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I have been reviewing my finances, and my health insurance from my job is causing me grief.
As a single man, it is costing me $450 per MONTH. It went up twice last year, and will likely go up again. I realize that money would not only help me save more, but I could accomplish goals I set this year twice as fast...I am a healthy 35 yr old man, rarely get sick and feel it's my chance to "shoot the dice". The downside: Murphey's law. Will that be the day I get sick or in an accident? Or will the stress of this expense be lifted and carry me forward?
Any one here drop their insurance voluntarily? Is this really that much of a risk? Saving money here in NYC is SO hard esp the last couple of years, and Im ready to fight fire with...bigger fire!
My perfectly healthy 24 year old friend was diagnosed with a "fluke" case of melanoma (no family history, no sun exposure, etc). His medical bills for surgery & 3 rounds of chemo passed the $2,000,000 mark. How would you pay for your bills should the unthinkable happen? You could use your home, car, retirement savings, etc.
A big risk i know....Just stressed trying to save and move ahead. My life would be WAY easier. Just after working for a few years Im clamoring to get ahead.
I have been reviewing my finances, and my health insurance from my job is causing me grief.
As a single man, it is costing me $450 per MONTH. It went up twice last year, and will likely go up again. I realize that money would not only help me save more, but I could accomplish goals I set this year twice as fast...I am a healthy 35 yr old man, rarely get sick and feel it's my chance to "shoot the dice". The downside: Murphey's law. Will that be the day I get sick or in an accident? Or will the stress of this expense be lifted and carry me forward?
Any one here drop their insurance voluntarily? Is this really that much of a risk? Saving money here in NYC is SO hard esp the last couple of years, and Im ready to fight fire with...bigger fire!
Personally, the stress of not having health insurance would be too much for me. I didn't have insurance for about 2 months at one point, and I thought about it all the time. What happens if I get in a car accident, or something else outside of my control?
$450/month is high, but not super bad, depending on what your deductibles are and what it covers. My parents were spending $1200/month at one point for the 2 of them (my dad is somewhat accident prone), for $5000 deductible catastrophic only insurance, because they are self employed. They shopped around and got that down to around $700-$800 I think by splitting them onto separate policies instead of a joint policy. By contrast, my husband and I pay around $160 for the two of us for good insurance with low deductibles that includes vision, dental and life insurance. With the discounts on prescription medications thrown in, I almost save more on medical every month than my insurance costs. (*edit: my point here is that $450 is not the whole picture. Do you have any annual medical expenses that they cover? Those should be deducted to get your true monthly cost. I think my $160/month insurance actually only costs me about $25/month on average, and that is for 2 people.)
Is your employer a big company? If so, they should be able to do better than $450/month unless you have had claims, which you implied you had not. Does your employer require you to have health insurance? Do they have different levels? I wouldn't recommend cutting insurance entirely, but do they have a plan for less money and less coverage that would cover you if something bad happened? Not having insurance is not good, but carrying a minimum can be ok if you have sufficient savings to cover the higher deductible.
Be glad you have health insurance through work. For a large part of our married life, neither my husband nor I worked for companies that provided coverage, so we paid $300/month for $5000 deductible, catastrophic coverage and had to pay for all medical expenses out of pocket on top of that because we never reached the deductible.
The other thing is that if you drop your coverage, and are discovered to have a health issue, if you then later get coverage, they do not have to cover expenses relating to the pre-existing condition.
Personally, the stress of not having health insurance would be too much for me. I didn't have insurance for about 2 months at one point, and I thought about it all the time. What happens if I get in a car accident, or something else outside of my control?
$450/month is high, but not super bad, depending on what your deductibles are and what it covers. My parents were spending $1200/month at one point for the 2 of them (my dad is somewhat accident prone), for $5000 deductible catastrophic only insurance, because they are self employed. They shopped around and got that down to around $700-$800 I think by splitting them onto separate policies instead of a joint policy. By contrast, my husband and I pay around $160 for the two of us for good insurance with low deductibles that includes vision, dental and life insurance. With the discounts on prescription medications thrown in, I almost save more on medical every month than my insurance costs. (*edit: my point here is that $450 is not the whole picture. Do you have any annual medical expenses that they cover? Those should be deducted to get your true monthly cost. I think my $160/month insurance actually only costs me about $25/month on average, and that is for 2 people.)
Is your employer a big company? If so, they should be able to do better than $450/month unless you have had claims, which you implied you had not. Does your employer require you to have health insurance? Do they have different levels? I wouldn't recommend cutting insurance entirely, but do they have a plan for less money and less coverage that would cover you if something bad happened? Not having insurance is not good, but carrying a minimum can be ok if you have sufficient savings to cover the higher deductible.
Be glad you have health insurance through work. For a large part of our married life, neither my husband nor I worked for companies that provided coverage, so we paid $300/month for $5000 deductible, catastrophic coverage and had to pay for all medical expenses out of pocket on top of that because we never reached the deductible.
The other thing is that if you drop your coverage, and are discovered to have a health issue, if you then later get coverage, they do not have to cover expenses relating to the pre-existing condition.
It's a crazy idea i know. The company is mid-sized..we are not requires to have coverage though. Thank you for your input..
Im really getting bold trying to save and have some more sheckels at my disposal. Im dying to move out of my apt and into a better neighborhood. I am stressed due to that as well honestly.
Shop around and see if you can get a plan for less. That is high to me, but maybe it's not for NYC. My bf used esurance or ehealthinsurance (whatever the website is) and got a plan for about $175/month; it's got a $3k deductible but cover everything past that deductible.
I would NOT recommend going without medical insurance.
Going with a high deductible insurance and putting money in a Health Savings Account should save you some bucks. You just have to be willing to take on more of the risk.
'Calamity insurance' is what I've heard it called.
That's kind of a misnomer now, as a side effect of the New Health Care laws is that every (EVERY!) policy must include provision for coverage for certain basic care.
The closest you'll come to it is one of the High Deductible / HSA Plans
One of those should cost you less in monthly payments...
but EVERYTHING else is still coming out of your pocket too.
The "policy" is really just about having that card in your wallet in case you ever hear a helicopter coming to get you.
Chances are, you aren't going to see that $450 in your pocket. Well, not all of it. That $450 is pre-tax. So, now you are only getting $350 of that. It's still good. However, I think this also will raise your AGI as well, which may also cause an increase in your taxes. I may be counting that twice, I'm not exactly sure.
Just be mindful that you won't see the full $450 in your pocket. If that $350 is still worth the risk, then go for it.
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