What comes out of YOUR pocket for healthcare premiums/co-pays/meds per mo?

[SoCalDem]

Imagine NOT having to pay that money out every payday or when you go to the doctor..That's what national medical coverage is about.

Imagine hurting yourself on vacation in a different state, and NOT getting dunning notices, denied claims mailed to you, and nasty phone calls because you got medical aid at an "outside" medical group.

The old canard about doctors having to take paycuts is bunk. Doctors could be paid whatever it's decided they should get. I have no problem with a well paid doctor.

I have a sneaky feeling that medical malpractice suits would go by the wayside with national healthcare too..they will save tons of money on premiums..

Are you getting a whiff of what the real reason we don;t have it, is?

INSURANCE COMPANIES & HMOS.. They like it just the way it is now. They control everything.. They get to decide what care you "need", they get to decide how much doctors get paid for procedures, they decide what clinics are available for you, and how many doctors are in the pool you can choose from.. they decide how much doctors have to pay for malpractice insurance..They can decide that you don't even get to HAVE insurance..

Greedy insurance companies and HMOs have driven the prices to where they are today..Not doctors or lawyers or suing patients..

Employers could afford to give you real raises that would not be surpassed by increases in your share of coverage..You could even afford to change jobs at will...and you could even afford to take a job you liked even if it paid less, because your "takehome" pay could be more than adequate if you did not have the healthcare fear hanging over your head..

Companies who fled the US might actually decide to come back. Part of the reason they leave, is that other countries COVER their citizens, so the companies don;t HAVE to. Even if they did not come back, they could no longer use the excuse of high medical premiums to cover their lack of raises, or for their cutbacks or offshoring/downsizing.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. $248.56 every four weeks. Really good plan though.

And that's combined for my medical, dental and vision, medical for 4 people full coverage, dental for 2.

[Lars39]

2. Or you could afford to stay self-employed.

High insurance costs is one reason a lot of self-employed throw in the towel.

[SoCalDem]

3. Exactly.. Lots of people cannot start a business

because they have families and MUST cover them..and cannot afford to start a business AND self-insure.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. In Portland, I knew a couple both self-employed in different businesses

who were doing okay on a bare bones insurance policy until their daughter developed diabetes at the age of five.

All of a sudden, they were uninsurable. The wife, who unlike her husband, didn't own an actual brick and mortar store, started looking for a regular job that would provide insurance, knowing even then that the daughter would probably not be eligible for coverage for several months.

[tulsakatz]

32. I used to work for a small business....

At one point the owner decided I should have insurance and they gave me money to get my own insurance but even with their money, it still would have cost me $150 per month!!

It wasn't worth it to me because I don't get sick that much.

[datadiva]

4. Control

I pay 483.00 per mo. just for myself. $500.00 deductible for tests. 80% coverage. $25.00 copays. Just a discount for Prescriptions. Totally sucks. I am 60 and have pre-existing conditions. I can't afford to be sick. I live in Ca. :grr:

[bluestateguy]

5. I have an idea, but some DUers may not like it

Just have the federal government gradually buy out insurance companies and HMO's, and transition to a single payer system, until all the private co's have been bought out. Is this bribery? Yes, it is, and people would have to stomach the fact that the CEO's and large shareholders of these companies would be made un-Godly rich as a result. We would just have to put up with that. But all Americans would have health care, and that would make it worth it. The ins. co's and HMO's would not be lobbying against national health care legislation. Not if their head honchos could make off with billions.

[SoCalDem]

7. The whole country is one giant "group"..They could issue the cards

and sort the claims :) If we are all in the SAME pool, costs go DOWN.. Bush's plan is to peel off the young/healthy ones with the HSAs and leave the pool of everyone else (most likely to need care) fighting each other for every dime.. It's all part of his Yooniter-Not-Divider personna, dontchaknow>(

[savemefromdumbya]

51. Merge the health insurance companies with 'healthtrusts'

I think this should be done on a state level. Health insurance companies would have to merge with health systems (groups of hospitals and primary care establishments) to form 'healthtrusts'. These would be monitored by a state health department. Any assets, profits from the insurance companies would initially move into these 'healthtrusts' would be pooled by the state, each 'healthtrust' would pay its own healthworkers (docs, nurses, lab workersetc.) out of this pool and there would be a state health tax which would be tiered according to salary and savings/assets. Unemployed and seniors with no savingsor assets would pay none. Low paid would pay little. The rich would pay lots! Everyone is GAURANTEED treatment free at the point of use. This would also include dental.

[sandnsea]

52. Gosh, we could start by

Opening the federal employee's insurance to all Americans and pro-rating the premiums to income. Gee, I think I heard that idea somewhere recently.

As that power group grew, the rest would fall to the wayside. Eventually we'd all be paying into one federal plan. Gasp, single payer universal health care!!!

[Nite Owl]

6. The government we got seems to think

it's perfectly ok to put workers out of their jobs because a business 'needs' to outsource. I say we put the healthcare insurance companies out of business because there is a better way for us. Time to move on, advance to something better for all of us and not just a few CEO's who get enriched by this business. They can be retrained in some other field.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. $7.35

which is the cost of my prescription. Luckily, I haven't gotten sick for a while; I go to the doctor's office for my annual checkup in March, and that will be around $100 with the annual lab tests.

[SoCalDem]

57. Are you in the US??

or military:)

[CountAllVotes]

9. minimum is about $300 a month

and that is with full coverage. What a joke huh?

:kick:

[Rick Myers]

10. I'm a vet, so I use the VA

My copay for meds is $7.00 per perscription per month, so $21.00. But that's gone up 300% since GWB stole the election.

[apollo56]

42. New rules for VA and health care/many vets are being dropped

My uncle was just notified his income would not allow him to get VA care any longer. The law chimp pushed through changed the promise for World War vets by adding a gross income level at which they are denied help of any kind. My uncle is 89!

[DanCa]

11. 150 dollars a month for ' scripts (perscription)..

It's official I am on more drugs than Elvis. I have one drug alone that would cost me 350 dollars alone if I didn't have a public aid card.

[phantom power]

12. Technically? $68/month. Practically? Must be hundreds of bucks.

I forget what my company pays in premiums, but it's at least several thousand a year, per person.

[RB TexLa]

39. More then likely they pay 50% of the premiums could be up to 70%

[petersjo02]

13. My single health ins. policy...

costs me $568 per month, and is essentially catestrophic coverage only. I pay $40 co-pay for doctor visits, plus an additional $200/month for drugs that aren't covered. We bought a year's supply of many of our meds in Mexico last winter, so that has saved us some money. My husband is on Medicare plus a supplement which costs us another $200/month (approximately). We are effectively poor because of having to pay these insurance premiums. Sure hope I can get a break on a Medicare supplement when the time comes.

[SoCalDem]

14. Wow.. that really sucks..$800 plus just to stay relatively healthy

:hug:.. Imagine what you could be doing with that money staying with you..

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. $272 a month, and that's only the beginning

I have a $1000 deductible and only 80% coverage after that. I also have no prescription or dental coverage. Fortunately, I don't need any prescription drugs currently, but I've spent $2000 on dental work this year.

[SoCalDem]

20. 20% doesn;t sound too bad, until you have $450K medical expenses

which is not that difficult to amass these days.. My son had to have back surgery and since it was the result of a car accident and he's suing, the lawyers are keeping track of everything.. So far, his medical is right at 300K and everything has gone well so far.. Imagine if he had had complications or needed more surgery.. That 20% could still bankrupt people.

[RB TexLa]

36. the 80 % in their plan would be on the next $5000 of charges

So if they stayed in network, probably PHCS their yearly out of pocket cost would stop at $2000 of the $450K. Now that is if the charges are in the same calender year, if not then they would start over on the deductible and the co-insurance at the reset of the calender year. If they went out of network for some of the charges there would be additional co-insurance but there would still be a yearly stop loss on that.

[Cleita]

16. Everything you say is true, but the for profit health care industry

is a many headed dragon that we have to slay. This is the reason we didn't get universal health care fifteen years ago. They are all over the place spreading disinformation. Their lobbyists have bought off Washington. Any grass roots movement to get something rolling is sabotaged by their astroturf operatives.

We are going to have to do something at state level first. If enough states get on board then we can go national. It would be easy enough to get the insurance industry out of it. All we would have to do is sell policies in Medicare for more coverage than the for profits and less cost.

This puts it out in the free market, which they say they love. They of course couldn't compete with a plan whose administrative costs are 2% of the premiums collected. But most of the Washington politicians in both parties have been bought off by the industry. Go to Open Secrets some time and see who is getting contributions from the health care and pharma industries and how much.

It wouldn't even get on the calendar for the House, let alone through the Senate and *. My rep, Bill Thomas is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and he is supported 80% by the health industry in campaign contributions. He's the gate keeper and any health care bill that is useful will not go past him.

I haven't really totaled up my costs, but it's between $300 and $400 a month and I have Medicare.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. I'd love to see the states set up insurance systems that

undercut the private companies, by say 20% on premiums and/or had no deductibles and co-pays of no more than $20 for office visits and tests. (They could do that if they didn't have to pay huge salaries and bonuses to their executives and dividends to shareholders.)

[LeftyMom]

17. $7/mo for LeftyKid through Healthy Families

Nothing out of pocket for me (my boss covers all full time employees,) but $15 a doctor's visit and $15 for a perscriptions. Since I'm young and healthy that's usually not much, but when my neck starts acting up a couple doctors' visits, a few prescriptions and a handfull of physical therapy visits start adding up to real money fast. :(

[RebelOne]

19. I'm fortunate that I have an excellent health care plan through

my job. I only pay $48 every two weeks and I have dental and eye care. My co-pay is only $30 for the doctor and prescriptions are only about $15 to $20 each. I am at the age where I should be retired, but can't afford to, plus I'm trying to build enough into my 401K, so that I can retire within the next 3 years. And my health insurance is a hell of a lot better than Medicare.

[XanaDUer]

22. $54.20/month for full health, dental, optical.

And it's really good insurance, too. I'm very fortunate.

Co-pays $20, ER visits $100/visit, scripts on a tiered system, but usually $15. I do have one med that costs me $25 on my plan, and it is $127.00 w/o insurance.

[ThoughtCriminal]

23. $439/mo for two of us

Self employed so I'm paying all of it. It's marginal coverage, but at least it is HIPO certified group and we were able to add some meager vision and dental coverage. We consider ourselves lucky to have it.

[Cats Against Frist]

24. For two adults and a child

we have employer-covered health insurance, and we pay about $230/mo. Not bad. Of course, the gravy train ends when my fellowship is up.

[spuddonna]

25. $520/mo for a family of 4...

And it's only a 70/30 plan for major operations...
(sigh)

[redwitch]

26. $2486 per quarter ( 10 grand a year) for the four of us

$25 dr. visits, One half of every prescription. No dental, no vision coverage. We are both self employed. When hubby left his job (august 200q, what timing my honey has!) our insurance was $1300 per quarter and we had a $20 prescription co pay and a $20 dr. visit. So costs have MORE THAN DOUBLED in 5 and a half years. It is really hard for us to pay so much. The next premium is due in March and I pray we will have the money.

[tulsakatz]

27. I pay about $70 per month

For medical, dental and vision.

The medical is pretty good, it costs a $5.00 copay to see the doctor. I pay 20% for prescriptions.

On the dental plan is not so good. I pay 50% up to a certain point, then they pay 80%.

I never have used the vision insurance but I need to.

It seems like every year they try to get us to downgrade our coverage but I never do. I worked for yrs in a low paying job with no insurance and I love knowing that if I need to see a doctor, it's there.

Edit - this is for 1 person

[tulsakatz]

28. I pay about $70 per month

Sorry, dupe

[GinaMaria]

29. Not all health insurers are for profit

Most people do not realize this. I work for a not for profit health insurance company. There are fewer and fewer of them. I don't work to make a handful of people wealthy. I work to make a large number of people healthy. Profits are returned to the members who hold our insurance coverage. Do we have some profit left for us... sure. No margin, no mission and we have a huge mission to provide affordable healthcare to a lot more people.

[prolesunited]

30. Under COBRA, I was paying $530 per month

for just myself — and spent at least $1,200 in out of pocket costs and another $1,000 on meds. (It was a very bad year.) In January, they increased premiums to $700 a month, which is just shy of my mortgage payment.

If it wasn't for getting married and put on Jason's plan, I would be so screwed. I have so many pre-existing conditions that I'm uninsurable on the open market and also makes it necessary that I have coverage or I would be out in the streets.

[SoCalDem]

31. LOOK AT THE NUMBERS: $7 .00 to $827.67..just premiums, folks

add in meds and copays that some did not list because the fluctuate..

Why do "some" deserve a bargain $7.00 and others must pay $827.67?? Only because of who they work for.. It's just that simple.. One is not more deserving than another..

and guess what?

At a moment's notice..as long as it takes to type up a memo, those employer paid plans can end or be altered so they eat up every penny and then some of any raises you get.

Your health and that of your family should NOT be left in the hands of an employer. It gives them too much power...


BUT.. we cannot let the republicans put the cart before the horse. I think they plan on letting employers off the hook for insurance BUT they have no real plan for a fair and equitable plan to replace the ones you may have now..

Democrats need to pick up this hot potato and throw it right back at them..with a note attached..

NATIONAL HEALTH CARE NOW!! FOR EVERYONE...

[RB TexLa]

40. my health insurance is left to me, I am my employer but even before

I had the individual policy when I was working for a group that offered group coverage, but it was mainly female employees and many of them were having children and causing the rates to go up, so I and several of the males left the group and got individual policies that were cheaper and mine has remained at a good price.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

33. About $40 per check and $20/office visit.

But that doesn't include dental or vision, though it's still a good deal, particularly here in Los Angeles.

[RB TexLa]

34. $128 a month but I'm a smoker so it's higher then it could be lower

But I like to smoke.

[sandnsea]

54. Non-smoker and can't touch that

Cheapest I've seen is $300 a month, $5000 deductible, for me and my husband It only covers catastrophics, you get to deduct everything under $5000 though. Wohoo!! The new and improved HSA!!!

But they won't take my husband because he has a hernia, won't take me because I need an ear surgery.

So never mind.

[Canadian Socialist]

35. Not to rub anyone's nose in it

but I pay $32/month CDN health care premiums. Which, I might add, are completely unnecessary. Most of the provinces in Canada do not have these premiums.

[Lars39]

37. Thanks for the input. The contrast is rather startling, isn't it?

[savemefromdumbya]

53. I used to livein Sask.

I don't remember paying anything extra

[katamaran]

38. $100 a month including meds...last Dec. it was $25 a month

$100 a month including meds...last December it was $25 a month, including my meds. Home office decided that they wanted to make a deal with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas that would only benefit the Texas based employees...despite the fact that we Virginia employees were perfectly happy with our Optima plans. Everyone here has gone up 300-500% since last year. One of my coworkers was paying about $50 a month for her meds two months ago, now the new insurance doesn't cover a DIME of it...she has to shell out close to $200 a month now.

Real f*cking nice, ain't it?

[SoCalDem]

41. So because her employer made a decision,she got a $200 paycut every month

see what I mean?

[NancyG]

43. $925/mo for 2

self-employed
$2k each deductible
$500 each meds deductible
and no we're not sick with life-threatening disease

[AZBlue]

44. $125-$150 for insurance covered items, $50-$75 for non-covered items

And every year it goes up.

[magellan]

45. We pay nothing

...because we can't afford to.

We're self-employed and uninsured.

[SoCalDem]

47. our president brags about you entrepreneurs all the time

and yet doesn't care if you can afford medical insurance or not...:grr:.. Even if people are young and healthy, people still get hurt or have accidents.:grr:

[GinaMaria]

46. all my benes total a little less than 20K

that my employer pays. If you concider it part of your compensation you realize how much you are really being paid. What we have isn't truly insurance. What we have is prepaid services. Maybe a combination of both insurance and prepaid services would be a solution.

[SoCalDem]

50. The problem is that your employer gets to deduct the costs of your

"benefits package", and to you, it's considered part of your salary. If you had the same benefits through a national health care system, you could have more money in your pocket..
Every union contract that I was under had a provision in it.. we took less in wages, in order to get more in benefits, so raises were really money that was transferred from US, to an insurance company for benefits that we might need..or might not..so really our "raises" weren't as much as they could have been.

[Katherine Brengle]

48. I think it is around $300.00 a month for BC&BS from my hubby's work...

but they (the PD where we live) cover it for free while he is overseas, which is really cool.

It's going to suck when he gets home though.

BUT, the co-pays are pretty reasonable...

In MA, we have MassHealth, which covers pretty much everything for free. I had it before I got married, when I wa pregnant with my daugher, and it covered all of the tests, the hospital stay, prescriptions--everything. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone had the option of a program like that?

Ahh, one can dream...

[savemefromdumbya]

49. I had a national health system and it was great

My NHS. You never worried whether you going to be seen or treated because you weren't covered. The money for health came out of your salary. We had to pay 5 poundsUK in those days per prescription. I never had to wait long for an op or an investigation. The quality of care was great. The midwife team for obs was perfect.
I had a good experience with Kaiser Perm. in this country though. I try to go to a teaching hospital now for care because the docs and nurses are not there to screw you for unnecessary treatment.

[spinbaby]

55. $179 a month

For an HMO policy that covers my husband and me. No doctor's visit copays. $5 per prescription. All diagnostic tests, hospitalization, etc are included. Basic dental and vision. The cost to me hasn't gone up in five years and in those five years I haven't gotten a raise because my employer's insurance costs have skyrocketed. The actual cost of that insurance is about $1600 a month! The primary reason I haven't moved on to another job is that this one, in spite of less-than-spectacular pay, has great health insurance.

[SoCalDem]

56. We were held hostage to insurance for SEVEN years

and were moved all over the country because my husband's boss knew he would never quit. Our first child had a serious birth defect, and we could not afford to be wothout insurance. During that time, my husband had a fantastic opportunity to go into business with 2 other architects, but he had to turn it down because of the insurance issue. Our son was having surgery 2-3 times a year at Mayo Clinic, and we could not let him get less than topnotch medical care.