How much do you pay for health care insurance?

[ThomWV]

What is your monthly payment for health care insurance? Just the portion you pay. If you'd care to comment about actual coverage, how many (family or individual plan) are covered, or contributions from third parties (employer contribution) I'd be interested in your clarifications.

[mnhtnbb]

1. $314.47 deducted monthly from hubby's VA retirement check covers

both of us and our 19 yo son. Hubby qualified for Medicare last year, so BC/BS Fed'l is now supplemental for him.

[ThomWV]

2. Family plan, $365 per month, Government Program, Employer pays 65%

[notesdev]

5. Employer pays 0%

YOU pay the whole thing. Whatever is masked as an "employer contribution" comes right out of what he'll give you in salary. Actually it's a little worse than that if you get percentage raises over time, since that compounds, and removing the health care dollars from your salary and pushing them into the "employer contribution" part of the ledger leaves you with a smaller base to compound with.

You can ask any employer (who will be honest with you) to confirm this. This little trick is designed to hide from you just how much you are really paying.

[ThomWV]

8. I understand your point and you are right, but for this poll I'm only interest in out-of-paycheck

You're right, but we have no way to measure that. However its pretty easy to look at your pay stub and see how much they took out, and that is the standard I'd like to use for this poll simply because it adds consistency to the answers. OK?

[notesdev]

13. We can measure it

Here's roughly what you're paying for healthcare under the current system:

If your direct contribution is 35% and is $365/mo., multiply by 100 and divide by 35 to get $1043/mo. Then add what you pay for Medicare and double it; the employer is putting in half of that cost as well. Then take everything that goes to the federal general
fund (including double what you pay in SS) and divide by the percentage of the federal budget other than Medicare that is spent on health care, including that for federal employees. Do the same with state taxes and the state budget (may vary by state). Finally, throw in all the co-payments that you have actually made, as well as payments you have made for anything not covered.

When all is said and done you will probably have a figure about $1500/mo., or about $18,000/year - which is as close to a true figure as we can put together with the limited information that trickles down to us. If the math isn't done, this looks like a $365/mo. cost, which is what they want you to believe, when the reality is 4-5 times that.

I don't mean to quibble terribly over details, I just want to point out that if we are going to find a solution to the health care financing problem (which is really, when it comes down to it, the problem here - we have excellent doctors and hospitals in this country) then we need to have a grasp of the whole picture.

Personally, I pay slightly less than you do (single person, minimum plan), but as I use almost no health care at all (2 dentist visits per year and a visit to the optometrist every other year), what I pay is something on the order of 50 times (!!!) what I actually consume, and as you might imagine I don't think it's a very good deal at all, for anyone except the folks who end up with all this money.

Edit: sorry, I'm still on my first cup of coffee here... you ALSO have to figure in the debt service payments on the percentage of federal and state (and local if applicable) funds that are borrowed to pay for health care, use the same percent that was used to calculate from those gov budgets - i.e. if 25% of the federal budget and 15% of your state budget go to health care, then add in 25% and 15% of total debt interest payments as a recurring cost as well. $1500/mo. may be an underestimate for your case.

[ipfilter]

18. I pay $158 per month for a family of four.

I pay only 10% of the premium which is a staggering $1580 per month. My employer pays the other 90%. After the first of the year my portion is going to go up to 20% so in effect it is a 100% increase in my portion of the premium. I will have the choice to either pay more for the same coverage, or pick a plan with less coverage, higher co-pays, and a deductible to keep my monthly cost the same. Sometimes I wish I had the choice to drop the insurance and receive the employer contribution as income, but that's not an option.

EDIT: I was replying to the OP but somehow this ended up on this sub thread. Not sure what happened.

[notesdev]

19. That's OK you hit on a good point

The tying of health care to employment is one of the key problems in the current financing system. You should not be forced to continue to work for an employer in order to keep your health coverage. I know of CORBA but if you've had experience with it you know it is outrageously expensive; and of course, with no job, no income, good luck paying for it. If you should be lucky enough to get coverage from another job, surprise - "pre-existing condition" clauses will screw you once more.

I see no good solution other than to restrict the insurance part to catastrophic/chronic care ONLY. Make doctors publish their services and prices and let people shop around for the best price. If you're paying for it directly and have an actual choice, you are going to get better prices than by paying through an intermediary that gives you no choice (and additionally restricts your caregivers, based on thousand-page contracts and legalese in 5-point font).

[ipfilter]

20. Yes, I do have experience with COBRA

This summer we were on strike and our insurance was canceled the moment our contract expired. We received COBRA documentation and the premium was something like 105% of the total cost. There was no way I could have paid that because a)I'm not made of money and b)we were on strike with no income. It was very scary not having insurance for those two weeks. I was working for my neighbor as a laborer and I had to be very careful not to injure myself.

I understand why insurance was tied to employment in the beginning. Insurance companies could offer good premiums by spreading the risk across a larger group and the employer could offer the insurance as a benefit. However, this has taken on an ugly life of it's own now and something needs to change. I'm locked into my current job mainly due to insurance. I don't mind my job, but there are other opportunities out there I would explore if I were willing to risk less coverage for my family. It's a tough choice.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. What about the Medicare Tax that is deducted ? How should I look at it?

and what about co-payments and deductables?

[ThomWV]

4. If your health care insurance is covered by Medicare then that is how much you pay

If you are not receiving Medicare then that is simply a general fund tax as far as you're concerned.

[Epiphany4z]

6. $87 a week for a family

plan through hubbys work Plus $12 a week for dental.

[ThomWV]

7. If you don't mind me asking, what industry does your husband work in?

And is his employer a major factor in that industry?

[Epiphany4z]

14. his employer is a small business owner

he owns several businesses that my husband does maintenance for....under 100 employees is my guess.

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. $0.00. My wifes employer (a Doctor) pays it all.

Of course there are deductibles.

[L0oniX]

10. $300 a month + $5000 yearly deductable divided by 12 = yea that's a lot of money...

...and I only gross $18k a year. I am lucky I can even be on the internet.

[City Lights]

11. Just under $1,000 for a family of four.

We're self-employed. It's a major medical policy, so it doesn't cover much - no dental, no vision, and only a small portion of doctor visits/routine procedures. We pay about $20,000/year for our monthly premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses.

[Shrek]

12. $232 / month for medical

Plus $13.14 for vision and $22 for dental. I'm not sure how much my employer contributes but it's more than that.

Family of 3.

[Lebam in LA]

15. COBRA $317 month

and that is just for me. Dental not included

[Minimus]

16. COBRA $435 per month for just me.

[Cassandra]

17. Just under $1000 a month just for me....

and going up next year, I'm sure.

[newfie11]

21. 100 now that I am retired and on medicare

when I was working I paid nothing, it was paid by the hospitals. However the deductibles went up every year.

I forgot I also have Champ VA as a supplement. My husband is 100% disabled by VA so I can get free medicines if it is in their formulary or a discount if it is not. I pay nothing for Champ Va.

[RebelOne]

22. $200 a month through my employer.

It includes medical, dental, eye care, life insurance and disability. I am eligible for Medicare, but I prefer to stay covered by my employer's insurance because Medicare does not provide all those benefits.

[tinkerbell41]

23. 2000 a month

My premium is based on hours worked, if I work all year it works out to 2000 a month. Now this does help to cover those in my Union who are unemployed and lost their insurance along with retirees and their spouses. I have great insurance, 400 family deductible, 80/20 coverage, dental,mental health, vision. It sounds expensive, but I have been unemployed for a year now, and still have insurance. I have just been extended til December. I am still for a public option thinking it would make Union tradesmen/women more competitive where wages are concerned.

[jpljr77]

24. $110 per month for family of three through wife's work (public school teacher)

She has about $55 deducted from each of her paychecks to cover her share of the insurance plan. It covers her, me and our 14-month old daughter. It will go up next year because we're adding to family in February.

And it's a fantastic plan, covers everything. $10 co-pays on all doctor's visits and prescriptions for $5 - $15. Also includes dental. Does not cover eye care (I wear contacts and glasses), but I just suck it up and pay Hour Eyes for an exam every two years and get my contacts through 1-800-CONTACTS.

The plan through my work (small investment/business advisory firm) would cost $380 per month for comparable coverage, and that's AFTER my employer started kicking in more money last year.

[laughingliberal]

25. We actually had to drop ours in November

Before that we were paying $1200 per month for my husband and myself to COBRA my insurance from my last job

[SeekerBlue]

26. Other: $0, paid by employer