Insurance

[Menace]

What are you folks using for health/dental/eye insurance?

[RawAlex]

I live in a socialist state :-)

Alex

[Peaches]

Originally posted by Menace@Mar 13 2003, 07:24 PM
What are you folks using for health/dental/eye insurance?
Dental and eye insurance is useless. Unless you work for a huge company, ala IBM, Coke, etc. the plans out there aren't worth crap, and 99% of the doctors and dentists associated with them will come up with all kinds of things that you MUST have in order to inflate the bill that you get a 50% discount off :( Find a good dentist/eye doctor and if you need something expensive and don't have the $$$, they'll work out payment plans. Most medical insurance will cover dental and eye surgery.

I have BCBS PPO. Originally when I was flat broke, I had their hospital/surgical plan. It's a great catastrophic plan, IMHO. If you have Kaiser in your area, they write individual HMO plans. The good thing about BCBS is that they have very strict contracts with the providers. If a provider fails to get the correct authorization, charges too much, etc., unlike most plans where the patient is responsible for the difference, the provider is responsible. Plus, at least here, BCBS has contracts with most doctors and hospitals. And there are a LOT of companies pulling out of individual insurance - Mutual of Omaha just did - so hopefully since BCBS is large they'll be around for a while. I can't remember if you have kids, but if it's just the two of you, it may be less to get two individual policies than a family policy. Look at their group rates. When I did, my Dad was working for me and they were basing the group on him and he was 64 and it much cheaper to go individual.

Hope that helps. I investigated this for a LONG time, so if you have any questions, I may know the answer! :)

[ulfie]

http://www.nase.org

[Peaches]

Originally posted by ulfie@Mar 13 2003, 07:50 PM
http://www.nase.org
Please tell you don't have them :( I've heard from about 20 personal friends of mine regarding claims and then went through having to deal with them when my Dad tried to make a claim through them. They are awful :angry:

[Trev]

Bupa (http://www.bupa.co.uk) :)

[ulfie]

Originally posted by Peaches+Mar 13 2003, 06:55 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Peaches @ Mar 13 2003, 06:55 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--ulfie@Mar 13 2003, 07:50 PM
http://www.nase.org
Please tell you don't have them :( I've heard from about 20 personal friends of mine regarding claims and then went through having to deal with them when my Dad tried to make a claim through them. They are awful :angry:[/b][/quote]
yep, I do. My mother was a small business owner and had a malignant brain tumor. They covered the bill to the tune of $400k. Personally, I've never used it. Hope I never have to either.

[MikeW]

I buy my own health insurance from a regional/state wide HMO called Vista Health.. costs about $120/month ... 100% coverage on major medical procedures, wide range of doctors down here, $5 deductibles and $10 office visit copays, $50 emergency room ... work well for me at my age.

[Menace]

Great stuff so far thanks guys..

Peaches, you're awesome.. I'm at bcbs.com trying to figure out what PPO means :)


Once I have insurance maybe I'll get THIS (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2917461613) so I have a spare :biglaugh:

[Peaches]

Originally posted by ulfie@Mar 13 2003, 08:08 PM
yep, I do. My mother was a small business owner and had a malignant brain tumor. They covered the bill to the tune of $400k. Personally, I've never used it. Hope I never have to either.
Dad had $28K worth of hospital bills. They dragged their feet on paying the bill for so long that it was sent to a collection agency and finally an attorney. I ended up paying it just to keep it from being a judgement against him, and when they finally paid it 2 years later, they paid $10K of the $18K the benefits package said they'd cover. We filed complaints with the insurance commissioner's office, and could have taken them to court, but after 2 years, I was sick of it. :angry: Most of the doctors around here no longer have billing agreements with them - not sure about the hospitals.

But I'm glad they covered your Mom's stuff - that would NOT have been a fun bill to pay :(