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How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

blog.getsimplyinsured.com

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Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#21

Post by twoodfin »

thezoid wrote: post #19
jeffreylo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article's clearly written for the state of California. Did you read the article?

It's nice to not have to worry about these things though. It would be pretty awesome to one day see the US have a public health care.

The U.S. has public education, and people still worry an awful lot about whether their kids' schools are any good, to the point of some spending a premium of literally hundreds of thousands of dollars on housing in the "right" districts, or on private education. The poor are still underserved, racially-measured outcome disparities are substantial, etc.

None of this is directly an argument against public health care, since obviously there's a benefit to universal availability in both education and health, but certainly it wouldn't be a panacea.

Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#22

Post by mapgrep »

DennisP wrote: post #13

COBRA is not necessarily more expensive than individual insurance, if you're older. COBRA charges the same premium as the group insurance you had with your employer, perhaps with a small surcharge tacked on. It's more out of your pocket simply because your employer isn't pitching in anymore. If you're young and healthy, COBRA may cost more, since it's a rate for a group that probably includes older and sicker people.…

COBRA coverage ends after 18 months, which makes it risky even when it's cheaper -- if you come down with a chronic illness (cancer, diabetes) in the meantime it will be much harder to find follow on coverage because now you have a precondition.

Or at least that's my understanding from my CPA who was trying to talk me out of using COBRA coverage. That conversation was before AHCA ("Obamacare") passed.

If the ban on precondition screening starts in 2014, perhaps it's safe to start COBRA this coming June.

Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#24

Post by jpdoctor »

helmut_hed wrote: post #14

I'm curious to know, for the "Ongoing Medical Conditions" case, whether they verified if you could actually get insured in the first place on the plans they recommended. This seems to be the biggest issue with private insurance - they don't have to take you, and generally won't, if you have a "preexisting condition" of any sort.

This.

Also: Going with some mickey mouse plan is essentially a bet that you'll never be diagnosed with anything that is chronic during coverage. My wife manage to strike it rich with an autoimmune disease, and now we essentially cannot move nor change plans in any way.

(ACA will help a lot, but I still wouldn't put it past the assholes in DC to repeal it before it helps us.)

Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#25

Post by DennisP »

mapgrep wrote: post #22
DennisP wrote: post #13

COBRA is not necessarily more expensive than individual insurance, if you're older. COBRA charges the same premium as the group insurance you had with your employer, perhaps with a small surcharge tacked on. It's more out of your pocket simply because your employer isn't pitching in anymore. If you're young and healthy, COBRA may cost more, since it's a rate for a group that probably includes older and sicker people.…

COBRA coverage ends after 18 months, which makes it risky even when it's cheaper -- if you come down with a chronic illness (cancer, diabetes) in the meantime it will be much harder to find follow on coverage because now you have a precondition. Or at least that's my understanding from my CPA who was trying to talk me out of using COBRA coverage. That conversation was before AHCA ("Obamacare") passed. If the ban on p…

Exactly but the ban starts on January 1, 2014. You can safely start COBRA now, since with the recent election there's no chance the law will be overturned before then, and little chance within the next four years. After that it'll be pretty well entrenched.

Here's a timeline of Affordable Care Act provisions: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/

Note that the law not only ensures you can get insurance, it prohibits insurers from charging higher premiums for people with preexisting conditions.

Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#27

Post by tptacek »

helmut_hed wrote: post #14

I'm curious to know, for the "Ongoing Medical Conditions" case, whether they verified if you could actually get insured in the first place on the plans they recommended. This seems to be the biggest issue with private insurance - they don't have to take you, and generally won't, if you have a "preexisting condition" of any sort.

HealthNet in particular appears to be prone to decline coverage for preexisting conditions. All insurers currently do this, though, so unless you're a single man in your 20's, getting insurance on the private market is a royal bitch.

To get a feeling for the problem, consider that common reproductive health issues in women, like endometriosis or uterine fibroids, are both extremely prevalent and actuarially unacceptable to insurers (they correlate with expensive surgical interventions, which aren't common but are common enough for insurers to wave women off).

Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#28

Post by tptacek »

DennisP wrote: post #25
mapgrep wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COBRA coverage ends after 18 months, which makes it risky even when it's cheaper -- if you come down with a chronic illness (cancer, diabetes) in the meantime it will be much harder to find follow on coverage because now you have a precondition. Or at least that's my understanding from my CPA who was trying to talk me out of using COBRA coverage. That conversation was before AHCA ("Obamacare") passed. If the ban on p…

Exactly but the ban starts on January 1, 2014. You can safely start COBRA now, since with the recent election there's no chance the law will be overturned before then, and little chance within the next four years. After that it'll be pretty well entrenched. Here's a timeline of Affordable Care Act provisions: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/ Note that the law not only ensures you can get insurance, it prohibit…

It's interesting to consider that at this point, people are going to start planning things like COBRA coverage on the assumption that they'll be able to automatically obtain private coverage in 2014; this bolsters the case against any partial repeal of guaranteed issue, as it'll screw lots of people over if they do it.

Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#29

Post by vivekajayshah »

dot wrote: post #12

These premiums actually look pretty good. I was under the impression that non-employer based plans were much more expensive... Is there a catch? Do they have to cover pre-existing conditions in CA already? Are there coverage caps? Thanks for putting together the article, very helpful!

Starting in 2014 - it will be illegal to have lifetime caps on health insurance. Also limits on "essential services" will be illegal. They are loosely defined as:

- Emergency services - Prescription drugs - Mental and behavioral health, and substance abuse treatment - Preventive, wellness, and chronic disease management - Pediatric services - Maternity and newborn care

Excluding based on pre-existing conditions will also be illegal starting in 2014. Until then - California has a health plan for pre-existing conditions here: http://www.pcip.ca.gov/Home/default.aspx and you can find information for all state here: https://www.pcip.gov/

Re: How to Choose Health Insurance – Startup Edition

#30

Post by mapgrep »

DennisP wrote: post #25
mapgrep wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COBRA coverage ends after 18 months, which makes it risky even when it's cheaper -- if you come down with a chronic illness (cancer, diabetes) in the meantime it will be much harder to find follow on coverage because now you have a precondition. Or at least that's my understanding from my CPA who was trying to talk me out of using COBRA coverage. That conversation was before AHCA ("Obamacare") passed. If the ban on p…

Exactly but the ban starts on January 1, 2014. You can safely start COBRA now, since with the recent election there's no chance the law will be overturned before then, and little chance within the next four years. After that it'll be pretty well entrenched. Here's a timeline of Affordable Care Act provisions: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/ Note that the law not only ensures you can get insurance, it prohibit…

Ah, good point!
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