2 questions...

1. What are some ballpark figures for a basic health insurance package for a family?

2. Are group rates available for members of any organizations that any of us might belong to?

Thanks.

I'd be really interested in the answer to #1 myself because I know I could be paying less. Mine is somewhere over $1100/mo. right now and it's certainly not the best.

2. I think you can get group rates with many organizations. I think they usually have ties to a local agency where group rates are offered to all members.

Your state rules may vary, but in NY the Insurance companies are permitted to charge you more money (or even cancel you) if you have no employees. It's funny (not really ) that if there were two people in the company only one would have to have the insurance and rates would be lower. If you have no employees though your rates will be higher and some companies (Vytra) will even refuse your policy.

Bill

I go belong to group called the Maine Oil Dealers. The group bids out our coverage and Anthem(Blue Cross) always wins the bid. For 500 dedutable I pay 346 a month and I'm 46. My wife gets it thru her work so I don't have her or the kid covered. I believe my family rate is around 800 a month

My wife handles the health insurace.

From time to time ...

We self insure our employees or
Employees have MSAs or
we adjust wages to suit the situation.

One of our employees was given a $20/month pay cut to get free health insurance (from the state) for her new child. The $20/month goes into a 529 plan for the child.

(edit to my first post)
$1232/mo. is what I'm paying.

This is 50% more than I was at last year (was ~ $800) with the same company. (supposedly in a group)

I have to go shopping.

BTW, I also wanted to mention if you are not part of some organization which can help get group rates an Agent might be able to find a group for you to join at some (small) annual fee. (but you may still have a somewhat higher rate with no employees)

Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 09-06-2003).]

One big myth is that group health is somehow cheaper because of a volume discount. It's actually more expensive if you're in good health. I've been doing a lot of research on this recently because I want to offer health coverage as a benefit to my employees. I currently pay $170 a month for myself. If I go to an MSA, it would drop to about $120 with more coverage than I have now, but if I go into a group it will go up to about $250 a month for an HMO.

I live Alberta, Canada. Our health is subsidized by the provincial and federal governments. My rate for a single male is approx. $500CDN/yr and I am at the highest scale.
It does cost the Government as much as 40-50% of their annual budget, and there is a big controversy right now about $10-20 user fees to lower the 'nuisance' visits.

Wow!

I knew health insurance had gotten more expensive in the U.S. in recent years, but some of these figures sounds as though they're just getting plain silly.

In the U.K. we have the famous National Health Service, which has now been existence for some 55 years.

Supposedly, it is a tax known as "National Insurance" which funds both the health service and our welfare system. In practice all taxes collected go into the giant government money pot from which cash is handed out as needed, so it's pretty hard to say just how much we have to spend on health care.

I'll post some information in the non-U.S. area later for anyone who's interested.

Hi, I only pay 150.00 a month for health insurance with Blue cross and blue shield of Tennessee. I'm 43 and had many medical problems in the last year or so.


Rob.

a political hot potato Paul, yet my fav dish...there are 43 million Americans now uninsured, and they are NOT all trailer park trash

the greater % of personal bankrupcies here are health care related now, as well as the issue being the #1 hurdle for any small biz (check the NFIB)

as an emt, i get to see these sorts, and hear about thier plight, (and a fat lot of good that bellowing cow HRC did for them too....)

preventitive maintenance , the very same accepted concept in this electrical trade applies to health care also

as such, we in Vermont have Dr. Dinosaur for kids, basically our version of the (sure,say it....evil socialist) national health care

something about prior generations landing us the 'toothbrush' label here must have rung a bell or two in state legislature

somebody up there woke up and asked what the h*** health care has to do with employment anyways???

gee, guess it doesn't when your laid off!, good luck with that COBRA stuff, they sure named that one right...

to sum it up bluntly, if things go on as they are , the rich will live & the poor are gonna die here.....

sparky, aka; from the trenches, Steve

I'm afraid I'm a bit lost in that alphabet soup Steve....

Anyway, here is the non-U.S. thread for anyone who's interested.

Consumer Reports just did a nice article on health insurance companies. Not sure it listed any pricing ( i pay a whopping $76 a month so i glanced over it quickly) but it did give numbers as far as customer service. May be worth a glance at the local bookstore if just to get a few phone numbers.