Sorry for the late post…I promise I will be better in the new year
Discussion Topic:
What health insurance company do you have? What do you like and not like about it? Would you rather pay more each month out of pocket and have a lower deductible or pay less each month and have a higher deductible.
Background:
We currently have Kaiser Insurance and are wanting to make a change. We have been frustrated when making appointments and unable to see a Dr when WE feel like we need to see a Dr. One advice nurse actually told my husband that she didn’t think he was sick enough for a same day apt, but that he could come in in 3 days. He has asthma and was having trouble breathing….go figure.
I miss seeing the Dr that I’ve had for the last 15 years.
Thanks,
Sarah
P.S. – Please pass along the information for our new Talkin’ Tuesday blog to someone you know today.
December 9, 2009 at 5:17 pm
We have ODS, and are blessed to not pay anything out of pocket (at least it’s very little, if we do). This is our second year with it, and we have been very pleased with the coverage. I had Kaiser at one time, and had heard very negative comments about it prior to having it. I didn’t feel the frustrations that some had, but I do remember being limited with our options and I didn’t like that when I was having my pregnancy visits that I saw different doctors each time.
December 9, 2009 at 5:27 pm
What does ODS stand for?
December 9, 2009 at 9:36 pm
It’s something like Oregon Dental Services.
December 9, 2009 at 5:29 pm
We have Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield. We are pleased with it. You get to choose your doctor and can see a specialist without a referral. I would prefer to pay a little more each month to have a lower deductable but with the economy we had to cut costs and increase our deductable. Their preferred hospital is Providence which comes in handy since that is what is in Newberg.
December 9, 2009 at 5:34 pm
We have United Healthcare and it’s as good (if not better) as the coverage I had when I was teaching full time. We don’t need to have a referral to see specialists but do have to pay out of pocket if we see someone out of our network (so we don’t do that). It’s been fantastic and I am grateful for the low premiums and good coverage. This year we have no co-pay which is nice. I think it all comes out even in the end though. We have privileges at all of the hospitals in Portland which helps, but Legacy is preferred.
December 9, 2009 at 6:41 pm
We have a high deductible insurance plan through State Farm. This means that our monthly bill is very low, but when we go to the doctor we will pay for the visit out of pocket until it reaches our deductible amount ($1000 per person or $2000 family). We each get one “free” visit per year – well child and yearly visits and all immunizations are included. This really works well for our family because (1) we are done having babies, (2) we tend to be pretty healthy, (3) I don’t take my kids to the doctor for the sniffles or fevers. We usually take a “wait-and-see” approach, and I think this has helped their immune systems! LOL! Well, our doctor agrees, so I must have something there. Mostly, though, I don’t want to have to pay $$ to go to the doctor. We also have a health savings plan, and our goal is to keep it “fully funded” (the max family deductible) so that we can then lower our monthly even more. When we do reach our deductible (and the only time we have is when I had Cole – most of the time we never even start in on our deductible because we only go in for well visits), our coverage is 90-100%. Oh, PLUS we have a Hospital Income policy. One time Mitch had to go in for X-rays and the Hospital Income policy paid for his X-rays, so we owed very little out of pocket. Gosh, it sure pays to have a husband who understands insurance!!
December 9, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Oh, and we can pick any doctor we want, so that’s good, too!
December 9, 2009 at 9:28 pm
We have Blue Cross through my work. My boss pays for my coverage but I pay for the kids and we have a $2000 deductible per person which is really high. So far we haven’t had to go into the deductible part so much. Well care checks don’t go towards the deductible, we do have a higher copay for specialists (which Connor has to go to for his peanut allergy). The medicine plan isn’t great with the copay being either $35 or $50 and that can be a lot with allergy medicines but we do use my husbands medical savings account so at least get reimbursed for that with pretax money.
we can pretty much go to whoever except I did learn the hard way that a nutritionist wasn’t covered and had to pay out of pocket for that visit. I had Kaiser before having kids and hated it especially b/c you have to go so far.
December 9, 2009 at 10:05 pm
We are very lucky with the insurance we have. It has been a Legacy program and just expanded to Providence as well, so our preferred provider list is very large. We have never had to pay premiums (Richard’s employer covers that) and as long as we stay within the preferred providers (which we always have, there is no extra charge or copay. Our other option is Kaiser, which is what we had growing up. I never liked seeing different Drs or having to see the NP instead of the Dr. I have heard Kaiser has improved, but like the option we have better.