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I recently got a quote for new coverage when we are thinking about taking a job in Virginia. The rate was 1/2 what we currently pay for the family. NC is just very expensive for healthcare.
We used Blue Sheild's "Blue Option" program with the $10,000 deductible. For a family of 4, it only cost us $300. You can find it on their website if you google North Carolina Blue Option. Yes, it's a large deductible but they actually pay 100% for things like mamograms and well visit type tests. Also, when you hit $5,000 for one person, everything is covered at 100%. It seems like a huge deductible, but when we weighed what we would spend otherwise for healthcare for the year, it was our best option. We felt safe knowing if anything really bad were to happen, we'd only have to shell out 5k.
Just out of curiosity, I input a young family of four (age 32 parents, two adorable kiddies ages 5 and 7) into the BCBS rate engine. If you were willing to accept something other than "first dollar" coverage--that is, to leave the world of copays behind--you could protect your family from catastrophic health losses for 266.64 per month. You would receive the "negotiated" rate for medical services which is usually one-half to one-third what the uninsured pay. You would have a 10K deductible, which essentially means that you will pay out-of-pocket for your healthcare, except if, god forbid, one of you gets cancer or some other major problem. That's when the insurance would kick in.
I view medical insurance as a form of bankruptcy protection. This is feasible because I am in average health. Those who have serious health problems which require frequent doctoring....well, there's not much help for them, I'm sorry to say.
This is exactly the plan we had and it was about $300 for a family of 4, great deal IMHO. OH, and I am a woman -- 38 at the time and hubby was 38 too. Yes, they came to my house to give me an exam, but our coverage was the same. So, don't burst that bubble yet it really only cost us that little and really did pay for alot of well care! (our twins were 1 at the time)
Why? If the OP is looking at $600/mo for the premium, that's $7,200 a year she knows she'll be paying, whether she uses any medical services or not. With a high deductible plan, you only pay for what you use and most well visits are covered at 100% anyway (vs. a PPO, where you may still have to pay a co-pay). Also, I know with BCBSNC's high deductible plans, your prescriptions count toward your deductible, where they don't with a PPO.
It's insurance, which by definition is something that covers you against the unexpected. If the premium is going to be $600 per month, but you can get a high deductible plan for $300 per month, start banking away the extra $300 to use for medical bills (that count toward your deductible). At the end of the year you could have $3,600 or $0 depending on what your medical bills were for the year. But with a PPO, you know you'll have $0.
We only ended up paying around $4,200 for the year, which is $3,500 less than the other premium. So I can put that $3,500 in the bank.
And, like I said, it's $5000 per person so if something bad happens to one of my family members, I'm only out $1,500 more than I would have paid with the premium plan.
How can this not be the ideal insurance plan for a fairly heathly family on a budget?
Please don't confuse health care with health insurance. Health _insurance_ is substantially more expensive in North Carolina, but I've not seen any data that shows that the cost of health care is equally more expensive.
In fact, according to these statistics regarding the expenditures on health care per capita, North Carolina doesn't even rank in the top half of the states.
Now, that doesn't speak directly to the "cost" since, theoretically it could cost more here and people spend less on it here, but I find that highly unlikely considering the nature of illness and injury.
Last edited by MacaroniDuck; 07-28-2010 at 08:35 PM..
Yeah, I agree it sounds horrifying, and to those living paycheck to paycheck, it would be a real kick in the teeth. But...
How much do you spend every 10 years on buying a car? 10K? 20K? And you're willing to finance that over 5 or 6 years. Why not be willing to spend 10K for a catastrophic illness (which, for most of us prior to old age, may not even happen every 10 years) and put that on a payment plan too?
However, I agree that the whole scheme falls to pieces if even one family member has a chronic illness. Then you'll be paying that 10 grand every single year, on top of your premiums. Of course, that still might be less than paying the high premiums for cadillac copay-style insurance. Gotta run the numbers for yourself. Every family is different.
Oh, and you can opt out of maternity coverage. It's sold separately. Better have yourself spayed or neutered before you do though!
I wish I had better news, but insurance in NC is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a stay-at-home-mom and my husband is a contractor, so we pay for our own insurance. We have the median BCBS NC plan (health and dental) and it costs us at little over $800 per month (for a family of 4). And that only buys a $2500 per-person deductible. It sucks, but we do the best we can. Unfortunately, unless you want less coverage, it's gonna cost big bucks.
Women can decline maternity coverage if their family is complete. Saves a little $$.
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