[Getmeouttacali]

Showed him this thread and our insurance company’s website, he was pleasantly surprised. Now he says it’s too hard to change our doctors, dentists, pharmacy, grocery store, etc. I have never met anyone more resistant to change, that always ends up happy with the change in the end. He admits that I’ve never steered him wrong, you’d think he’d learn to listen to me. Maybe I can just drag him out of here by force. Grrr....

[jodphd]

I am a licensed agent in MI---I know of a good plan that is much less than you are paying now for employer insurance. http://jodonnell.myhst.com

[Coldjensens]

Our company pays the premium for employees and I think supplements some of the cost for covering my wife and kids (3 currently on the policy). I think my part of the premium for wife and kids is about $600 or $680 a month. If it was just me I think it would be nothing or at least very little. Me plus spouse is around $300 - $400 a month I believe.

We have a high deducible policy. The insurance pays nothing until we pay $1800 for any given person and then it pays 80% until we hit $4500 out of pocket for the entire family, after which it pays 100% of everything. the out of pocket maximum is lower for just two people, I think it might be $2500. The company has a health savings account where I can put in pre-tax dollars from my pay to cover the deductible costs. he company puts $1,000 into the HSA account each year to help with the high deductible.

We have to do an annual health check process (it is free) to get the discounted rate. If we do not do healthcheck or if we fail and to not improve within two years, we lose the discount and the price goes up. They offer a lot of services like health planning, weight control programs etc through the internet for free. We can also use online doctor visits for limited issues, you go to the doctor by Skype. It is great for things like getting a prescription renewed or to get antibiotics for a minor URI. Appointments are not needed and you see a doctor within about half an hour or less. For me when I used it, it too about three minutes to get on, "see" the doctor, get a prescription and get off. It is great for if you get sick on vacation or weekends.

It is not as good as our pre-obamacare insurance was, but it is not terrible.

My daughter, a teacher in Denver who had to go on her employers insurance (she turned 27) said her insurance is comparatively terrible. Another daughter had the opportunity to get insurance through the labor union, but it was not as good, so she stayed on our insurance (which was good since she quit the union). Another daughter looked into the Obamacare exchanges in Ohio and they were terrible. She has non-complying insurance from her employer that covers not very much and I think she is just going to pay the fine rather than pay huge premiums for basically worthless insurance through the exchange. My wife is entitled to insurance through her employment as a librarian but my insurance is better, so we stick with that, plus separating out our coverage would mean we would never meet the family out of pocket.

We meet the family our of pocket every year so far (3 years). However with my employer kicking in $1000 and two of the kids paying for their costs before the deductible is met, and the pre-tax account, it is manageable.

Our dental care (Delta Dental) pays $1500 worth of services per year. If you get a root canal, then you have to wait for another year. I think cleaning and check up are free though.

Vision covers the doctor visit and part of the cost of glasses every two years. My $800 glasses cost $200 after insurance.

Flu shots are free. Prescriptions, I think fall into the medical deductible, but I am not sure. (BTW, for prescriptions, if you are paying, get a "GoodRX" card. It is amazing how dramatically the prices for various medicines vary from place to place for the same medicine. It is not always the same. For one medicine, Costco may be the cheapest but for a different medicine, Walgreen's is cheaper (or Kroger, or Target, or Meijers, etc). the GoodRx card gets you into a website that finds the cheapest price near you for any medicine and lets you compare generic vs name brand when generics are available. It has saved us hundreds if not thousands of dollars).

Just one company but it is an example for you. We are a pretty big company and fairly standard I think. We have offices scattered around the US and do work in most states except New York. Our benefits are the same everywhere in the country (including California).