Premiums Unveiled For Health Overhaul Plans

[Tiddlywinks]

Originally Posted by Orruar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Over the past 6 years, I've paid probably $11k in premiums and I've received no more than maybe $2k in benefit from it... I really just keep it because I'd hate to be financially ruined by a stroke of bad luck. What really sucks is I know my employer has also probably paid about $11k towards the insurance as well. If it wasn't for the insane marriage of employment and health insurance, I would have received a good chunk of that in compensation instead.

That's the give and take of insurance in general really. For every story like yours though there are people like me. I'll give you mine really quick:

I began working for my company a little over a year ago, and they require that I carry health insurance as part of the terms of my employment. It's only around $56 a month, but were it elective, being under 30 and in relatively decent health I probably would not have opted in. This past february I messed my knee up pretty bad, and ended up with a patella sublexation.

That night I went to the ER and had an x-ray. Were I not insured that would have wound up costing me $900. Later that week I went to an ortho and he had me get an MRI. I honestly don't even remember what that cost, but I think ballparking it around $1500 is more than fair. After that I went through 2 months of Physical therapy. Out of pocket that would have cost me $1900, my insurance covers 90% of PT costs, I payed $94. The MRI I paid a $600 deductible for. The ER visit ended up costing me about $300.

All told this cost me under a grand. Without insurance I would have been looking at about $4,500-$5,000. I also pay around $4 a month for dental insurance that offers a max coverage of $1,000 per year, and I've used that for a year.

In the last year and a half I've gotten ~$6,000 worth of medical expenses taken care of for $1500 + ~$60 a month for 18 months.

Now obviously my plans aren't terrible, and my employer covers a good chunk of the monthly costs.. but my injury was nowhere near "catastrophic" and aside from my dental (I really let my teeth go throughout college), being young and healthy absolutely none of this was expected. Without insurance it would have sucked. A lot. I can't even imagine what a large injury, or even something more common such as a pregnancy would wind up costing somebody who was uninsured.

I don't relay the story to say "Obama care is awesome!" but rather to point out that for every story like yours, there are probably a pretty decent amount that are just like mine. I'm the same as you with my car insurance. I live in a state that does not require it, however I've paid in my entire driving-aged life because if I hit somebody I sure as fuck don't want to be sued for an insane amount of money.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with saying that the amount our employers end up paying in to our insurances would wind up in our paychecks. It would be nice, but there is just no way that I believe I would see much, if any of that money as direct-pay compensation.

Anyway, I'm off-topic, and rambling, but just wanted to say, that for everyone that pays in and doesn't use it, there are those that do. Personally, I don't think it's worth the gamble, even at a young age.

That's at least kind of why I enjoy the notion of those that are going to gamble paying SOMETHING into the system regardless on the off chance that something terrible does happen to 1/10000 that do and the rest of us get stuck with the costs.