Something I have been struggling with VERY much latley is our Health Insurance......
Here is the story, my husband and I both attend a Univeristy in our area, my DH part-time, ME full time, my DH also works 50+hrs. I work about 20. Our college offers us a health center that is built into our tuition there is NO way around it we have to pay for it, so I figure why not use it. They do reg. check ups, gyno visits I get my BC pills there, they take care of strep throat, colds, rashes, do injections and vacin. etc.... even a broken nose one time

BUT, they do not offer any type of major x-ray services, major blood work or ANYTHING serious. We have been going without any type of insurance for major accidents for almost 2 yrs. My DH's workplace is now offering it but we would have to pay 450.00 a month into it ...BUT in August we would only have to pay 215.00 a month because he will have his year anniversary and they drop the rate. DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD STILL GO WITHOUT INSURANCE UNTIL AUGUST? DO YOU THINK WE HAVE PUSHED OUR LUCK THIS FAR? HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE INSURANCE? (if you don't mind me asking)


THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

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CaRtEr
April 19, 2008

Well I can only answer for myself. Yes, we have health insurance. I've never NOT had health insurance and can't imagine not having it, although I do know that a lot of people don't. Since you both are healthy young adults, the odds are that you wouldn't need anything other than what the student health services provide. Of course if either of you have health problems, then it's a different story. The other thing to consider is if you have any assets. If you own a home or anything of value, and you end up having to be hospitalized, you would likely lose everything or have to file bankruptcy. It's hard to pay $450 per month if you're not sick, but if you have an accident or major illness, you'll think that's the best $450 you ever spent. Guess I can't really give you advice. I'd be tempted to cross my fingers until Aug., but I don't want to advise you to do that because I'd feel bad if you got really sick. I guess just continue to mull it over, look at your finances and see if you could afford the money, and then make a decision. HTH

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grrr health insurance....major pet peeve!

We have it and would never be with out it. To much can go wrong. If you can afford it, I would suggest getting it now. (grumble, grumble..overpriced rasinfrasin, price gougin' buggers..grrr....)

We have it for one reason, as many people probably agree -- the "what if" factor. Sure, we don't go to the hospital all the time, so sometimes it feels like we're paying in to something we aren't using and we'd like to have the money for other things. But then life throws us a curveball and something happens. DH ends up in the hospital - $800 for bloodwork alone. He had an MRI and some other tests as well. DS was in the hospital a year ago for a double ear infection. Both DH and I had bloodwork done recently -- the costs were $800 and $1100 respectively. We've had insurance through his workplace for two years next month, and we pay about $250 per month. It's a little high (compared to what we were paying before this job) but it gets the job done. We don't have insurance for the piddly things - going to the dr for colds, etc. The reason we stay with it is because if we didn't have insurance and I were to get pregnant, then what? DH's parents kept their insurance for the same reason (the big "what if"s) and were thankful they had it when DH's appendix erupted and he almost died -- the cost for his hospital stay? Just shy of $25k. Imagine getting that bill. Like I said, it's a love-hate relationship for us. We are thankful when we need it, but when we don't, it's highway robbery. I'm not sure what to suggest. I think you have to realistically decide that if something were to happen that warranted x-ray services, or another major service (surgery?), would you be able and willing to pay for it? Labwork alone is in the upper hundreds, MRIs and X-rays even costlier. Sure, you can pay it off $5 at a time if you have to, but that isn't the point. You and your husband have to decide whether $1800 (4 months coverage at $450/mo) is an affordable price for covering any possible medical malfunctions in the next 4 months. You have been going without it for 2 years, so you've obviously made it work so far. By your track record, 4 more months wouldn't make much of a difference. But no one can anticipate anything that happens to us in life. Let me throw one last little tidbit in, and then I'll stop hijacking your thread ... My parents, who were totally healthy, have been paying into insurance for YEARS -- expensive too, as my dad is a self-employed contractor, so they're paying like 80%.. Anyway, they pay into it year after year just "in case". 18 months ago, my parents were T-boned by a lady at an intersection, putting both my parents in the hospital and leaving my dad a paraplegic. If they didn't have health insurance, they'd have lost EVERYTHING. (Even now, they're struggling b'c my dad can't work anymore.) They couldn't have saddled the bills that came with that. In the past year they've paid almost $8k in just co-pays. You just never know... You just never know.

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~~Amanda~~ Mommy to one Little Man (3 1/2 yrs old), TTC #2

WE'RE ADOPTING!!!

It's a necessary evil. Health care is so expensive, even more than health insurance if something goes wrong.

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Health Insurance is not an option for us either. We pay around $400/month, but I can give you a prime example of why we have the insurance plan we have: We could have chosen a less expensive plan that is more like the "old" 80/20 plans, but with a $2000 deductible. I was out of town with the kids and ds started crying incosolably(sp) and I wound up taking him to a pediatric urgent care facility (repeat ear infection). Our copay was $50, but I couldn't imagine what that would have cost us on the cheaper plan. Meanwhile, a friend who did go w/the cheaper plan put off taking her dd to the ped and she wound up w/a major ear infection and it cost her an after hours visit also! This is why we chose that plan; I don't want to have to hesitate to take my kids to the ped because of what it might cost.

To me, if you have kids it is not an option. If it's just you & DH, then decide if the what if's are worth it. I have been w/out insurance for a brief time & I hated it. If it is just the 2 of you, then you might want to check out individual insurance from companies like Kaiser and BlueCross/Blueshield.

I HATE health insurance. And I would still have it if we could afford it. My DH is self-employed also and we were paying about $400/mo just for the two of us plus a special maternity rider. It was supposed to pay the first $4000 of a pregnancy which the salesman assured us would cover most deliveries. Well, DS was 9mo old before they paid a dime (I was making monthly payments to 4 different places the whole time) and then they decided that I got pregnant 3 weeks to early to qualify for the full benefit so they only paid $2000 of a $12000 pregnancy. GRRRRRR! Thank God they have special rules for self-employed people to qualify for Medicaid or we'd have gone under THANKS TO HEALTH INSURANCE. The thing that gripes me the most is that we paid $130/mo just for the maternity rider for almost 3 years. Amount paid $4500+, benefit paid $2000. Just doesn't seem right.

I guess my point is - don't believe a word that comes out of a salesman's mouth, and YEAH get coverage for the catastrophic stuff.

Oh and never, under any circumstances, get insurance from THE MEGA LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE CO.

Thank you ladies for letting me get that off my chest!

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I am my son's mom & my husband's wife.

We would never go uninsured. Law are really tightening down and it is harder and harder to declare bankrupcy due to medical bills. Hospitals will file leins. Sure you may have no money today, but once they get a judgement, you are fair game if you have a house, property, and they can garnish your wages. My honest opinion is if you have no ins you are playing russian roulet. Who knows if you could have to have emergency surgery, be in a serious car accident, etc.

I would never go without health insurance. I have seen firsthand the benefits. My dad was perfectly healthy one day, and diagnosed with the worst kind of brain cancer the next day. Over the course of 9 months, his medical bills rose to almost a million dollars. He had great insurance, and I shudder to think what would have happened to my mom if they didn't have that insurance.

I don't grumble about paying my insurance. I would rather pay it and NOT need it, because that means that I have my health.

We have health insurance and I am so thankful we do. We pay about $180 a month for dental, optical, and an HMO with $15 office visit co-pay, and $10 RX co-pay. A question that come to mind....you said that it would cost you $450 a month until August when his 1 year anniversary hits. Well, can you pick up the insurance in August and only have to pay $215 a month? Or is it something new and you have to sign up NOW?

I was fresh out of college for about a year, and had applied for some life insurance. I was quoted the premiums, and then when they actually hit my account, they were tripled! I was floored! I called the insurance company, and they said they "foudn something" in my blood workup, but couldn't tell me. They had to send the results to my primary physician. So, for about a week I thought I was dieing or something! Well, come to find out, I had high cholesterol.......my count was 422! YIKES! I was 21 yrs old at the time......so, with all the blood workup I had to go through, meds, etc, it would have cost me a fortune if I didn't have insurance. Never be without insurance because no matter how old you are, you never know........