OT: Health insurance premiums (self-employed)

Hello Folks,

Just got the info about next years rate and this one is a whopper: In January 2007 it'll go from $520/month to $629/month. Ouch! This is for two people, age category 40-50, at Kaiser, California. IMHO that is hyper-inflationary, to say it mildly.

So, guys, is there a better deal for the self-employed?

Deductibles aren't a problem, even this former all-inclusive Kaiser insurance had quietly slipped in quite huge deductibles over the last few years. I guess they now ran out of such erosion opportunities :-)

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg
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What you may have missed in Joel's comment is that the insurance companies already _did_ exercise that practice beforehand. (In Oregon, for certain, and perhaps elsewhere though that wasn't part of the campaign in Oregon.) The ballot measure was about removing that existing practice, not about enabling it.

Jon

Reply to
Jonathan Kirwan

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Not 'increase.' It's a practice the insurance companies apparently already practice now, without limitation at least in Oregon. The ballot measure was about asking the public to consider removing that existing practice, not about enabling it.

Jon

Reply to
Jonathan Kirwan

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Thought he meant that yes, they could do that after the election. Using a credit score to gauge a health or other insurnace risk is pretty sick...

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

$300 is cheap for a private ambulance. Eight or so years ago, my wife was transported from work about ten blocks up the hill to the medical center. We got a bill from the Moscow on Champlain Fire Department for close to $500.

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  Keith
Reply to
krw

That's pretty common, but remember that EMTs are *not* paramedics.

Reply to
robertwessel2

I think in Phoenix they are.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

If it makes you feel any better, and I suppose it won't, (: at least you don't have to pay for all your employees as well like me...

Reply to
Jim Stewart

Well, people voted for it so they can bluddy well suffer for it too ;-)

"The System" is basically a Ponzi scheme: You do NOT get anything back; you get a part of whatever people pay in now in the (probably vain) hope of getting something back when their time comes.

Reply to
Frithiof Andreas Jensen

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The "Equinine Premium Health Plan", .... under "B", in the index of treatments covered, we will find:

Bad Heart: Shoot, Broken Leg: Shoot, Broken Nail: Shoot,

After all, the Dutch allow Euthanasia.

Reply to
Frithiof Andreas Jensen

I plan to (try) live long enough to come out ahead ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Four shifts plus vacations, etc. I can imagine the need for two dispatchers (potty breaks, etc.) per shift. 911 certainly has more than one person per shift.

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  Keith
Reply to
krw

The fire truck carries more equipment (respirator?), perhaps? When my father died the snow was so deep the ambulance wasn't even dispatched. Even the fire truck got stuck a half mile away.

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  Keith
Reply to
krw

[snip]

Phoenix has around 20 dispatchers in the 9-1-1 telephone pool, PER major section of town, PER shift.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Jim Thompson

4+ for one dispatcher position 24/7. See above math.
Reply to
Everett M. Greene

The pricing practices for the health care industry are beyond comprehension. A game is played so that the "customary and common" prices are highly inflated to compensate for the percentage that will be paid by Medicare/Medicaid and many (most? all?) insurance plans. This is akin to oil companies deciding to raise gasoline prices in the U.S. to $12/gallon to compensate for credit card companies only paying $3/gallon when the "real" price would be $2/gallon.

I've occasionally asked medical providers what the cash price would be for something and the reaction has been as if I'd committed heresy. I've always been quoted the "going" rate even if the provider wouldn't have to bother with all the insurance paperwork, etc. Needless to say, the providers have never gotten a cash payment...

Reply to
Everett M. Greene

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Exactly right--you're a poet Mr. Jensen. The true effect is redistribution of wealth--taking money from those who have it, and giving it to those who don't. Paying modest benefits to the wealthy is simply an obfuscation.

Consider: if the benefits paid were from your own contributions invested, then being returned to you, then the system could never be out of money, as it is!

Same analysis applies to Social Security. The President proposed eliminating Social Security payments to rich folks, but his opponents were vehemently opposed. Why? I heard several speak on this. They were afraid it would make SS look like a charity--unearned--which of course it mostly is.

Best, James Arthur

Reply to
dagmargoodboat

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