If you have health insurance through your employer

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Yipes - that sucks big time RebeccaJo.

We pay just over 6% for health insurance for my husband and me, have an individual deductible plus a family deductible that needs to be met and have copays between $20 to $40 for doctors (family doctor is $20 everyone else is $40). Prescription copays are between 50% to 80% depending if the insurance company is sponsoring that particular brand of medicine or not (not everything has a generic and some medications are not one size fits all but the insurance company likes to think so).

[mawilson 2,133]

Okey dokey.

My employer just passed out

What did you do to him?

[rebeccajo 14]

Okey dokey.

My employer just passed out

What did you do to him?

I whacked him in the head with the insurance 'shopping guide'.............*I'm not kidding that's what it's called*

[anitacastillo 0]

RJ - sorry to hear about the high price. We currently have coverage under a crappy COBRA. a good price due to the "stimulus discount" or whatever it is called. We have maxed on precription benefits for the year so I am investigating getting hubby's migraine meds in Canada.

Col - have you considered how much you really spend on dental. Maybe your teeth need work, but 2 checkups a year are probably less than $500 and you are spending almost $1200 a year just on dental premiums???

If I did my math correctly, mine is just over 6% when I include dental coverage. My dental insurance is pretty damn high - about $95 a month and that's without my wife covered. It's a dental PPO though.

[trailmix 77]

We have now moved back to Canada, however ours was a little over 20%. Mind you my Husband's employer wasn't the greatest in the land, however wages are notoriously low for IT work in Florida and of course Health insurance is notoriously high.

That 20% paid for some dental and vision - which was a tiny portion of the premium - the health coverage consisted of a $6000 per year deductible and they would pay 20% after that - until you reached a deductible of $11,000 then they would pay more.

Before the $6000 they paid zero.

While he was working there they cut his wages - well everyones, by 8%. They then gave that back to him and another co-worker, probably because the premiums jumped by $100 per month a couple of weeks later.

Also, while he was working there they changed the plan so there was no other option than the plan described above. So people with kids etc who had probably paid higher premiums for a 'better' plan for years were simply forced to buy the above plan.

Edited September 10, 2009 by trailmix

[Leafgal 3]

Ours is about $300 a month for dental and medical. Co-pays are between 25 - 50, with medicine costs 10 - 50 per Rx with the first $150 per person paid by us. Some doctors stuff not paid for which I would think is typical. Dental is $1,500 per person per year, with $50 deductible. Our dental is not as much like 50 of the 300, so worth it for us. Ask me again in January when of course I am sure it will go up again.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Col - have you considered how much you really spend on dental. Maybe your teeth need work, but 2 checkups a year are probably less than $500 and you are spending almost $1200 a year just on dental premiums???

If I did my math correctly, mine is just over 6% when I include dental coverage. My dental insurance is pretty damn high - about $95 a month and that's without my wife covered. It's a dental PPO though.

You make a very good point. But throw in a few fillings, or even one single root canal, and that would cancel it out my contribution. Also, a lot of dentists won't accept Dental HMO's.

[kaffy 2]

My employer pays my entire premium but I have foot the premium to insure my husband

Previous job 10%

Current job 8%

Reasonable considering the level of coverage (low co-pays and deductibles, 100% coverage after copay/deductible)

[Nik+Heather 121]

I also voted on the lower ends - And it's for my single coverage as well. Dunno how much it will be when it's employee+spouse.

[~*Maria*~ 1]

I pay $22.70 each paycheck, roughly around 2%, but thats just for me, can't get hubby on my insurance coz i'm not Full-time.

[sara535 15]

to cover my family I pay almost $700 a month. PLUS 25-50 dollar copays and an annual cap on spending. More than once I have considered dropping it - my rationale being, the walk-in clinic down the street charges a flat 75 bucks a visit, so really we could go to the doctor 10 times a month for that money, which never happens. But I am scared of an accident, or an unexpected serious illness or catastrophe, so I keep shelling out more than 15% of my monthly income for the coverage. But you can bet I am watching the health care debate and developments like a hawk.....

[rebeccajo 14]

to cover my family I pay almost $700 a month. PLUS 25-50 dollar copays and an annual cap on spending. More than once I have considered dropping it - my rationale being, the walk-in clinic down the street charges a flat 75 bucks a visit, so really we could go to the doctor 10 times a month for that money, which never happens. But I am scared of an accident, or an unexpected serious illness or catastrophe, so I keep shelling out more than 15% of my monthly income for the coverage. But you can bet I am watching the health care debate and developments like a hawk.....

That's a shocking amount to be paying monthly. Is that coverage through your work?

[TracyTN 237]

Medical and dental coverage for me and hubby is still considerably less of a percentage of my salary than the 11% required by the NHS.

That said, the problem with our system (well, one of many!) are the inequities of rates that we're seeing illustrated in this topic. Not to mention some of the crazy requirements of some insurance companies. I read one yesterday where a lady was in debt because she failed to get pre certification from her insurance for an ambulance ride. Yeah, I think I'm having a heart attack and the first thing I'm going to do is call the insurance company. Riiiight...... That's some of the s*** Congress needs to fix.

[mawilson 2,133]

to cover my family I pay almost $700 a month. PLUS 25-50 dollar copays and an annual cap on spending. More than once I have considered dropping it - my rationale being, the walk-in clinic down the street charges a flat 75 bucks a visit, so really we could go to the doctor 10 times a month for that money, which never happens. But I am scared of an accident, or an unexpected serious illness or catastrophe, so I keep shelling out more than 15% of my monthly income for the coverage. But you can bet I am watching the health care debate and developments like a hawk.....

That's a shocking amount to be paying monthly. Is that coverage through your work?

I wonder if it would be cheaper to save that $700/month in a health savings account and

just pay cash - in full - for doctor visits.

[kaffy 2]

to cover my family I pay almost $700 a month. PLUS 25-50 dollar copays and an annual cap on spending. More than once I have considered dropping it - my rationale being, the walk-in clinic down the street charges a flat 75 bucks a visit, so really we could go to the doctor 10 times a month for that money, which never happens. But I am scared of an accident, or an unexpected serious illness or catastrophe, so I keep shelling out more than 15% of my monthly income for the coverage. But you can bet I am watching the health care debate and developments like a hawk.....

That's a shocking amount to be paying monthly. Is that coverage through your work?

I wonder if it would be cheaper to save that $700/month in a health savings account and

just pay cash - in full - for doctor visits.

It could... until on the off chance something catastrophic happens and you end up in hospital and after treatment and discharge you get hit with a $xxx,xxx bill