Got job offers Mass health connector vs employer plans/cost (low income, insurance)

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by silverspoons

The insurance offered was going to cost us (family of 4), $1600-2100 a month, that is our share with the employer paying 50% so the plans cost $3200-4200 a month.

That sounds off. I provide my MA based employees with health insurance, and have selected one of the best plans available. The premium my firm pays for a family plan is around $2k per month total.

[silverspoons]

We are moving to Western Mass. and I understand the cost of living. We are debt free and would be able to buy a home outright or a very small mortgage. So we wont have car payments, house payments (or a very small one under $400 a month ). Our biggest expense will be health insurance and property tax.


I think it is about quality of life and is a hard choice for us. My kids spent the entire summer traveling for medical care or in the house. Our area has no summer camps, literally nothing for kids to do, no roller rink, ice rink , water park(and it is over 100 out everyday), no art classes, no museums etc. There also is no push to go to college, our high school which is "highly rated" , my child had no science teacher for 2 years , just a sub and a TV with a teacher recorded on it. There is barley one foreign language hanging on in high school with 50+ kids in a class. Last year one of my kids had no class with less then 50 kids. The middle and high schools have no clubs besides a few sports. So while I'll admit the cost of living here is cheap, I'm watching my kids have a pretty boring childhood. My daughters summer highlight was my husband driving 240 miles to take her and a friend to the movies. I also know I'm removing my kids from a very safe happy unrealistic bubble but I think it is better they see everyday life in the real world not on TV before going off to college.


All 3 employers are small businesses 6-20 employees, the highest quote was from the employer in CT (right over the MA line but we would live in MA). From what I understand CT has less choice and higher rates? The mid quote was from an Employer in Springfield that basically said all his employees go to the connector. The lowest quoted was from West Springfield and the employer said he choose a more expensive plan with a very low deductible to make sure employees would get care.


I took a look at the Mass exchange(or whatever the term is for the place people buy insurance like if you are self employed), the plans looked okay, slightly higher then what I pay but not the obvious travel costs and days off of work we have now. I tried to call insurance brokers in MA that sell insurance with no returned calls. I would love to have some rates verified before we make a commitment. Any recommendations of who to call that would help someone with a quote from out of state.

[Dm84]

No one can "guarantee rates" unless you are paying for the employer sponsored plan which should have a fixed price. The reason is when you go through the connector it's going to look at your income and determine whether or not you're eligible for subsidies (you probably will be).

IMO, your expectations on what Western Mass will deliver are probably severely out of whack. The cost of living is cheaper than in Boston but that household income isn't that great anywhere in MA. Houses are cheaper but not that cheap so if you're looking at houses you can afford to buy outright you're probably looking at houses in towns with questionable schools (or potentially Springfield which I'd avoid at all costs). Western Mass is mostly rural; while you won't be driving 600 miles for healthcare you'll probably find a dearth of providers. If your family has serious medical problems that require specialized care you will probably find yourself driving 100 miles each way to Boston.

[riblue]

I was on Masshealth(Medicaid) since it's inception, roughly from 2007 to 2013. My primary care was at the Cambridge Health Alliance in the Greater Boston area. I also received behavioral services there for a while. I moved and went to the ER in Milford a few times, no problem. I never had a problem receiving medical care. With your modest lifestyle (no debt) etc., I believe you could live well in Mass. The schools are very good in almost all places, even the not so good are better than most other districts in other states. I lived and worked in the Cambridge area from 1983-2006. I
was single, renter, no car, an interesting but very modest, less than $35,000, career bookseller. I lived within my means and had a great life in Mass. In my early 50's I married, first one for both me and my spouse and I moved to his home state of RI. I have only visited western/central Mass a few times ;it is lovely there. I think you and your family would find it agreeable. Yes, Mass is expensive but it is worth it. For what it's worth, mainly complainers write reviews on social media, I think anyway.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by riblue

I was on Masshealth(Medicaid) since it's inception, roughly from 2007 to 2013. My primary care was at the Cambridge Health Alliance in the Greater Boston area. I also received behavioral services there for a while. I moved and went to the ER in Milford a few times, no problem. I never had a problem receiving medical care. With your modest lifestyle (no debt) etc., I believe you could live well in Mass. The schools are very good in almost all places, even the not so good are better than most other districts in other states. I lived and worked in the Cambridge area from 1983-2006. I
was single, renter, no car, an interesting but very modest, less than $35,000, career bookseller. I lived within my means and had a great life in Mass. In my early 50's I married, first one for both me and my spouse and I moved to his home state of RI. I have only visited western/central Mass a few times ;it is lovely there. I think you and your family would find it agreeable. Yes, Mass is expensive but it is worth it. For what it's worth, mainly complainers write reviews on social media, I think anyway.

You're comparing Apples to Oranges. And newsflash, it's not the 80s anymore. You couldn't afford to replicate what you did 30 years ago today.

[sal1181]

No way can someone now afford to live in Cambridge making only $35K a year with the high cost of rent.

[silverspoons]

Originally Posted by Dm84

IMO, your expectations on what Western Mass will deliver are probably severely out of whack. The cost of living is cheaper than in Boston but that household income isn't that great anywhere in MA. Houses are cheaper but not that cheap so if you're looking at houses you can afford to buy outright you're probably looking at houses in towns with questionable schools (or potentially Springfield which I'd avoid at all costs). Western Mass is mostly rural; while you won't be driving 600 miles for healthcare you'll probably find a dearth of providers. If your family has serious medical problems that require specialized care you will probably find yourself driving 100 miles each way to Boston.

We could buy a modest home outright in Longmeadow, or take small mortgage 50-75k if I found some ideal home but I would like to buy outright. We are lucky that we live in a HOT real estate market and my husband built his first home himself so we had a ton of equity to start. Plus with a dull place to live we were able to pay our house off fast. Longmeadow schools seem fine , the town seemed safe. I lived in western Mass including Longmeadow (but did not attend school there) growing up. I went to undergrad in Western Mass so I have visited there over the years.


I'm fully aware of having to drive to Boston, sounds weird but I would be thrilled with the 90 mile drive and visit the doctor and spend the day in the city. Our biggest medical need is neurology. Most people don't understand that many states have few neurologists and now some neurologists will only treat limited conditions like they say neuromuscular so they wont treat dementia or strokes. I finally traveled to the Mayo clinic in Scottsdale which is about 850 mile trip to get a dx and plan for an adult in our family. The mayo clinic could not find 1 neurologist in northern AZ, all of NV, only 1 in Utah that treated seizures to refer us to. Neighboring state of WY and MT have no care. ID has I believe 2. So people think, oh this is rural America but it is close to 10 million people with 1 epiliptogist. This is just one example. our primary care lacks, our area is in crisis mode trying to get primary care doctors. It takes usually 6 months to see your primary care doctor. If you are sick it is the ER , drive, or hope it is nothing that needs medical care. Our city has 45k kids are 7 Pedatrician . It is getting scary, 3 kids died last month of a treatable infection but without a pediatrician to see sick kids and 1 ER with long lines it is tragic. I've watched 2 neighbors die, one of an AAA , while I know it is a serious condition, we have no vascular surgeon so it is a death sentence here and another of a stroke. the stroke neighbor never got to see a neurologist, just lay waiting for an "ipad" neurologist from overseas to look at her and she died waiting 9 hours for that.


Trust me it is scary to leave financial security in 2017, but besides the health rates the lack of access is scary and it is not going to get better here. I always thought Longmeadow (or east Longmeadow or south Hadley or Deerfield ) were safe decent places and if I could buy a home without a payment , have no car payments or debt, it would be better then what we have now for sure. Im not looking to spend money eating out or on entertainment. My kids would be thrilled to spend a day at a beach or even more excited to have a town library..it would surpise you after living in the middle of nowhere in a city that religion controls government so nothing gets built how just getting out and being able to go to a library or build a snowman, or have your child have a teacher with a degree will make you happy.

[CaseyB]

If you couldn't find a local neurologist, perhaps you could make the drive to UMass Medical in Worcester. That's not far.

https://www.umassmemorialhealthcare....ents/neurology

[LLCNYC]

Originally Posted by sal1181

No way can someone now afford to live in Cambridge making only $35K a year with the high cost of rent.

Lol. Exactly.

Originally Posted by Dm84

No one can "guarantee rates" unless you are paying for the employer sponsored plan which should have a fixed price. The reason is when you go through the connector it's going to look at your income and determine whether or not you're eligible for subsidies (you probably will be).

IMO, your expectations on what Western Mass will deliver are probably severely out of whack. The cost of living is cheaper than in Boston but that household income isn't that great anywhere in MA. Houses are cheaper but not that cheap so if you're looking at houses you can afford to buy outright you're probably looking at houses in towns with questionable schools (or potentially Springfield which I'd avoid at all costs). Western Mass is mostly rural; while you won't be driving 600 miles for healthcare you'll probably find a dearth of providers. If your family has serious medical problems that require specialized care you will probably find yourself driving 100 miles each way to Boston.

+1.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

That sounds off. I provide my MA based employees with health insurance, and have selected one of the best plans available. The premium my firm pays for a family plan is around $2k per month total.

Like any corporate group plan in the country, the premiums for the group are 100% tied to the demographics of the group. A company stuffed full of 60-year-old geezer machine tool operators with family plans is going to have staggeringly high premiums. A tech company with mostly 20-something unmarried Indian/Asian kids is going to be far lower. Unmarried 20-somethings largely don't make health insurance claims. Most 60-somethings do and many have expensive chronic problems. Take a group of 50 employees and make 20 of them 60. Give 10 of them the expensive problems like diabetes, heart disease, COPD, lower back issues, etc. Group insurance is off the charts expensive.