Medical Insurance?

[Mike Barskey]

What do you think about medical insurance?

I am now jobless, and with my job I lost my health insurance. I was not in the habit of thinking about health insurance because I used it so infrequently (indeed, I have medical needs so infrequently) so I hadn't obtained medical insurance when I injured my shoulder recently and had to visit the ER twice. I got some the bills from the hospitals and the total they want to charge me is around $3,000. Some of the entities billing me gave me a huge discount (30-35%) for being uninsured (and jobless?), so the total I'm being charged is more like $2K.

If I had individual medical insurance, I'd probably be paying $150-$300 per month and my coverage would probably be pretty dismal (like with a huge $1K deductible or only coverage for certain types of visits or something). In the long run, if I'm healthier than not, I'll pay more in insurance than to hospitals and doctors. But an advantage to medical insurance is that your medical bills will be paid (at least partially) without a large amount of cash out of your pocket in one lump sum. Another way to accomplish this would be to have my own HSA: I could just keep a separate bank account that I'd use only for medical needs. Although it's not very effective without an income, since I can't contribute some amount to it monthly.

Also, both hospitals offered "financial assistance." I learned that they each offer 2 programs, where one is govt funded and the other is privately funded. They both have one application (where they require your previous year tax returns, bank statements, pay stubs, W2s, SSN, etc.) and they both apply you for the govt-funded program first; if you don't quality, then they apply you for the privately funded program (Cheshire Medical Center said they'd let me apply *only* for the privately funded program). I don't think I'd qualify for any assistance because I have a lot of savings, and I don't want to give them all that information about me anyway. So I'm going to pay with cash the amount that I owe to the hospitals.

So I'm back to wondering about insurance. I was under the impression that I should get individual medical insurance right away in case I injure my shoulder again or in case something else happens. In the short term, perhaps insurance would save me money (assuming I *did* have another medical need), but in the long term I might as well use my cash for my medical needs and not pay a middleman for the service of paying my medical bills for me. What do you think?


Also, I'd love to find a doctor that is liberty friendly; i.e., one that accepts cash instead of insurance. Can anyone recommend one?


Thanks!

[Ryan McGuire]

For myself, I'm betting on being healthy. I have personal medical insurance, but with a $5000 deductible, which means it's dirt cheap (about $60 a month). But it means everything under $5000 I pay out of pocket.

Basically, I don't want to pay for cancer or brain surgery, but figure I can afford the occasional things that may come up.

+1 on setting up an HSA

[Jared]

Also, I'd love to find a doctor that is liberty friendly; i.e., one that accepts cash instead of insurance. Can anyone recommend one?


Thanks!

ron paul?

[Mike Barskey]

Also, I'd love to find a doctor that is liberty friendly; i.e., one that accepts cash instead of insurance. Can anyone recommend one?


Thanks!

ron paul?

I should clarify: I don't want to know that such a doctor exists in the world, I want to know if you can recommend one in NH that is accepting new patients.

[Ryan McGuire]

Also, I'd love to find a doctor that is liberty friendly; i.e., one that accepts cash instead of insurance. Can anyone recommend one?

Ian mentioned very briefly on FTL the other day that "we [The FSP] even have a cash doctor" .. I had never heard that before. Can you elaborate Ian?

[AntonLee]

for real I was curious about this too.  I have health insurance at the moment.  Sorry to hear you lost your job Mike (unless you planned on that)

[Fluff and Stuff]

There is a cash doctor which Toby goes to, or so I heard.  I'll try to find out on Tuesday.

I think it makes sense for the average person to have insurance, even if it is just catastrophic insurance.  Speaking of that, anyone know of a decent policy in NH?

Mike, about hurting your shoulder again, most insurance policies won't cover it for awhile.  There is usually a waiting period of up to one year on pre-existing conditions. 

[Mike Barskey]

I forgot you told me about Toby's doctor, Keith. Thanks for reminding me. I'll ask him about it tomorrow.

Also, I realize it would be difficult or expensive or impossible to get insurance for preexisting conditions or for past medical expenses. I'm not looking to cover my recent ER visits, but I'm concerned about future ones (plus regular checkups, etc.).

[Raineyrocks]

Also, I'd love to find a doctor that is liberty friendly; i.e., one that accepts cash instead of insurance. Can anyone recommend one?


Thanks!

ron paul?

I should clarify: I don't want to know that such a doctor exists in the world, I want to know if you can recommend one in NH that is accepting new patients.

Wow, I haven't had health insurance in 15 years and I thought they all accepted cash, credit cards, and checks, at least that's been my experience.
Hold on, I'm digging up my doctor in NH information for you and I'm almost positive he is accepting new patients.

I don't know where you live and if Bristol would be too far for you to drive but here goes:

Mid-State Health Center
859 Lake Street
Bristol, NH
744-6200

I see Dr. Lloyd there and he's cool! 

[Keyser Soce]

It's not generally fiscally advantageous for a young person to have health insurance. Take your own numbers; at 200 per month with a $1,000 deductible, even this rare incident will be paid for in only 5 months. You'll be way ahead of the game if you take the monthly premiums and invest them in a health care savings account (or just savings in general, no need to break it up that way) so if something happens in the future you have the cash to pay it off immediately. 

Also, even though it's already been "discounted" from 3k to 2k, if walk in the door with cash, they'll settle for even less (I'll bet they'd sign a receipt and call it paid in full for $1,200).

[Kat Kanning]

Also, I'd love to find a doctor that is liberty friendly; i.e., one that accepts cash instead of insurance. Can anyone recommend one?


Thanks!

ron paul?

That would be helpful if Barskey gets pregnant 

[Mike Barskey]

blah blah blah for a young person to have blah blah blah

You think I'm young!!




Kidding. Thanks for pointing out the numbers.

[Mike Barskey]

ron paul?

That would be helpful if Barskey gets pregnant 

Blast! Who let my secret out?

[djbridgeland]

Before moving I had a 80/20 with a $1,100 deductible HSA private policy that cost me $79/month.  It might be worth it to look into.   The nice thing about the HSA savings account is that you can buy anything medical (doctors visits, eye care, dental visits, and  OTC medication with pretax dollars). Of course being unemployed having your money tied up in an account that you can only spend on medical care might not be ideal.

[David]

I turned down health insurance from work because just the premiums would have cost 50 every 2 weeks, at 1300 a year, and that was with the cheaper 'high' deductable insurance.  The deductible would have been about another 2000 or so.  The last time I went to the hospital, was for my asthma, that cost me 1300, and that was about 3-4 years ago.  At this point I am mostly worried about things like a serious road accident, my appendix, or something like that.  The good thing is my asthma is in control at a level that it has not been since before it got serious prior to me visiting the hospital.   

Like Rainey, I was under the impression that most doctors take cash or credit/debit.  In ohio many would give an upfront payment discount.  I paid with a debit and got a 10% discount everytime at the clinic I was going to.  The initial clinic visit was about 130, with follow up visits about 60.  Call around and ask for cash prices, any routine process should have an upfront price.