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40$ A month is super cheap. Go for it. - you never know when something might happen

Posted: Jun 14th, 2016 - 10:03 pm In Reply to: Is anyone else caught between the rock and the hard place - as far as O-care, to pay or not to pay? sm

Things happen. You could have an accident, maybe a hit and run, maybe an unexpected surgery. 40$ a month would be for a bronze plan which is what I have, except I am older and pay 100$ a month. Obamacare pays the rest, otherwise I would pay 600$ a month!! AUGGGG. (The plans are allowed to raise the cost of the insurance by age and I am ALMOST Medicare age)

I consider it a catastrophic plan. If I don't get sick, I only pay 100$ a month. Now days that is super cheap. The insurance companies started gouging for their plans once they found out the government would pay most of it. Rates went sky high. My son works for a large well-known employer and pays 400$ a month for family coverage and thousands upon thousands for deductibles. It is what it is. I don't like it either.

I chose the bronze plan because I have no chronic health problems (yet). I purchased the bronze with a health savings plan (HSA). I can contribute whatever I want to the HSA or nothing at all. What I contribute to the health savings plan is tax deductible (which helped me get a discount on our property taxes by lowering our income). We actually saved 1,700$ on our house taxes by contributing to the HSA. I am thrilled. Right there I "paid" my yearly premiums plus some left over.

You can use the HSA for most legitimate health expenses. Actually you can use it for almost ANYTHING, but it is better to use it for legitimate medical in case you get audited. At age 65 you can take out any money left in there with no penalties.

When I go to the doctor, which is not much, my health insurance plan helps lower my doctor bill so I get a discount right there. (If the doctor bills 185$ but the plan only "allows" 150$, then I only have to pay the 150$) Then I apply for "charity care" which is an adjustment to your bill based on your income. ALL the hospitals have to offer "charity care." and some of the clinics do too. They don't exactly advertise this. It is a federally mandated thing (for the hospitals) and has been for decades. The income chart for this is actually very generous. A family of 2 can get 45% off their bill if under 46,000$ or something like that. So now my 150$ bill minus 45% is now 82.50 $.

I did have a terrible, terrible cough last year that my daughter wanted to take me to the hospital for. So I did go see the doctor for that and got some antibiotics. I paid about 67$ or something like that for the office visit and got prescriptions for antibiotics, 2 inhalers, and refilled a prescription I had.

I have also found labs that I can order my OWN labs if I feel something might be wrong. I mean, what is your family doctor going to do if you go in and say "I just don't feel very good lately."? They are going to feel your belly, your lymph nodes, and order labs. Well, if I don't have a specific complaint, I order my own labs (check online about this)(you order your labs online and they e-mail you a doctor order and you go to a draw center and have them drawn) and if the labs look fantastic and maybe by then I am feeling better, I don't bother to go to the doctor.

Lately I have been ordering my own labs once a year (more extensive labs than the doctor would order) and send them to the doctor's office. That way I only pay for the labs, not the office visit.

Hope this helps. I, also, cannot fathom the new expensive health plans. I actually worry about this all the time and am praying to get through 1 more year without any major illness. Medicare is not perfect either but better than private insurance. I take a little comfort that my 6,400$ deductible would probably be more like 3,500$ after charity care, but I am too chintzy to even want to pay that !

Good luck on your decision, but I think 40$ is a bargain and what a catastrophe if you have a major medical problem and don't have any insurance !!

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