expensive. What options are there in NE Florida for health insurance that won't make someone break the bank ? What do you guys have? Can't wait to be there this summer.

Ivan Putski · 02-02-2017, 05:36 PM

My wife's employer lets us choose between Aetna and United Healthcare at different coverage levels 70%, 80% and 90%. They're identical in their offerings for the most part but it seemed like United Healthcare had more choices for doctors so we went with them (United Healthcare Choice Plus 90/10 Plan).

We have a $300 max family deductible (or $100 per covered individual) with $25 copay for physicians, $40 for specialists and $100 for ER. Preventative is 100% covered. Out of pocket max is $6k for the family ($2k for each covered not to exceed $6k for family).

My wife and I primarily use the Mayo Clinic for primary and specialist care. There's a lot of red tape with the Mayo but we're extremely happy with the level of care we receive there. My toddler son had a seizure when he was 18 months old and both Wolfson's Children's Hospital and Nemours Neurology took excellent care of him and everything was covered (thankfully he was disgnosed with febrile seizure which is caused by a spiking fever).

Disclosure: We moved from NJ in 2015.

vigo · 02-02-2017, 05:45 PM

Ivan, can you expand a little on the "red tape" at Mayo? What kind of hassles did you have? We're planning a move to SJC, too, and were looking forward to taking advantage of the Mayo specialists.

Ivan Putski · 02-02-2017, 07:26 PM

Things tend to move very slowly there unless it's an emergency, which I guess is fine I suppose. I moved to PVB in 8/2015 and the earliest they could have me in for an initial consult/physical was December. I had an adverse reaction to a prescription in October 2015 and had to go to the Mayo ER to be treated. They then turned the follow-up few weeks later into a physical with a primary physician. I know a neurosurgeon that used to work at the Mayo but left there for St. Vincents. He told me from his perspective that there's a lot of red-tape administratively and he simply got tired of it.

I've also been in for a dermatological issue and the doctors for the most part are excellent but it takes some persuasion and sometimes begging to get them to see you sooner than they're willing to. I've had to say things like, "I'll be honest, I don't think I can get through the weekend with this ******** condition without it getting completely out of hand" etc.. As for the care, they had a professional photographer taking pictures of my condition from every possible angle and at one point, there were 3 senior doctors in the room looking me over consulting with one another to figure out what the heck was wrong with me. I was like "damn! Am I dying or something??!". There's no way my dermatologist up in NJ would've gone this far to figure out what was wrong with me. And yes, they did figure it out and the treatment has been working.

I'm starting a sleep study tomorrow at the Mayo for possible sleep apnea so I'll see how that goes. I'm in my early 40's and things are going down hill LOL.

vigo · 02-03-2017, 06:42 PM

Sounds like Mayo is worth the hassle if you're sick enough, but maybe not for the run-of-the-mill stuff. Thanks for the info.

canajo · 02-03-2017, 07:50 PM

The wait list at Mayo for a primary care doctor is over a year long! I gave up and went with a Baptist Hospital and even then it was a challenge to find one that would take new patients.

vigo · 02-04-2017, 05:50 PM

Ugh, that's not good news. It's going to be even tougher because I'm on Medicare

. Maybe I should get on that waiting list now before we even move!

watalex31 · 02-27-2017, 11:07 AM

great once again thank you all i like it ..

Giants6 · 02-27-2017, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ivan Putski;47059321[B

I'm in my early 40's and things are going down hill LOL.[/b]

Geez...I'm about your age and I'm still at the point where my only medical care is an annual visit to my primary care physician to do the usual preventive checks. And even then they are almost making me feel guilty for coming in, basically telling me I should only be coming in every other year for a little longer. All immune systems are different I guess.

Ivan Putski · 02-27-2017, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giants6

Geez...I'm about your age and I'm still at the point where my only medical care is an annual visit to my primary care physician to do the usual preventive checks. And even then they are almost making me feel guilty for coming in, basically telling me I should only be coming in every other year for a little longer. All immune systems are different I guess.

LOL, used to run 3-4 miles a day and work out 7 days a week (still work out but now down to 4-5 days/week). My knees are now shot and I'm 99% sure I have sleep apnea, not to mention borderline hypertensive blood pressure. They're bringing me in for an overnight sleep study at the Mayo next week,,not looking forward to it. I hit 40 and BAM!!

Other than that I feel like a million bucks!