Now, I’ve read posts on this board where people claim that they have excellent health insurance. My question to those of you that do, do you have to pay a portion of the premiums or does your employer pay for it all. ALSO, do you have anyone in your family who has a chronic or life threatening illness or disability? You don’t have to say what it is, but how is that working out for you and your family?
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Question for those of you who have excellent health insurance?
Eddie Cacciatore, Private Eye 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
Yeah, I work for the state. They do take out some for health, but not a crazy amount. I also get dental and a great pair of eye glasses each year. It’s really a premium plan. That said, I earn a few bucks less than I did in the private sector, so it all evens out.
Sham W 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
I pay a portion, my employer pays a portion.
Each year it gets more expensive and/or they cover less or raise my co-pay or deductible.
Forget War Buy More (RPCV) 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
I have great insurance. I don’t pay much, but my institution (an not-for-profit) has an award winning HR.
I have an aunt with CP–she is on medicaid and actually has excellent care.
Curtis 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
I have Kaiser HMO and I love it, and I pay a portion of my coverage every month, plus a $20.00 co-pay when I see the doc.
I had major surgery a few months ago the bill was over $300,000.00 and I paid $1500, and I was treated like I was a millionaire.
Stl_6string 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
My wife is an RN at a local hospital that has an excellent health insurance program.
We pay $400 per month, the Hospital pay the rest (about $1200 more/month.)
She is a diabetic, with high blood pressure.
The coverage is great.
dukemack 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
Have fully paid for comprehensive medical. Wish they would gratly reduce it and give us some of the $$ instead. I barely ever use it.
Ben H 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
I have decent health insurance. I have an ongoing stomach problem that required a recent out-patient surgical procedure. The total bill was over 5,000.0$, my part was 800.$. My part of the premiums are 210.0$ each month. I am satisfied, since I earn about 35k/yr.
garyb1616 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
Mine is fine…I pay a share yes… but in return I get a procedure quick, good care and fast… If becomes chronic etc.. will be glad I dont have UHC…
In Canada
Long waiting lines are a fixture of the system. The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver think tank, has calculated that in 2003, the average waiting time from referral by a general practitioner to actual treatment was more than four months. Waiting times vary among specialties (and, less wildly, among provinces), but remain high even for critical diseases: The shortest median wait is 6.1 weeks for oncology treatment; excluding radiation, which is longer. Extreme cases include more than a year’s median wait for neurosurgery in New Brunswick. The median wait for an MRI is three months. Since 1993, waiting times have increased by 90%.
Waiting lines impose a real cost, which is approximated by what individuals would be willing to pay to avoid them. Waiting costs include health risk, lost time (especially for individuals whose time is most valuable), pain and anguish. Socialist systems are notoriously oblivious to anguish, discomfort, humiliation and other subjective factors which bureaucrats cannot measure or don’t value the same way as the patient does.
A Québec physician, Dr. Jacques Chaoulli, is suing the government for not allowing patients to pay for better care. The Supreme Court of Canada will hear his appeal of lower-court rebuttals in June. Last month, a class-action case was launched against Québec hospitals on behalf of 10,000 breast cancer patients who, since October 1997, have had to wait more than eight weeks each for post-surgery radiation therapy.
janice h 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
I don’t have excellent insurance, I have okay insurance. My company pays a portion and I pay a portion. I also have a deductible and a co-pay. My husband and I are both diabetics which requires not only medication but also quarterly visits to the doctor for blood work. Insurance helps but we still pay a lot for medical care. Does this mean I want Universal Health Care? Absolutely not. I am one of those who realizes that as a senior citizen I would fall to the bottom of the list for care because my care would be considered too expensive. I have no desire to have some pencil-pusher in Washington D.C. telling me or my doctor what tests or medicines I can have.
Bryan 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
I have excellent health care coverage. I pay a percentage with my employer paying the rest. I have a potentially life threatening disease and to date all of my medical needs are being met without question or exception.
Edit: Just an interesting side note. My premiums actually went down instead of up this year. The reason is because the health initiatives sponsored by my company have produced what the insurer claims are reductions in both claims and costs.
Overt Operative 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
Excellent question.
Until both my wife and I lost our jobs earlier this year, we had excellent health insurance paid by our employer. Since then, we have had to buy our own coverage. My wife has a chronic condition. Because of this, we had to buy a lower coverage policy, which still cost us over $800 a month.
Only one of us, me, has found another job. Of course that job has me underemployed making a little over 1/2 the salary I used to make. This job comes with no medical benefits. As you can imagine, the $800 a month payment is a tough nut to crack.
The likelihood of my wife getting a job that would cover the cost of childcare is bleak.
kwazywabbott 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
Anyone who takes care of himself has excellent health care.
Elway_the_Cat 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
Yes, we have excellent health insurance, and we do pay a portion of it – a large portion. It’s through my husband and he’s a union bricklayer. Part of it is covered through the negotiated benefits package, and the remainder is deducted out of his paycheck every week. Yes, we are dealing with several chronic illnesses in our family. So far it has worked out very well. We know how lucky we are. We have too many friends and family members who have inferior health insurance or no insurance at all due to an inability to pay for it. Counting our lucky stars…
EDWARD C 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
To Be honest,It will take a little time to find the answer for the question of yours.have a look at the resource here http://www.HealthInsuranceIdeas.info/free-online-health-insurance.htm for your reference .
Leni Treetop Flyer 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
I have health insurance through my husband. It is mediocre at best. They just raised the co pay to $25, RX’s went up also. When I went for my yearly mammogram this year, it was not covered.The insurance co. said there must be a reason, in order for them to cover. I guess early detection is not a valid reason. I am lucky that the office people know how to phrase things, because god forbid I end up some kind of preexisting condition. I’d say lol, but there is nothing funny about any of this.
BrunoGiordano 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
We have Universal Health Care. It’s biggest weakness is the costs because our population is really spread out and many places are only accessible by air.
Bob O 5:08 pm on April 3, 2010
hotpinkKitty I will try to answer this question without turning it into a RANT. I would like to brag that my health insurance is excellent,but I cannot. I am however thankful to my present employer for the health care provided. They do the best that they can do in this environment.My wife and I both have chronic conditions. I am thankful that I am able to continue working although I am not the STUD that I used to be.My wife is not as lucky.She has a condition that for many years Democrats have been trying to get a bill passed that would force insurance companies to cover.You do not need much Imagination to know which political party opposes that legislation (http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24208&scn=news) Since she has been diagnosed we have depleted our savings,she needs seventeen prescriptions per month to fight her illness, most of which are NOT available in generic form and so they cost us between $30.00 to $50.00 each per month with the co-pay. last month we received a notice from our insurer that they would no longer cover the specialist that she sees and so we have been forced to let our family doctor write her prescriptions for her. Again without turning this into a rant I have to say that one of the things that angers me the most about this is that conservative thought (that great school of PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY) still makes me feel that this is MY FAULT.That I did not earn enough money! That I did not prepare for problems in the future ! That I have not taken care of my loved ones!
I am ASHAMED that I ever voted Republican.