Business Owners - Health Insurance Help?

[noisy]

Wondering when there will be sufficient dissatisfaction with the current system so that a public option similar to Medicare for all become politically viable?

My hope is that these insurance companies put themselves right out of business with these increases, and force the need for a national solution. The same could be said of homeowner's insurance. It's just insane what's going on and it's going to be a real drag on an already unstable economy next year. There's just no way businesses are going to be able to absorb these increases--they will have to pass it on to their employees. That should wake up a lot of the populace.

 

[338edge]

I use samaritan ministries. If you're a Christian please look into this. I have been a member since 2013 and love it. Since Obama care was introduced health care has went through the roof. The government is on the hook for this ugh.

Corey

 

[grfox92]

For those who own their own business, I'd love to hear how to possibly save money on health insurance. Here is our situation:

My wife and I each have our own separate small businesses. We have two children (13yrs & 16yrs). We currently have Kaiser Pemanente and already pay roughly $1k per month. Next year we are looking at a monthly expense of $1600/mo and with the shittiest coverage possible ($9200 individual and $18500 family deductible).

We are both healthy adults and kids are also. We do use our health coverage, but not nearly to the amount that we are paying. Going without coverage is just too risky and not an option.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to find/get reasonable health coverage? Looking at our annual payment of nearly $20k next year for bare-bones coverage is just ridiculous!

Sending you a PM.

Sent from my SM-S931U using Tapatalk

 

[TripleJ]

I use samaritan ministries. If you're a Christian please look into this. I have been a member since 2013 and love it. Since Obama care was introduced health care has went through the roof. The government is on the hook for this ugh.

Corey

This is what we do as well. It has been a really good experience for us for the last 10 years.

 

[RuggedYogi]

I’m sure you already know this, but if you’re self employed, you’re able to write off your personal health insurance which lowers your adjusted gross income. I don’t have kids, so not sure about that aspect, but certainly worth looking into.

Another thing to look into if you’re all healthy is a high deductible health insurance plan offset by an HSA. The funds you contribute to a HSA are double tax advantaged.

 

[DuckDawg22]

I’m sure you already know this, but if you’re self employed, you’re able to write off your personal health insurance which lowers your adjusted gross income. I don’t have kids, so not sure about that aspect, but certainly worth looking into.

Another thing to look into if you’re all healthy is a high deductible health insurance plan offset by an HSA. The funds you contribute to a HSA are double tax advantaged.

Obviously, but this doesn't change the fact that we're paying out the ass for something many people don't need but are legally forced to have. I have my accountant looking into the tax penalty I'd be on the hook for if I don't carry it here in CA and roll the dice paying cash. $2k a month for a family of four with a $9k/$18k deductible means I'm still getting a bill every time we go to the doctor.

Eye opener for me was taking our 6 month old at the time to urgent care because he had a 102 fever. I caught COVID during a flurry of work travel and was sure that's what he had but off we went anyways; urgent care was in-network but they sent me to the ER once I used the C word. 3 hours later, I'm walking out of the ER after they gave him another dose of Tylenol and a COVID test, only to confirm that he had COVID and there was nothing we could do about it except ride it out. Apparently I went to the wrong hospital because a month later I get a bill for $2500 that my insurance only paid $300 for. $2500 for a ******* dose of Tylenol and COVID test, and they had the balls to put $400 as the line cost for the test. I literally paid $10 for one at Walmart the night before. I called to negotiate down and was told they don't negotiate with people that have health insurance and I should pay for a plan with a lower deductible. I couldn't believe my ears, just an insane system.

 

[Silveroddo]

Obviously, but this doesn't change the fact that we're paying out the ass for something many people don't need but are legally forced to have. I have my accountant looking into the tax penalty I'd be on the hook for if I don't carry it here in CA and roll the dice paying cash. $2k a month for a family of four with a $9k/$18k deductible means I'm still getting a bill every time we go to the doctor.

Eye opener for me was taking our 6 month old at the time to urgent care because he had a 102 fever. I caught COVID during a flurry of work travel and was sure that's what he had but off we went anyways; urgent care was in-network but they sent me to the ER once I used the C word. 3 hours later, I'm walking out of the ER after they gave him another dose of Tylenol and a COVID test, only to confirm that he had COVID and there was nothing we could do about it except ride it out. Apparently I went to the wrong hospital because a month later I get a bill for $2500 that my insurance only paid $300 for. $2500 for a ******* dose of Tylenol and COVID test, and they had the balls to put $400 as the line cost for the test. I literally paid $10 for one at Walmart the night before. I called to negotiate down and was told they don't negotiate with people that have health insurance and I should pay for a plan with a lower deductible. I couldn't believe my ears, just an insane system.

It feels like everything going on in the world for the last 10 years is one big episode of impractical jokers, some A$$hole is siting in a room watching and pushing buttons to see how ridiculous things can be and how much people will take. Seems like very little in this country is redeemable, healthcare being at the top of the list .

 

[KsRancher]

I am about 2 months away from going without insurance. I am so absolutely frustrated with health insurance currently I cant even begin to describe it. I have had a few people mention an HSA. So I will look into that before I call it quits with the health insurance.

BCBSK just sent out a renewal paper. Last year when trying to get insurance we got prices to get on my wifes work plan it was over $2,000 to get me and the kids on her plan. I called in to BCBSK and they quoted around $2,100 for a policy for me and the kids. But they ran our income and it was deamed "unaffordable" so they ran it thru the marketplace for us and it ended up costing me $688/month for me and the kids.

When I called in this week to get the renewal updated. After giving all of the info and based off of our income it kicked out my youngest two kids and said they qualified for medicaid insurance. They new policy for me and my oldest son who is in college would now be $984/month. And the deductible is considerably higher than last year. I know its not the guy on the other end of the phones fault. But man that is FRUSTRATING. I told him to just cancel the renewal and I would go without. And hung up.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Healthy, no wife or kids, so I'm rolling the dice on this. Pay cash for an xray or stitches every couple of years or so. Might bite me in the ass or it might not. Just cannot make myself pay that much per month for something I most likely wont use.

 

[dpat]

I own a small business and since Obama Care medical insurance has been ridiculously expensive. We just took a 21 percent increase for 2026 it drives me crazy for what you get.

I will say 30 years ago I was working for someone else and he provided medical through a state service organization insurance trust, for all of us including his own family. I didn't find out until after my appendix ruptured, the emergency surgery and 5 days in the hospital that they had went under. To say it was a huge mess is an understatement! they offered payouts at about 12 cents on the dollar and the Surgeon, hospital etc... wasn't good with that to say the least. They all came after me for the money, which I didn't have at 23.
It cost me right at 7,000 out of my pocket and my boss did the right thing and stepped up and payed almost 30k plus what little the insurance paid out settled the bill. It would have bankrupted me otherwise.

Since then I have always made sure to have at the bare minimum coverage that would cover something along those lines. Today's cost of healthcare would bankrupt most if they don't have some coverage. It is a terrible situation for sure, roll the dice and hope nothing happens or risk financial ruin if something bad happens.

Don't even get me going on vision and dental insurance I have zero use for it on what it covers vs. what you pay. I found it better to self insure for that.

The health insurance business/system in the U.S. is in need of an overhaul.

 

[gbflyer]

I struggle to understand who (other than the insurance companies) AHCA benefits. Suckered us all in the first year then…..

We are in the same boat here in Alaska where healthcare costs are already double of the 48. We too may have to go back to CHM.

 

[DuckDawg22]

I struggle to understand who (other than the insurance companies) AHCA benefits. Suckered us all in the first year then…..

We are in the same boat here in Alaska where healthcare costs are already double of the 48. We too may have to go back to CHM.

Illegals. It benefits illegals. My son's hospital bill for an ER visit for a borderline fever was $2500 so the hospital can pay for the 30 immigrants that were in the waiting room with colds. I will say, you used to have to wait behind those people but the fact that they take you ahead of them speaks volumes.

 

[noisy]

People like to blame Obamacare for health costs "going through the roof." That was 15 f'ing years ago that it was passed. EVERYTHING has gone through the roof compared to 15 years ago.

But this year is different. Something else is driving this drastic increase.

 

[Beendare]

Business guy here, I wish I had a good solution for you. I have businesses where we pay for everything and have a negotiated plan with a large HC company. Doesn't really matter the name, they are all about the same- and its going up.

I have another company where we have Kaiser Perm and that rate was ridiculous for what we get so we made a deal with employees to where they take some accountability and pay half the costs and we bonused them extra $$$ to pay for it.

If you find a great plan at low cost....please post it here, I'm all ears.

My problem is Obamacare just handed money to the insurance companies, layered on additional costs to insurers all while covering illegals. It did nothing to control the skyrocketing costs. The Gov needs to dig in on this and negotiate better rates just like Trump did recently for the weight loss shots.

 

[Beendare]

People like to blame Obamacare for health costs "going through the roof." That was 15 f'ing years ago that it was passed. EVERYTHING has gone through the roof compared to 15 years ago.

But this year is different. Something else is driving this drastic increase.

My wife is in HC and her paperwork per patient went from 3-4 pages to 15-20 pages under Obamacare. It increased the time she needs to spend and of course that drives up the costs.

Please explain to me why she needs to ask every patient as req by Obamacare, "Is there a gun in the house?" and log it in their paperwork?

 

[noisy]

My wife is in HC and her paperwork per patient went from 3-4 pages to 15-20 pages under Obamacare. It increased the time she needs to spend and of course that drives up the costs.

Please explain to me why she needs to ask every patient as req by Obamacare, "Is there a gun in the house?" and log it in their paperwork?

Definitely agree that increased red tape is a big problem. Lawsuits and liability play a huge roll in that too.

Here is what is going on this year, based on an article in our paper that included an interview with a BCBS rep. Because the covid-era subsidies are not being renewed, the insurance companies are assuming a certain percentage of people will drop their plans. Therefore they are raising rates on us suckers who keep our plans to make up the difference. She literally said that.

Now if they do end up extending the subsidies, will that make a difference? At this point I doubt it. Nobody ever lowers prices after they roll them out.

As to the solution to this mess, there is only one that I see, and that is to go Canada-style, or any of the many other countries with cheaper healthcare and healthier populations.

 

[pacoalcracker]

Its really very simple folks. USA has the highest cost for every type of insurance there is. Home, auto, healthcare, liability.....all of it. It just so happens USA has the most lawyers by far. Right there is the root cause of the problem...everything else are just the symptoms of it. Auto insurance attempted to solve that issue with the tort/limited tort option and it worked to a large extent. You can't sue unless the injury is considered serious. We need this in the medical insurance community. Medical malpractice insurance is the highest single cost to medical professionals. That gets passed on to the patients. Lawyers and lawsuits are the problem. Not your insurance company. Not the insurance company shareholders. Remember, every judge in the country is also a lawyer. Things won't be changing any time soon.