Your Health Insurance?

[King Rat]

Just curious. What kind of health insurance do you have and how much does it cost you? And how do you rate their service?

It seems our company changes every year (they have to in order to chase the better rates) so I've had most of them at one time or another. Right now I have United Healthcare and it costs me just under $600/mo for my wife and two kids (the company pays for mine). I would rate it as the best I've ever had.

The worst I ever had was CRL. It was a joke and I ended up having to file a complaint with the insurance commissioner to get them to pay claims. They had every excuse in the book not to pay. But after I filed the complaint they started paying my claims though others in the our office still had trouble. Once, after the complaint, I actually called them about a claim they had not paid and the woman start to give me excuses. I stopped her and told her that I had already filed and won one complaint against them and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. She put me on hold for a moment then (I swear) she said, "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. There's a note in your file to pay your claims." If I ever wondered whether they were stupid or crooked that one statement answered it.

[tbritt]

I have Healthlink through my employer, Lane. You would think, based on the number of people enrolled, that the coverage would be pretty good...wrong! When I started, the deductible was $150 per person and family coverage was around $20 a week. Now, the deductible is $400 per person and $50 a week. We don't have any vision insurance at all, and dental is under a seperate policy at another $15 a week. I'm sure this sounds more than reasonable to some, but when you consider that my mom works for a small (3 employees) company and their insurance is great-Oh! to have a copay!! Seems a little off kilter to me!

[King Rat]

Copays aren't really a bargain if you do the math. The copay doesn't apply toward your deductible or out-of-pocket expenses. Prescriptions do not apply toward your deductibe or out-of-pocket, either. If you typically wouldn't meet your deductible then the copay is a good deal. Otherwise, you are losing money.

I have vision insurance under my health coverage (first time I've ever had it). So this year I changed eye doctors just to get one who was "in the plan". When all was said and done, I saved almost $100 by NOT using my insurance. To use the insurance, my new glasses had to meet their requirements. The frames had to come from a selection of low-quality crap they kept in a separate box and they had to be ordered from the insurance company's preferred lab. It was going to take a minimum of 10 days to get my new glasses from THEIR lab and cost me $100 more than if I selected a better frame and got my glasses in three days.

It was a no-brainer.

[Pontotocmom]

tbritt, who carries your moms insurance. I know of a small company who is looking for insurance.

[tbritt]

The agent is Stan White, but I'm not sure of the name of the insurance.