cant answer that until the new health programs roll out, its all gonna change i think.

pretty simple to get one.....just go online and apply

Blue Cross/Blue Shield has an individual policy. Hard to get into if you aren't in good health, but if you are, it's about 100-150 per month. Dental is a big waste of money if it isn't provided by an employeer. I'm a dentist (Not a brag, trust me.)

damn, maybe i should go to denistry school!

Marry a teacher with a good plan that includes everything, and you're good to go.

 

Originally Posted by apology7

OP - just go online and compare rates. My plan is under $50 m/o, it's fairly crappy but I'm not one of those nits who runs to the doctor every time I'm feeling under the weather

bef99hwk - not having insurance is pretty dumb. just get a cheap plan w/ a high deductable so you don't lose everything in the rare event you get really sick.

This. Just because it doesn't matter how healthy/careful you are, some things are out of your control. I didn't have insurance this year until April and I'm so happy I got it because I had to have my appendix removed 2 weeks ago. Without insurance it woulda been 25-35k, but thankfully I will prob only have to pay 2-4k.

 

Originally Posted by z06fanatic

yea i pay 120/mo for health - no dental tho - had 3 cavities filled about 6 months ago and they charged like 640 dollars.....took him a total of 20 minutes

what health care do you have, out of curiosity

 

Originally Posted by z06fanatic

yea i pay 120/mo for health - no dental tho - had 3 cavities filled about 6 months ago and they charged like 640 dollars.....took him a total of 20 minutes

This, but $110/mo. BCBS.

What's young? Under 60, 50, maybe 35? When do premiums and/or acceptance become an issue?

having no health insurance for a considerable period of time is definitely a no-no

if your cheap and don't go to the doctor often, then look into getting a catastrophic health plan (which covers you if anything super serious happens but generally doesn't pay for routine stuff)

something to look into

 

Originally Posted by harmonica

lol @ this advice. u know how fucked you'd be if you got diagnosed with cancer? you would have 0.00000000% chance of ever getting accepted for any type of insurance after being diagnosed. this means you'd accumulate debts way over a million dollars trying to fight off the disease (which you would have to pay out of your own pocket, for most likely the rest of your life).

I pay about $55 per month with about $5k deductable. I'd rather lose 5k anyday over $5 million.

I'll tell u what...how bout I reward myself with health insurance when I get outta makeup and start saving money again? Otherwise, I don't deserve coverage imo.

 

Originally Posted by P8ntMagazine

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ - If you are fairly healthy get a plan with a high deductible just for something catastrophic. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is definitely the way to roll...they are preferred and accepted by all.

Imustcall... are all dental plans a waste? If so, why?

The big difference between dental and medical is that dental plans have a yearly maximum, usually 1500. Most of the plans an individual can buy are serviced by very cut rate offices, which will sometimes not get paid for certain services, so they naturally tend to do those services that pay more (maybe a deep cleaning vs. a regular cleaning). If you buy a typical plan, you may end up paying 500 a year, when you could pay to have your teeth cleaned for less than this. So the guy earlier paid 640 for 3 fillings. With insurance, he would have still paid 140 or so. So that year, insurance saved him 500 bucks if he got his teeth cleaned. But these fillings will probably last at least 5 years, so will he get work done the next year, or continue to pay 100 more than he needs to to clean his teeth? Hard to say, but your never going to save several thousand dollars by having dental insurance if you pay for it on your own. This is why dental benefits are great if an employeer is footing the bill, but hard to get value from it if not.

Dental is just so controlled because of the maximums and percentages paid on procedures that paying for a plan out of pocket is usually not that cost effective. Medical on the other hand is designed to cover large costs, thus it costs more. But if you have a heart attack and don't have insurance, 250K is going to be a big bill to cover. Although it could be argued that you could just not pay the bill.

That being said, our medical system is basically socialized, as our system will provide some level of care to everyone. It will probably become officially socialized in the next few years. Hard to say if that is good or bad, but seems to be what the people and government want to try.

If you are interested, here are a few other things to consider about purchasing that many don't consider. Most of the time, it is a mistake to purchase insurance on a small item (say 200.00) that you buy at a store. The store already knows that the chances of you qualifying to use it and actually using it are much, much lower than the percentage that you are paying. Plus the value lost on your dollar vs. keeping it are tremendous. If you insure many items like this, you are losing a lot of money.

Also, the highest profit margin item sold in retail is gift cards. Any non usage of the card is purely profit, plus the store still makes the profit on the item while having the money much earlier than a regular purchase. Always try to give an item or cash when you can. If you are going to do gift cards, try to get a discount (10% or so) and definitely make sure there are no qualifications such as expiration dates.

Just a few extra tips, sorry for the ramble.

I always rant in these threads about my policy, I got a nice $500 deductible policy 10 yrs ago, this year it would have been $650 had I not cut back, they raise it huge every single year.

I get some crappy thing called "Careington" with my insurance, it's a discount plan. Do you dentists sneer at patients who use this?

Believer I assume you mean medical insurance (you said life?). I pay like $104/mo and I think my deductible is like $1500. If you can afford it (which I'm sure the majority of people can) then you are playing with fire not to have anything at all. As others have said just get some high deductible plan that is going to cost you like $50-60 a month. Strange things happen and something ridiculous could happen to you and you could be crippled financially for the rest of your life (as opposed to being out 5k max for example)...just makes absolutely no sense to me why anyone would not cover themselves.

won't I have to go to the doctor to get medical insurance