I own a small business in Ohio. I have one full-time employee other than myself and she has a family (husband and 3 children) and we all need health insurance. Currently I have one of those ‘limited insurance’ plans which is extremely reasonably priced but covers virtually nothing. For instance, if I have to go to the ER it will cover $100 of the visit and I get one visit per year. The prescription coverage is a joke, as is the ability to see a doctor when I need to.
My employee and her family have no insurance and haven’t had any for the last 5 or 6 years as they were self-employed before she came to work for me and they couldn’t afford insurance either. Today I was looking at the open enrollment plans in Ohio and I discovered that neither of us are eligible (according to my understanding). She’s not eligible because she hasn’t had insurance for so long and I’m not eligible because I do have insurance. Soon, this issue is going to reach critical mass for us because she’s being pressured by her husband to quit working for me and find another job with insurance. And while I understand his reasoning, we’ve worked together for 4 years now and this would be a tremendous setback for me.
Other issues that we have are our collective pre-existing conditions, there’s quite a few. And, of course just general affordability.
So, Dopers, here I am looking for suggestions on how to get us insured for a reasonable rate. I have looked intoCOSE and even their base plan wouldn’t work. The rates are somewhere around $700 per month PLUS an approximate $1500/$5000 deductible for the year. I’m also checking for prices with an independent agent. Any other suggestions would be welcome.
The $700 part is ok, it’s the deductible after we pay the premium that none of us can afford. Not to mention that I’d also have to pay membership fees for COSE to get that rate. Maybe my expectations are unreasonable, but since the economy cut my sales numbers in half over the last year, there’s only so much that I can afford.
You can probably find a lower deductible if you look around (your idea to check with an independent agent is a good one), but the monthly premiums will go up.
Once again, I don’t find the premiums or deductible odd at all. I’m self-employed, and pay a little over $400/month for me and my husband, and our deductible is close to $4k/year. Going to something like a $2K deductible put the monthly premiums up about $200.
Insurance is just stupidly expensive. I don’t think there’s a way around it.
Pie, I don’t know if it helps, but there are several prescription discount plans out there. Ohio’s Best Rx is for people without prescription coverage. Their definition of low income is pretty generous. There are links on their Web site to other programs.
Thanks, GT, I appreciate the link. I’m not eligible for that card because I have prescription coverage. My assistant is, however, they never go to the doctor for anything since they don’t have insurance. I’ll mention it to her, though.
The economy in Canada did not take as much of a hit, and is projected to do VERY well in the future. The Canadian dollar is approaching parity. NAFTA ensures a greater degree of freedom in moving products across the border.
It may not be feasible for your type of business or personal situation but…
Check associations in your area. Often they are able to give you leads where you can go to get insurance. Do you have competitors? See if you do and see if any in the area, (and it can be a big area, they don’t have to be direct competitors) are in the same situation as you, perhaps you can combine forces and go to the insurance company.
A lot of insurance companies will kick you back as a single, but the more business you can throw at them the more likely they will find ways to work with you