DPS - Health Insurance

[jeffs555]

In general, it has not been possible for my partner to get private health insurance because of a number of pre-existing conditions. So, we definitely need to move to a city in the area where she can be insured through me. Hope someone out there knows exactly the deal with DPS!

Even if you get State Health Plan coverage, it will cost over $500/month. Only the employee gets any subsidy.

NC has a risk pool for residents with pre-existing conditions. For a younger person, the rates would be well under $500/month.
INCLUSIVE HEALTH - State Option (http://nchirp.org/stateoption/index.htm - broken link)
http://nchirp.org/stateoption/docs/IH_july2011_rates.pdf (broken link)

[hammester]

Originally Posted by jeffs555

NC has a risk pool for residents with pre-existing conditions. For a younger person, the rates would be well under $500/month.
INCLUSIVE HEALTH - State Option (http://nchirp.org/stateoption/index.htm - broken link)
http://nchirp.org/stateoption/docs/IH_july2011_rates.pdf (broken link)

Wow that is sad that I could get insurance coverage thru the state with pre-existing conditions for cheaper then it would cost to be added to the state health plan as a spouse.

[bcattwood]

Originally Posted by hammester

Wow that is sad that I could get insurance coverage thru the state with pre-existing conditions for cheaper then it would cost to be added to the state health plan as a spouse.

Not that surprising given that their is no subsidy for spousal coverage. This makes it primarily attractive to people who are older, who have pre-existing conditions, or have never thought to compare the state's rates to other providers. The young, healthy spouses get coverage elsewhere, which skews the group population even more towards the retired spouses and increases the average cost per member even higher.

The same thing happens on the child side. Since we only have one healthy daughter, without a subsidy it is cheaper to insure her through BCBS than be in a group that includes multiple kids and kids with chronic conditions.

[Riverdog]

Jeffs - thanks! We will call that and see if they'll take her.

Just in case anyone else ever has this question, someone PMed me, and DPS definitely does not offer same-sex benefits at this point. It seems the City of Durham does, but not the school system, that was the confusion. So, unless one of those state options works out, we'll be looking for other pastures, sadly.