retiring

[Steppenwolfe]

$2400 seems high. My neighbors are paying $1400 a month for both of them and she is an ex teacher so theirs would be good coverage. She turns 65 this year so that should go down. I think he is older than she is.

It is high, but we are self employed so there is no group benefit. The good news is I can write the cost off against my federal income tax... The bad news is it's still 30K out of my pocket.

 

[Chris616]

Yep... your math is correct. Blue Cross/Blue Shield. NO dental, NO eye glasses, and NO prescription drug plan. And... neither one of us has been in the hospital in 32 years, when last son was born, or has any medical issues at all... It is ridiculous what healthcare costs in the US. I must be paying for a couple other folks that skate free... :confused3:

Wikipedia is a relatively unbiased source of information. Here's an interesting read about the reasons for the high cost of health care in the US:
Health care finance in the United States - Wikipedia

Chris

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Interesting read. Just skimmed it so far.

 

[two_bit_score]

^^^^^^^^^^ Wikipedia is a relatively unbiased source of information^^^^^^^^^

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

From Wikipedia itself: Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone at any time. This means that any information it contains at any particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or just plain wrong.

 

[dnw64]

Yep... your math is correct. Blue Cross/Blue Shield. NO dental, NO eye glasses, and NO prescription drug plan. And... neither one of us has been in the hospital in 32 years, when last son was born, or has any medical issues at all... It is ridiculous what healthcare costs in the US. I must be paying for a couple other folks that skate free... :confused3:

We the "best" plan available, as far as highest premiums and lowest out-of-pocket. For instance our co-pays are $10 for regular office visits, ED visits are $150 and hospital deductible is $750. Generic rX is capped at $5. No dental, no eyeglasses (but we do get a small break on eye exams).

Between my wife and I, I am sure the insurance companies have spent well over $1MM over the last 30+ years, between childbirth (2 C-Sections), multiple knee surgeries including two full replacements, and I spent 30 days in-patient over 4 admissions and two sets of surgeries for intestinal issues.

We get BC/BS Platinum plan through our group plan at work. Since I am the owner I pay for the whole thing, which for 2020 will be around $1700 IIRC.

 

[Chris616]

^^^^^^^^^^ Wikipedia is a relatively unbiased source of information^^^^^^^^^

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

From Wikipedia itself: Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone at any time. This means that any information it contains at any particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or just plain wrong.

A few of the entries in Wikipedia are seldom visited and are prone to hijacking by one or two editors who can create misleading information. Well used entries like the one that I posted a link to are different. Any kind of fringe or inaccurate information is rapidly disputed and corrected by others.

In another thread I pointed people towards the following website, which gives Wikipedia a "Least Biased" rating.
Wikipedia - Media Bias/Fact Check

Here's my post from that other thread describing Media Bias/Fact Check:

I've been using the following website for a few days now as I check the background of a website before reading the website itself. It's not perfect, since it will probably have some bias itself. Some folks at MIT used it as part of a research project, so they thought it was pretty good. I was surprised how few of the common news sources fall into the "Least Biased" category (see the red bar near the top of the website). Our two national newspapers in this country were both "Right-Center Bias" and the most watched national TV news program was "Left-Center Bias", as examples. If where you're getting your news falls into the "Left Bias", "Right Bias", "Conspiracy-Pseudoscience" or "Questionable Sources" categories, though, it would be good to consider that question that I posed up above (which was "Are you choosing which news to read to help you form an opinion, or to just reinforce an opinion that you already have?").

Media Bias/Fact Check - Search and Learn the Bias of News Media
Media Bias/Fact Check - Wikipedia

Chris

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I found it interesting about the self insured companies that pay back the health insurance company, basically using them for administration.

 

[Jstpssng]

I found it interesting about the self insured companies that pay back the health insurance company, basically using them for administration.

That's what my employer does. We haven't had a rate hike in years. I also get a 20% discount on my share of the premiums by participating in their "health program", doing things such as watching my blood pressure and not being a couch potato... which I do anyways.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

That's what my employer does. We haven't had a rate hike in years. I also get a 20% discount on my share of the premiums by participating in their "health program", doing things such as watching my blood pressure and not being a couch potato... which I do anyways.

Our company offered that 2yrs ago, said if we participated we would get lower rates the next yr. than they didn’t.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^
With us it's quarterly. If you participate from Jan-Mar, you see the discount starting in April.