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I’ve lost my health insurance
Humana is pulling out of Arizona for private health insurance. I’ve had this plan for over 15 years. My only option to get new insurance is with healthcare.gov. Do any of you have experience with insurance through the government exchange? Please share any advice and knowledge on this subject. (PLEASE do not this turn into a political discussion). Thanks for any help! Jun 21 16 02:28 pm Link The Marketplace is exactly what it says it is: a marketplace where people put their products in front of you and you can compare products and choose what best suits you. The process to sign and in enter all your info can be long and tedious but I found the ability to compare plans, once I got the hang of it all, pretty easy to navigate. Expect to spend quite a bit of time signing up and comparing plans. Jun 21 16 02:45 pm Link Lost mine to. United pulling out of Fl. R- Jun 21 16 03:47 pm Link Connecticut has its own marketplace, but it was easy and friendly to use to find the policy that best suited my family. However, it was most efficient to talk with a rep on the phone to make sure I was getting everything I intended, with the right start dates and everything. For various reasons, my family of 3 has had a total of 5 different policies in the last 3 years. Anyway, go online and decide what you want. Then give them a call (making sure you have all the income info and SSNs for your family). It's a pretty painless process. Jun 21 16 04:38 pm Link You (probably) have the option to get help from a local insurance agent. I used to have insurance through the state (because of preexisting conditions), but when the ACA went into effect, insurance companies couldn't deny you for preexisting conditions -- the state insurance went away. Oregon had its own exchange, and it was pretty good, but I went ahead & contacted a local agent. We met, I outlined what I wanted, and she provided me with options that were superior to the ones I found on the website. Two years later, the insurance I had raised their rates by >40% and added copays, so I looked around on the website and worked with that same agent. Again, she found me better policies than I was able to find on the website. So try that. Jun 21 16 05:24 pm Link Sorry to hear OP. My parents are on Obamacare, and for the coverage, they say it is already; yet affordable given the fact they live on SS right now. I'm with Aetna right now with my employer; just waiting for them to walk out too. Jun 21 16 07:00 pm Link Brian Diaz wrote: Which level made the most sense to you, gold, silver, bronze? Monthly cost vs deductibles? Jun 22 16 08:40 am Link What Fun Productions wrote: Gold made the most sense for my family. I found a plan with slightly above average co-pays, but no deductible. Bronze and maybe silver would have been great in my 20s when I went to a doctor a total of 4 times, but now we have to assume we would reach any deductible, and lower monthly costs didn't make up for any deductible cost at all. Jun 22 16 11:44 am Link Can you qualify for Medicaid? Under a certain income limit, everything is free. Jun 22 16 01:06 pm Link Jules NYC wrote: The thing is many doctors, clinics, and hospitals do not take Medicaid. Jun 22 16 01:11 pm Link Chuckarelei wrote: True, but those who do, it is absolutely free, no copay, not even 10/20 bucks a visit. Jun 22 16 01:13 pm Link Jules NYC wrote: We are over the income level. Jun 22 16 04:57 pm Link What Fun Productions wrote: I forgot, do az residents qualify for the federal subsidies? Jun 22 16 06:21 pm Link Gryph wrote: I believe so. Jun 22 16 06:49 pm Link Now that I'm retired from active employment, I'm in a federal insurance program with Medicare. So I can move to another state without worrying about insurance. However, my supplemental insurance is based on my current state and that would have to change if I moved to another state. My former employer had employees distributed over 10 states. And their benefits program had to establish unique health insurance packages for each state where they had employees. I'm surprised large interstate corporations don't advance a standardized national health care system versus letting politicians do it. Jun 22 16 10:09 pm Link Update: We signed up for insurance with the Government web site. A silver plan with Aetna for $1330 per month for two people. For 2016 there are 8 insurance companies with plans in Arizona. The bad news... All but two companies are pulling out of Arizona in 2017... Including Aetna. So, starting in November I will be shopping again for a new plan with only two companies to choose from... In some counties here there will be only one insurance company to choose. The system is falling apart. Aug 24 16 04:23 pm Link What Fun Productions wrote: Yes, the for profit healthcare "industry" that shouldn't be for-profit in the first place is falling apart. But you know, $$$. Aug 24 16 05:09 pm Link What Fun Productions wrote: That sucks because I'm with Aetna now. They raised my premium $5 for the open enrollment through work, but it is very affordable for me for now. I don't know who they plan to switch us over to when Aetna pulls out. Aug 24 16 07:28 pm Link What Fun Productions wrote: But the system was fixed! And soon it's going to get even more fixed! Aug 24 16 11:19 pm Link Part of the problem (or the main) is doctors/hospitals bill many unnecessary tests, procedures, check-ups. Pharmaceutical companies want to make more than the dudes selling illegal drugs on the streets. Lawyers love to sue those who have money to support their 40' yachts. Then there are the people who go to the doctors for having just a sneeze simply because they don't have to pay for anything. That leaves many of us stuck with this huge medical insurance bill. Aug 25 16 12:02 am Link Catastrophe only plans as an option? Many routine procedures, lab tests etc have wildly different prices for cash payment vs insurance billing. Might be worth paying for some stuff yourself to save several hundred $ a month on the insurance. What are the real chances of getting hit by a bus or swarmed by killer bees? There are lots of things you can take care of yourself, like routine blood pressure and heart rate monitoring. http://health-insurance.healthgrove.com … ic/Arizona http://www.arizonaplans.com/catastrophi … rizona.htm https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/health … -insurance Aug 25 16 03:01 am Link Michael Bots wrote: Thank you for researching this... I believe it is only for those under 30 years of age? Aug 25 16 11:01 am Link Update: I will have my new Aetna plan for only the next four months. Starting in November, I will have to shop for a new plan for 2017. Unfortunately, there will only be ONE company to chose from... Cigna. In 2016 there was eight companies in the marketplace... next year there will be one. The system is falling apart. http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/bu … /89781880/ Sep 03 16 09:26 am Link What Fun Productions wrote: You need a better system. Sep 03 16 09:37 am Link A foreign student I hosted last year was hit by a car at low speed while riding his bicycle out of my driveway onto the street. Needed surgery for the bones around his eye, some plastic surgery for the scraped skin and had his broken jaw wired shut for a short time. He recovered quickly and can't see any evidence of his accident. He said he feels great. There was not a concussion or other complications. Mostly cracked bones and stitches. He's back in Germany now. Total bill was $104,247.00. An insurance policy paid $86,264.71 The local hospital is called Scripps, in Hillcrest. He was unconscious when hit, semi-lucid when loaded into an ambulance after neighbors called 911. The ambulance crew made the decision to take him to Scripps based on the nature of his accident. I haven't seen the ambulance bill. Only the Scripps Hospital bill for these line items: emergency services ($23k), imaging services ($4k), lab services ($2k), med/surg Rm/Bed ($20k), pharmacy ($2k), Resp/Pulm services, supplies, surgical services ($52k). FWIW. When I was growing up, good doctors were readily available and affordable for most of what typically ails us for normal health care maintenance and typical accidents. Simple things are very complicated now. Everything is bent out of shape. Prior to Obamacare, I would shop for the best doctors I could find, negotiate a discount for cash payment at the time of service, and I would pay for everything out of my own pocket. I don't think that's possible now. I pay $1077/mo for a major catastrophic policy I had in place before Obamacare. When I first bought it, it was $260/mo. It has a $5,000 deductible. My primary physician who's opinion I respect told me to keep it, regardless of price. Two years ago I bought Obamacare for the under $5,000 stuff and normal healthcare maintenance. It started at $74/mo then doubled last year and will jump again soon. Insurance providers are dropping out because they are getting clobbered. I assume that was part of the original strategy for total nationalization of what used to be the best health care available in the world. My brother is a firefighter and he's forced to buy elaborate insurance provided by his union. Because of this, he is also fined $100/mo as an automatic payroll deduction for not enrolling in mandatory Obamacare. I assume fines are going up as much as the premiums. My neighbors son was a pie-eyed drug enthusiast who became a fortified heroin addict, plus whatever else he can get his hands on to get high. His parents put him in a rehab program to try to save him, and because the organization knew how to transfer the bill Obamacare. Their charges totaled $2,000/day for their program. After one month they recommended that the kid stay for another month. In the 6th week, he relapsed and was thrown out of the program. The total bill charged to Obamacare was $90,000. In retrospect, the program was worthless. I think we are in the throes of a societal collapse. Good luck. Sep 06 16 07:37 pm Link My Experience living in Canada We have a Govt Run /Govt Subsidized Health Care System that reduces citizens monthly premiums to a reasonable level ( $75 in my province ) For 26 yrs my employer paid my premiums but since i retired 5 months ago I am on the hook for those payments However i still have free additional Blue Cross coverage for extras such as savings on medications And my enhanced Dental Plan costs me an extra $40 per month Over the last 2 years i have had an angiogram /stent put into my heart as well as 2 ( week long ) hospitalizations for other matters Hate to think what that would have cost me if I were paying for it Sep 07 16 07:16 am Link oopsie , double Sep 07 16 07:16 am Link Jules NYC wrote: They don't give medicaid to abled bodied adults here in FL. so nope not everything is free everywhere. Sep 07 16 08:11 am Link It boggles the mind that many of you are paying more per month for health care that I get in retirement every month. You all must be making some very serious money. I'm happy for you. Sep 07 16 10:40 am Link I'm so happy to live here in Ontario Canada were it is part of our social care system. Sep 07 16 11:39 am Link Lohkee wrote: The US spends roughly $4 Trillion on healthcare per year. Sep 07 16 12:49 pm Link Lohkee wrote: Or we are being systematically fleeced of any identifiable remaining tangible value before being dumped into the great insolvent welfare class dependent upon whatever scraps of "largesse" the government promises to give us as so-called entitlements in the name of social justice. Sep 07 16 01:52 pm Link Lightcraft Studio wrote: Whatever the solution it has to start at the hospital level. Their pricing is absurd and extremely opaque to even the most savvy patient. Sep 07 16 02:17 pm Link Peter Claver wrote: Hospitals struggle to survive too. Where do you suppose all that money is going? How many obscenely high total bills they hand out can never be collected? How much is peeled off by fighting lawyers with more layers of lawyers? How much have their own operating expenses shot like a rocket into the stratosphere? Sep 07 16 04:10 pm Link I'm British. I'm constantly amazed that you people still put up with this crazy system. I'm even more amazed that people keep saying "But for-profit healthcare is BETTER!" when it plainly isn't. Sep 07 16 04:39 pm Link What Fun Productions wrote: The insurance companies have repeatedly stated that the problem is more sick people in a given area than expected, so it's not profitable for them to actually service all the ensuing claims, so they just bail on that given area, because they can. Sep 07 16 08:00 pm Link Lightcraft Studio wrote: 4T on an annual economy of how many Trillion? Sep 08 16 06:54 am Link SAND DIAL wrote: About $18T. Sep 08 16 07:03 am Link What Fun Productions wrote: My best friend lives in a different state from me and has had a similar problem. She and her husband would need to pay around $1000/month for both of them with an Obamacare plan. Sep 08 16 07:09 am Link Lightcraft Studio wrote: As usual you are a vast source of information. Sep 08 16 10:14 am Link |
