Opinions needed on Individual health plans (Oxford: buy, deductible, income)
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Thanks for the replies so far. I'm looking at silver as I still have some money in my HSA from my old high deductible plan that I can use for copayments etc. So far I'm leaning towards Health Republic with the hope they will iron out some of their customer service issues. My providers are with them and I like their flexibility of not needing referrals for specialists.
Whatever plan I pick will end 12/31 and will need to decide for next year, so I am looking at this as a trial run.
I think you will be fine with this choice. Other than some customer service issues, which have gotten better since we signed up, we have had a good experience. I was disappointed that the North Shore/LIJ Network does not take it since they are limiting choices because they are promoting their own insurance, however, feel very confident with St. Francis and Winthrop. We will also shop around at renewal time to see what options there are.
We have Health Republic/Magna Care but the Platinum Plan. For a family plan we pay $1,490 per with NO deductibles and no co-insurance. We have had the insurance since March. It is nice being able to save some money as our Oxford Plan was $1,800 plus per month. As it turns out they were dropping our plan anyway. It might be worth it to pay for the platinum plan and not worry about a deductible.
We have been happy so far. It is nice not having to worry about referrals. Most of our doctors accept the plan. I find the customer service personnel not as strong as Oxford, but we can deal with that. One issue is that they are having problems generating invoices the last several months.......last month it came after the due date. We already took the initiative and paid it prior to receiving the invoice.
The bad news is we received a letter this week that there is most likely going to be a monthly premium increase in January upon renewal to $1,700 per month. That is when we will go over other options, if any better, with our insurance broker.
My wife chose Health Republic last December to go into effect Jan. 1. She chose them because they assured her that her primary care physician was on their plan, and he was. Well, on Jan. 1 they dropped him (or he took himself out).
Our theory is that LIJ-North Shore is threatening doctors who are affiliated with those two hospitals that they must be part of the LIJ-North Shore plan only or they will lose their affiliations with those two hospitals.
If true, not very nice, because the LIJ-North Shore is a lousy plan. It limits you to ONLY their network of hospitals.
My wife chose Health Republic last December to go into effect Jan. 1. She chose them because they assured her that her primary care physician was on their plan, and he was. Well, on Jan. 1 they dropped him (or he took himself out).
Our theory is that LIJ-North Shore is threatening doctors who are affiliated with those two hospitals that they must be part of the LIJ-North Shore plan only or they will lose their affiliations with those two hospitals.
If true, not very nice, because the LIJ-North Shore is a lousy plan. It limits you to ONLY their network of hospitals.
Interesting. I also was not comfortable being restricted only to the LIJ/North Shore network, and it was the main reason for not going with them. You are right........I was referred to an orthopedic doctor, and did not check the provider list of Health Republic which I should have. The person responsible for making the appointments told me it was a system wide policy not to take Health Republic and could not give me an appt. I have an appt now with a respected physician affiliated with Winthrop who accepts Republic.
Interesting. I also was not comfortable being restricted only to the LIJ/North Shore network, and it was the main reason for not going with them. You are right........I was referred to an orthopedic doctor, and did not check the provider list of Health Republic which I should have. The person responsible for making the appointments told me it was a system wide policy not to take Health Republic and could not give me an appt. I have an appt now with a respected physician affiliated with Winthrop who accepts Republic.
BTW, my wife received a letter from Health Republic that they are raising her premium from 515 to 601 for 2015. That's about a 17% increase!
BTW, my wife received a letter from Health Republic that they are raising her premium from 515 to 601 for 2015. That's about a 17% increase!
Yes, we received that same letter......the Platnium Plan will be going up to over $1,700/month for our family plan. This has been the same scenario with all the other plans over the past 20 years that we have had ....it increases each year, some as much a $400 plus a month. That is why we shop around each year before we commit. We left Oxford because we were raised to over $2,000 a month and that was a small group rate which we do not qualify for anymore. They would have drop us anyway with the recent changes this year going into effect.
wow at $1700/mo. I can consider our benefits ($400/family) to be like a salary in that it gives us nearly $15k a year! Do you guys not have insurance options from work?
Sole proprietor.
We're the "insignificant" people that took the direct hit from Obamacare. No reduction in premium for me and many others I know. But 55% of the people were able to signup for Medicaid in NY, thanks to the taxpayers.
Next year businesses get to have the fun as the ACA mandates and increased costs will fully apply towards plans that businesses offer their employees.
Sole proprietor.
We're the "insignificant" people that took the direct hit from Obamacare. No reduction in premium for me and many others I know. But 55% of the people were able to signup for Medicaid in NY, thanks to the taxpayers.
Next year businesses get to have the fun as the ACA mandates and increased costs will fully apply towards plans that businesses offer their employees.
We no longer qualify (husband and wife) as a small group. We just received letters that we're getting thrown under the Obamacarebus wheels 1/1/2015.
wow at $1700/mo. I can consider our benefits ($400/family) to be like a salary in that it gives us nearly $15k a year! Do you guys not have insurance options from work?
My husband is also a sole proprietor, and I do not have insurance options at my job. I truly thought Obamacare would be more affordable, but not the case. When you add the co-pays on top of your monthly premium it is quite costly.
We no longer qualify (husband and wife) as a small group. We just received letters that we're getting thrown under the Obamacarebus wheels 1/1/2015.
Same for us.......if we stayed with Oxford in the small group, we would have been dropped 1/1/15.
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