Who the $*&% chooses their health insurance?

[Recursion]

Seriously, who are these people? Who are this vast army of people that get to decide what health insurance they have, rather than getting a packet from the personnel department describing what they'll get?

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. K&R

[vadawg]

2. erm i got to choose from different companies and even options with in the companies

i dont think its as unusual as you think to have more than one option...

[Recursion]

5. I've had 6 jobs in the past decade

(I was in IT; that's normal)

I never got to choose a health insurance program. Ever. I got to accept what the company offered or do without. How many plans did you have to choose from?

[vadawg]

24. i guess there were 3 or 4 companies and different options within each one

also had two choices on dental companies and an optional vision.

[tridim]

3. The self-employed, contractors, 1099 people.

Virtually the entire IT industry since 2000.

Sounds like you're one of the lucky ones who always gets full coverage with your job.

[Recursion]

7. Oh, I've been there

Though in IT my company always had a plan. It's just that they had 1 plan and only 1, and you could choose it or nothing (or I guess get an individual plan).

[Occam Bandage]

4. People who work for small businesses, contractors, the self-employed, and the underemployed.

They represent a small percentage of all consumers, which is why Obama has gone out of his way to emphasize that the exchange and the public option are for only a sliver of the market, and which is why the majority of the text of all bills in Congress focus on protections for all consumers against price hikes, discontinuation, and refusal of coverage.

[Captain Hilts]

10. Most self-employed rely on health ins. through their spouses. If you're not married, you go without.

[Recursion]

11. If insurance were within their reach, I wouldn't be so worked up

I have a lot of 1099 friends, and I've done that myself, and except in Massachusetts health insurance just wasn't an option; nothing was affordable except for joke policies like Aflac. Is that what they're talking about? Those shitty individual plans people who work for cheap companies have to buy?

[eridani]

31. All of that is meaningless without cost controls

It is meaningless to not be excluded because of pre-existing conditions if the fuckers can charge you whatever they like. That they can only jack you by 10% the following year is likewise meaningless.

What consumers need protection from is the existence of useless shitstains like for-profit insurance companies. You want incrementalism? Fine. Let anyone who wants to buy into Medicare.

[liberal N proud]

6. Our company offers 3 choices

We have two PPO choices and an HMO.

This year the HMO premiums went through the roof which will most likely drive everyone to one of the PPO's.

But people who are self employed and work for companies who do not offer benefits have to choose a plan if they have one at all.

[Captain Hilts]

8. Congress and federal employees get to choose from five! And Congress can go to Bethesda Naval Hosp.

Great deal!

[Uben]

9. Good question

Retired people, self-employed, employees who work for a co with multi-choice options, state employees, federal employees, etc.

[liberal_at_heart]

12. not my husband

My husband works for a big corporation. We get a packet from them every year giving us two or three options all from the same insurance company or we can opt out of the insurance. All the options suck. We have shopped around for private insurance. Forget the fact that they are too expensive. We can't even get accepted by private insurance; pre-existing conditions.

[NYC_SKP]

13. Lots of people get choices, many have to pay out of pocket depending upon choice.

I miss the days when I just got what was provided because it was always better than what I have now, which is that the union allowance doesn't even cover the shittiest plan.

Every October is "open enrollment" and every October the choices suck more and the costs are higher.

[hobbit709]

14. Every place that either my wife or I have worked at

The only option was take the plan they offer or do without. Since we both had pre-existing conditions the only affordable(Barely) option was to take theirs.

[ecstatic]

15. The people uninsured at work--and the people who have a couple options at work

I have individual insurance. I chose the wrong company, unfortunately.

[Heidi]

16. In addition to the self-employed, people in other countries.

We choose ours here in Switzerland. Everyone here does. And it's illegal here to deny basic health insurance to anyone, regardless of age or pre-existing conditions.

[lunatica]

17. People who work for the University of California (10 campuses)

Get three main choices. Kaiser, Blue Cross and Healthy Net are the 3 big ones. then there's Cigna Choice and Western Health advantage, and everyone gets Delta Dental and vision insurance. UC has renegotiated their health insurance to keep thing the same for this next year. November is the month when everyone can change their insurance.

I would love to opt for my taxes taken out for Single Payer. That would mean people who are underemployed and unemployed, elderly and children and the handicapped would get universal health care. It would be worth paying more in taxes and having less deducted from my monthly salary to pay for health insurance that only covers me.

[vi5]

18. My jobs have always offered choices....

My old job at a huge company offered several different insurer's as well as different levels of plans.

My current employer only offers one insurer, but a choice between different levels of coverage.

[ananda]

19. Not me.

There is only one company and two options offered
for me. Even the good option is no good any more.

[CrispyQ]

20. Yes, I've wondered too, why everyone is so worked up over their "choice" of insurance.

In my 30+ years of working, I've worked for one company that offered a choice between two different insurance companies. Those two companies also offered a choice of five different plans. Ever other place I've worked, there was no company choice & no plan choice. The only "choice" you got was if you wanted individual or family coverage.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

21. I get to pick mine. I have about 6 or 7 options.

[Common Sense Party]

22. We have 3 plans to choose from. n/t

[Warpy]

23. I got offered a choice once in my life

It was when I was working at a VA hospital in New England.

In all other cases, I had no choice. Only the company I worked for had a choice.

"Consumer choice" is a cruel joke at any level of health care. We don't get to choose insurance plans, we don't get to choose what doctors or hospitals they use, and we sure as hell never get to chose not to get sick.

[Duke Newcombe]

25. Quite a few, for example...

in a past "life", I was a government employee. Until right before I left, I had a choice of up to four health plans.

Now that I own my own business, I can choose from a wide array of plans. I use the word "choose" loosely, for a choice among many sorry options is not really a choice, true?

[no limit]

26. Since I dont' get insurance from my work I get to choose my insurance

that choice is between overpriced plan with company A or an overpriced plan with company B.

[paulsby]

27. i do

in my agency we have had up to 3 different insurance plans to choose from

that's hardly a big choice, but it is a choice.

[jpljr77]

28. Dual-income families, people who work in large companies or governments,

folks with solid incomes and no pre-existing conditions, etc. In other words, lots of people.

[Liberal In Texas]

29. They choice I've always had is either HMO or traditional coverage.

If I choose HMO, they get to pick the doctors I can see. Since mine of 25 years is never on their list, I stay with traditional.

K&R.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

30. Most civil servants have several options (Feds, State, & Local)

if they work for any dept of reasonable size

[eridani]

32. Some do. It's sort of like choosing whether you want to be raped by someone ugly

--or someone slightly better looking.

[1]

33. me. in every job i've ever had. catastrophic vs family vs mental health vs...

hsa's and the like.

big contributions vs small. it was a choice. i'm not a big user of healthcare so it was never that big of a deal for me.

but yes, i got to choose. and i had to pay accordingly.

ask me any questions. i'm here for you...

[krispos42]

34. I got to decide if I wanted the cheaper policy that was focused on the in-town network...

(which is all over Minnesota, but the local medicos are affiliated with it) or the somewhat more expensive one that affiliated with all three networks in Minnesota.

I picked the latter 'cuz being divorced with joint custody means I never know what the fuck is going to happen!


But past that... :shrug: my employer shops arounds, make decisions, etc.


I got to pick supplemental coverage from AFLAC... does that count?

[uppityperson]

35. Me. Self employed, part time otherwise, have to buy my own. It sucks, very expensive

I wish I could get in on my part time employment place, even to pay full price to get on their program but nooooo. So I have to shop for my own and get and individual plan. It is expensive, high deductible, more of catastrophic than usable.