It’s open enrollment and everyone has to re-enroll because my company just went public. I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise but my health insurance contribution is going up $3 per month. I’m in reasonably good health and haven’t used the insurance except for a couple of prescriptions (and the office visit they made me do before they’d write them) and I find myself thinking I should find some way of consuming more health care because after all I’m paying for it. Insured Dopers, do you find yourself thinking along similar lines if you go for extended periods with no health issues?
Fuck, my health premium went up by a very visible $50 a month 4 years ago after a new tax introduction by the Liberal government in Ontario. A government who ran on a campaign promise to not raise taxes. And then we (not me!) re-elected them again this year for another 4 years! I rarely ever use any of the health care system because (duh!) I’m healthy: my weight is good, I don’t smoke, I take care of myself and I’m supporting all the other smoking, obese parasites of the system. Yeah, it bugs me…
I can’t even imagine wishing I needed more health care.
Maybe it’s the thousands of dollars a year I currently spend that makes me think it’s not such a good idea.
Otto, I just cancelled my health insurance because I rarely get sick and the one prescription I take a month is cheaper if I just buy it outright rather than pay $100 a month plus the $10 copay. I’m putting that $80 towards my credit cards, at least until next year’s enrollment.
It’s a risk I’m willing to take, being a young and healthy nonsmoker who hasn’t had anything worse than a cold in three years.
Let me get this straight: you want to know how to use up another $3 per month of healthcare whether you really need it or not?
Do they have a mental health rider?
Lionne, that is a pretty big risk you are taking. Insurance isn’t just supposed to cover perscriptions and such, it also pays if you fall down the stairs or get bitten by a stray dog or get e-coli from a burger at the local fast food joint. If something catastrophic happens to you before the next enrollment period you will be much farther in debt than your credit cards have brought you and you won’t be able to wipe away medical debt in bankruptcy should you ever need to do so.
Otto try your best not to think of it as them taking another $3 a month from you with nothing to show for it. Try to think of it as covering yourself in case you are diagnosed with leukemia 3 months from now. I know insurance is hard to accept as a necessity and even harder to understand as far as coverages and whatnot (80 page declaration pages aren’t exactly making it a joyous process to read your policy) but think of it as protection. It is just as important as eating well and working out regularly in your overall health picture. If you really want to get as much out of it as possible take advantage of any wellness visits and prescreening or whatever covered by your policy.
I am an insurance agent, but I don’t handle health insurance policies. If you have any specific questions about your policy you should call your agent.
A couple of suggestions:
-
Get a physical.
-
Have any dermatology issues checked out.
-
Depending on age/gender, get a colonoscopy/mammogram.
Well, I have insurance, and I am definitely more willing so seek non-emergency treatment as a result. In the last 5 years, I’ve been to the doctor for an ache in my hip, an unexplained twitch, acne and eczema (saw dermatologist), a fall down stairs, and loosing my voice. They all eventually healed on their own, except for the dermo problems that I now treat w/ over-the-counter stuff, no scripts. So it would have been fine if I hadn’t gone, and at the time I knew that these were all kinda minor things, but if any of these incidents were serious (the fall could have been, stairs were marble) then the extra bills would have been paid. So I don’t see it so much as I should use up $X in health care costs, but instead ‘better safe than sorry’, especially since the “safe” is only costing me a small co-pay.
$3? Ours went up $25, and I work for the effing government.
That having been said, I ended up in the ER for half a day two weeks ago. The bill for that, and the follow up at the doctor’s a few days later, was $3000. I paid $60.
Two days before Christmas about two years ago my wife suddenly lost vision in one eye. Nearly a year, four operations, and about $70K later, she can see using it again. All but a few hundred bucks paid for by insurance.
We had underused our insurance for years. Want to bet that you know exactly when you’re going to need it? And if anyone will insure you after something happens?
Though I have good coverage, I’ve still paid a ton, and it keeps going up. I’ve never minded it, it lets me sleep at night.
Cripes! Mine went up by $50.00 every TWO WEEKS, and I work for the government too. This was last year. This year, it’s only going up by about $7.00 a pay period, BUT in addition to my $15.00 co-pay for office visits, I will be required to pay a ten percent Plan co-insurance fee. What the HELL is that?! This is for high option. In other words, the more expensive option.
So, after over 20 years with this HMO, I will be looking for new health insurance.
I’m not worried about how much or little my family and I use the insurance, but what I AM worried about is knowing what the hell I’m going to pay when I go to the doctor’s office for a sinus infection, or that funny pain that won’t go away, or a pap smear, etc.
I use mine for my annual physical, and to help pay for two prescriptions, one of them pricey. I’ve never thought of consuming more health care. I figure (hope?) that by not using it unless I need it, I’m doing a little bit toward keeping costs down. A teensy tiny little bit. Miniscule, even.
Don’t go skiing, don’t have sex without a condom, and try to stay off the road.
That’s not what I’m saying. I’m talking about the consumerist mindset. If I pay for anything else I expect to get my money’s worth. I expect my restaurant meals to be good, I expect to be entertained if I buy a ticket to a movie, I expect a concert to be of a reasonable length and well-performed, and so on. I don’t plan on going out of my way to use health care that I don’t need to, but when I saw the premium increase I still thought it.
It’s insurance, which is different, unless you’re mad you haven’t died when a year’s worth of term life insurance runs out.
Otto, you must be way younger than I am. Just wait a while, 'till you develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, shingles, carpal-tunnel syndrome, fallen arches, painful joints, migraines, allergies, a ruptured appendix and a sinus infection, not to mention chronic depression.
Believe me, you’ll wish you were back trying to use up $3 a month.
Since inflation alone in health care is in double digits, you probably are getting a bargain at just a $3 increase - what percentage is that for you.
It was $54 a month, going to $57 in January.
I was a 28-year-old healthy nonsmoker when (2 days short of insurance taking effect at a new job) I fell and shattered both major bones in my left leg. Total cost over several years for 4 surgeries, hundreds of hours of physical therapy, etc.: over $100k. If it weren’t for the Illinois law that group medical plans must cover preexisting conditions, I would have had to declare bankruptcy.
I know I’m gambling but there is always the option of short-term insurance, barring an accident that needs immediate attention. I’ve looked into it as a backup, so I have an idea of what to expect.
Maybe it’s not smart, but when I think about how much $80 a month will help my bills…I have to try.