Ask Slashdot: IT Contractors, How's Your Health Insurance? 468
An anonymous reader writes "In the tech industry, as the economy continues its downturn, IT folks in my circles who were either laid off or let go are turning to contract work to pay their bills. Layoffs and a decline in tech jobs has affected older IT workers the most. Many of us find it more lucrative and enjoyable in the long run and leave the world of cubicles forever. However, there is much to be said for working for a large company or corporation, and health insurance is one of the benefits we value most. But what happens to those who find themselves in this position at mid-career or later in life? Hopefully they have accumulated enough savings or have enough money in an HSA to survive a major medical emergency. Unfortunately, many do not and some find themselves in dire straits with their lives depending on others for help. I have been working IT contracts mostly now for the past 11 years and I've done very well. I belong to a group insurance plan and the coverage is decent, but as I get older, premiums and copays go up and coverage goes down. If you work contracts exclusively, what do you think is the best plan for insurance? Any preferences?"
there are only two correct answers... (Score:3, Insightful)
Affordable Care Act might make this easier (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm assuming OP is in the US, because in most other countries this is a non-issue.
This was the kind of situation that Obamacare is intended to address, by making the individual market a viable option for people who aren't getting insurance through their employment, eliminating exclusions for preexisting conditions and requiring no more than 20% overhead (for reference, Medicare runs at about 3% overhead and the VA closer to 1%).
Other approaches, while you're waiting for that law to fully kick in:
- If you're married, and your spouse is a full-time employee somewhere, use their group plan.
- If you've saved up a lot, which it sounds like you have, consider focusing on catastrophic coverage.
- If you're older than 50, consider the AARP. They provide all sorts of discounts, including on health insurance.
- If your life situation allows, you might be able to relocate to a civilized country. This is obviously a big change, so you wouldn't want to make this lightly.
- Put up with the higher rates and less insurance. It's not pleasant, of course, but it sounds like you can afford it.
Single-payer (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Critical illness (Score:2, Insightful)
I think you are wrong there.
Insurance to cover me, wife, and kid @ work $685 a month
Paying out of pocket
$65 a visit + tests and prescriptions.
Averaged $150 for a visit.
We would maybe see a doctor 2x a year each.
12 visits == $1800 a year
12 month of insurance == $8220.00
Saving us $6420 a year.
Re:The only choice is to vote DEM / obama (Score:5, Insightful)
"Require you to buy some" is hardly an insurance plan.
I think every state requires you to buy auto insurance and all mortgage companies require homeowners insurance. This is to prevent dumbasses from not doing something they really have to do.
But I'm perfectly okay with people who want to make their own choices, as long as they accept the consequences of their choices. Which means if you waaah about not buying health insurance, then when you're sick or injured...you stay home and help yourself unless you can bring cash or a valid credit card with $50,000 available on it to the emergency room. After all, you're the one in charge making the decisions, and the one you made is basically to die or fall on the charity of others WHEN something happens to you. And by the way, I ain't in the mood to be your freaking charity.
The problem we have with the world today is everyone wants choices, but when the consequences show up its someone elses fault and they need a bailout.
If people hate the 'socialism' of medicine, then I hope they're not driving on the interstates, sending their kids to public school, and won't be accepting social security and medicare, neither of which you 'paid for', but which are paid to you by others as your tax dollars paid for your elders as you worked.
I'm 51 and have a couple of minor pre-existing conditions that I've resolved by losing a lot of weight gained after suffering a back injury. Even though I'm pretty healthy now, if I lost my current group health absolutely nobody would insure me at any price. Even a high deductible plan and HSA combined with a serious injury or illness would destroy my family finances pretty much for good.
So shall we all stop weinering about coming to the same damn conclusion that just about everyone else on the planet has? People are too stupid and shortsighted to buy health insurance, but you have to have it, since almost nobody can pay out of pocket for a major car accident, cancer or a heart attack.
You can still have your choice. Pack up and go live in the new mexico desert or the deep plains of wyoming, far from a hospital. I'm quite sure nobody will come to your camp and make you pay.
If you cant afford it, you get it for free or cheap. Same general idea as what Romney did in MA. So lets stop the stupid bickering and random shenanigans and get on with what we grown ups need to do, shall we?
Ehhh...and so we stay on the right side of the fence, voted republican until GW's second term, have voted for Mickey Mouse since.
Re:The only choice is to vote DEM / obama (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Critical illness (Score:4, Insightful)
You are assuming you will never have a significant medical need. This is a very poor assumption and it is obvious that you are not capable of doing the necessary risk/cost calculations. Bear in mind that one hospitalization will run you $10k, if you need to have a major procedure done that will likely cost you $25k or more. These are just for one time events. If you get a chronic condition, these numbers can go way up.
The reason insurance is required under the new plan is that people are stupid and short sighted.
Re:Best Preference (Score:5, Insightful)
Yup. I dropped by to say pretty much the same thing: Move to a country that gives a fuck about the health of its citizens.
Wealthiest nation on earth, my arse.
Re:Best Preference (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Critical illness (Score:4, Insightful)
He is assuming nothing. However, you are.
The whole sub-argument is about traditional major medical coverage that handles precisely the sort of large out of pocket costs you're talking about.
Insurance simply does not scale down.
For smaller claims, the transactional overhead if more than the cost of the service itself. Everyone is better off just paying cash and avoiding the overhead of the small stuff.
You avoid the immediate transaction costs of the small stuff plus the any scaling issues you will trigger from magnifying the size of the claims management apparatus.
Re:Doctors, Dentists and Hospitals *love* cash (Score:5, Insightful)
This accords with what I have experienced. Generally we pay less than 50% of the sticker price for all medical care, if we offer cash.
When my latest was born in 2008, we got everything covered for under $5000 at a very good hospital, simply because we offered cash up front. In fact, we were informed that the price would triple if we couldn't pay the full amount up front--even if we paid all the remainder within a week. That's the nature of risk management in the medical business.
As a family man with 3 kids, we find that life is MUCH cheaper without insurance. If you have a generally healthy family, and actually bother to make sure your family eats well and exercises well (growing your own garden is a major plus), and if you bother to learn a little something about health on your own (my wife is a nurse), you can actually manage to live without constant "health care". Seriously, when did people start needing medical care as an ongoing service, like electricity and water? It's pretty easy nowadays to check your own blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, and quite a few other things. We only go to doctors when something doesn't add up.
I see the world today as gone somewhat mad about how to take care of the body. I know younger people in their 30s who are already on multiple medications--statins, beta blockers, blood-thinners, you name it. Diabetics are everywhere, and Coca Cola sales [cnbc.com] are exceeding forecasts. We are finding that "diet food" actually makes you fatter. We are finding that a certain amount of sun is actually good for you. We are finding that sitting all day in a cubicle is horrible for your health. It's time to start putting two and two together. If you want a healthier population, the first thing we need to do is get everyone exercising regularly, spending some time outdoors instead of under florescent lighting or the pallid glows of their LCD screens, and eating real food instead of the crap that comes from factories (and most grocery stores, unfortunately).
Re:the no pre existing condition/ no drop rule + e (Score:4, Insightful)
And this right here folks is what is wrong with our country, the "fuck you, I got mine" in the flesh.
This is why we have to force people to get car insurance, because this asshole wants to ripoff society. He can't possibly be expected to actual like a responsible adult.
Re:Best Preference (Score:3, Insightful)
How many patients in the US are denied care per year? Care to dig up those statistics? Care to dig up projections on how that number will change under the ACA?
Because without context, the numbers and anecdotes you've provided are absolutely meaningless.
--Jeremy
Re:Best Preference (Score:5, Insightful)
And yet, by every aggregate measure of health outcomes, Canada and the UK do far, far better than the U.S. Longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays... It's almost like you're being fed bullshit propaganda slandering the two nearest examples of health care systems that work vastly better than your own.
Re:Best Preference (Score:5, Insightful)
Answer: obviously the cost is split across the entire tax-payer base.
Now imagine this scenario... his dad has heart trouble and emergency surgery ends up bankrupting him. While he doesn't croak from his sickness his insurance company conveniently drops him afterwards. Further complications cause him to lose his job as he's unable to work.
He ends up spending the next 20 years on welfare and medicaid. Given that there's no such thing as a free lunch, who pays for it?