Can an individual find affordable health insurance with hospitalization?

[theophilus]

We are now not covered and I am wondering is there such a thing as affordable, good health insurance that a family of four can get? If you know of any, please tell me. (Mods, please move if this is not the right forum, but I think this is pretty "political", after all.)

[hedda_foil]

1. There is if you are all healthy ...

If you're all healthy, have no pre-existing conditions, and no history of big health insurance claims from prior hospitalizations, and you and your spouse are fairly young, Blue Cross has decently priced individual policies, as do some other big companies.

[MrMonk]

2. A friend and I were talking about this just last night

Apparently, a little bad history will dramatically boost your insurance rates.

She has HBP, high cholesterol and family history of strokes. Her rates are over $800 per month (though she does have excellent coverage). The guy who sits next to me at work carries his own insurance. He's in excellent health, but still pays over $500 per month. I priced it for myself (HBP, depression/OCD, and petit mal) and came up with quotes of over $1,200 per month. I'll qualify this by saying that all of those plans cover prescription medicines.

Good luck. If anyone knows of better deals, I'd be interested in hearing about them.

[seabeyond]

3. we have blue cross thru business. family of four, we are now

paying a thousand a month and it is going up to 1300. this is after we increased co pay and what do you call it, pay until it reaches limit and then they pay? deductible. anyway, not affordable in my book. just my two cents worth. i feel we are being screwed

[soothsayer]

4. shop around online.

esurance.com is one place. Lots of stuff out there! Raise your deductible enuff and you'll get nice low payments.

[SoCalDem]

5. Not really..

There are catastrophic policies that are relatively inexpensive, but they won;t cover basic stuff.. You might be money ahead to just open a savings account for the day to day stuff and get a hospitalization policy. If there are any independent doctors in your area, you might make an appointment and lay it out for him/her. Some doctors will work with you if you have no insurance, and they might even charge you less, since they won't have to do paperwork:)

If everyone stays healthy for a while, you could amass quite a chunk of money, and could easily pay on your own..

BUT if someone is chronically ill, you might just have to pay whatever it costs in order to make sure they get medical care.. It really sucks.. I have been in your shoes too..:(

[demosincebirth]

12. Sounds good, but one trip to the hospital might end up costing your house

[SoCalDem]

13. That's why you MUST buyt the catastrophic-hospitalization policy

but they are usually cheaper since they only cover that..not the day to day stuff :)

[msgadget]

6. NO, an individual cannot find affordable health insurance

because the way health insurance is administered has changed. There was a time when one had a choice between major medical coverage (with a deductible and co-insurance) or a managed care/hmo (list of providers, co-pay) but now the two seem to be not only combined but designed for the insured to bear the greater burden and the insurance company to pay as little as possible even for allowable expenses.

The insurance companies say there has to be a disincentive to abuse but between the premiums and out-of-pocket I don't go to the damned doctor - I can't afford it.

[Cleita]

7. If you are young and healthy, you probably

will qualify for one of the least expensive of these plans, however, it still won't be cheap. Be prepared to pay for the premium and your health care besides because of the high deductibles.

Before I qualified for Medicare, I made the decision not to pay for health insurance that I couldn't really use and I kept my fingers crossed that I wouldn't come down with a chronic and devastating disease.

There is a website called E-Insurance that you can enter your information on and they will put up all that is available in your area and to you with the prices per month. Then you can get a ballpark figure to make a decision with.

https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ehi/Alliance?allid=Goo...

[Ksec]

8. It depends on what income range youre in

If youre rich you can find affordable ins.

If youre middle or low income there is no affordable insurance.

[schmuls]

9. It frightens me that I can retire at 57, but will have to wait a few

years for Medicare to kick in. I'll have to seek out insurance in the interim. I have been an inpatient with a mental disorder briefly, I don't suppose this would be overlooked would it? It seems a damn shame that if a person tries to help themselves by seeking professional help, that they should be penalized for it later!

[Cleita]

10. You aren't in the best place. The health care industry really

doesn't want to insure anyone over fifty even if they don't have preexisting conditions.

[SoCalDem]

11. TEN years is not a "few"

and that's the pickle most boomers are in.. Chronic illnesses manifest themselves in those very years, and if not diagnosed and treated, you won;t LIVE til you can get on medicare.. That's probably behind a lot of the downsizing.. They are "culling the herd"..:cry:

[knitter4democracy]

14. Find a local health insurance agent.

If you call your insurance agent, he or she should know who deals only with health insurance locally. That person can call around, after getting info from you on the family, and get quotes from various companies. I know that, here in Michigan, the Blues have a program pooling all individual policies (and indiv. families) into one group to keep the rates low. BC/BS of Michigan is also required to take anyone and everyone in the state, so they have some cheaper plans than other companies.