Anyone part of Blue Cross / Blue Shield?

[Spooner]

how much you pay monthly?

i just switched employers and they HMO they offer is $96 a month!!!! That's freakin expensive!

Is this typical of BC/BS or is it my employer's fault?

 

[Descartes]

I'm on a PPO plan w/ dental and I pay about that much. I'm single, and 22 years old, no health problems to speak of...

I thought it was a bit expensive.

 

[Viper GTS]

PPO plan here, $45.61 per bi-weekly pay period. Works out to $98.82 a month.

Viper GTS

 

[Spooner]

god damn.... i paid about $50 a month for Tufts HMO with my last employer :disgust:

 

[rgwalt]

I'm paying $900 a year. No dental. High deductables. I have it just in case of emergencies.

Ryan

 

[pyonir]

i have Cigna and out of pocket i pay $2.15 for 3x life insurance coverage. rest is covered by the company.

 

[Spooner]

Originally posted by: rgwalt
I'm paying $900 a year. No dental. High deductables. I have it just in case of emergencies.

Ryan

i'm pretty healthy, but that just sounds too risky to me

 

[CPA]

That is not that bad.

My company offers BCBS at about the same rate, but we went with my wife's UnitedHealthcare which is about 130/month. Why? because my company offers and opt-out payment ($1500.00 annually) if I decide not use their plan. I save money going with the more expensive plan, even factoring the effect of taxes.

Most companies pay about 300-600/month in premium, unless the company pays claims, like mine does. So, your payment is actually quite small compared to what it costs the company.

 

[neovan]

Our company has BC/BS. Luckily I don't have to pay a dime.

 

[iamwiz82]

BC/BS sucks. I went to the emergency room about 2 months ago. The hospital charged $2000. BC/BS paid $800 of that. :disgust:

 

[The Stigenator]

I had blue shield.. I dropped them recently.

they hiked it to over 110/mo for my PPO.. and on top they had lousy plan coverage.. i was supposed to pay 25 for doctor visits but i never paid that cause i always paid over 75-100 for a doctor's visit. .. and they woudltn refund me for the additional cost of teh doctor's visit.

Lousy customer service.. the only thing good was that i could go to any specialist without checking with the health careprofessional.

I am shifting to something else.. I am presently without health insurance, but until next week when I am probably going kaiser.

 

[Spooner]

the coverage i get with BCBS is actually pretty good.

$5 copay for office visits.
almost eveything else is free.

 

[Scipionix]

Originally posted by: Spooner
how much you pay monthly?

i just switched employers and they HMO they offer is $96 a month!!!! That's freakin expensive!

Is this typical of BC/BS or is it my employer's fault?

How old are you? That sounds like the rate you would pay if you were purchasing the insurance on your own. But regardless, $1200/yr for health insurance is not a lot.

 

[Scipionix]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy
I had blue shield.. I dropped them recently.

they hiked it to over 110/mo for my PPO.. and on top they had lousy plan coverage.. i was supposed to pay 25 for doctor visits but i never paid that cause i always paid over 75-100 for a doctor's visit. .. and they woudltn refund me for the additional cost of teh doctor's visit.

Lousy customer service.. the only thing good was that i could go to any specialist without checking with the health careprofessional.

I am shifting to something else.. I am presently without health insurance, but until next week when I am probably going kaiser.

Hmm, I've never had a problem with Blue Shield PPO. They pay for whatever specialist I want to see. Maybe it varies by county or region?

 

[StageLeft]

You definitely want health insurance.

I'm using BC/BS. It's costing me about $25/month and company gets the rest. I have the $25 per doctor visit but I'm a strapping young lad and have yet to use it!

 

[kranky]

Don't overlook what CPA said. What you pay is what your employer decides to charge you, which is no doubt only a portion of the actual cost. So different employers will cover different amounts of the actual cost. I would bet the actual cost is well over $250/month for an individual, and over $350/month for family coverage. The point is that you can't compare what you pay to what other people pay if they are working for a different company.

What BC/BS or an HMO or PPO charges companies is usually based on their prior claims experience with that company. If claims go up, their rates go up.

Our company does (what I consider to be) a smart thing. The employee contribution is based on salary, so people with higher salaries pay more. That enables lower-paid people to have good coverage at a more affordable price.

 

[schmedy]

I have BC/BS PPO and its 40 month for family, rest picked up by work, I like it but rarealy go to the Dr.'s, while my preganat wife uses the hell out of it.

 

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: Spooner

Originally posted by: rgwalt
I'm paying $900 a year. No dental. High deductables. I have it just in case of emergencies.

Ryan

i'm pretty healthy, but that just sounds too risky to me

The lowest deductable I could take was $500, and I opted for $1000. I don't go in enough to get anywhere near the $500 deductable, so I figured I might as well take a higher one and keep the policy in case of emergencies (ie my kidneys fail or my liver poops out). I have a wellness rider that gives me two dental cleanings a year, but covers no more dental work. They didn't offer dental as a rider to the plan.

Oh well.

Ryan

 

[tm37]

I pay almost $600 month for the family through work

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
PPO plan here, $45.61 per bi-weekly pay period. Works out to $98.82 a month. Viper GTS

 

[BlueApple]

$94.83 for 2 weeks (it is for two people tho)

 

[KentState]

It is pretty much dependant on what your employer will pay. I get an allowance of $120 at work and it cost me $90 of that for insurance and the rest I use on 401k. Luckily my employer gives me enough, but if I had a family, I'd pay like $20 a month.

 

[heartsurgeon]

hello?
you get what you pay for.
if you don't pay much - your "health plan" probably sucks (read the fine print, read what is covered, read which doctors you get to see)

the "best health insurance" is one that allows you to go to any hospital, see any doctor. this usually involves paying first $2000 of costs (so you get a medical savings account going).

you have to understand that your employer based insurance plans, athe employer is basically looking for the lowest cost health plan available. means which ever HMO submits the lowest bid, wins your employers dollars - "low bid heath care"

take nothing for granted - check out your options carefully. beware that the cheapest insurance doesn't necessarily mean your going to get the kind of care you want or feel your entitled to. also, understand that "insurance" doesn't mean your not going to have to pay out of pocket for your care...check out the details.

 

[Yeeny]

I have BC/BS free through work, with a ten dollar co pay for doctor visits, but what you are paying sounds very cheap. Most plans are at least 40-50 a week now, at least in my area.

 

[ZeBorgCollective]

$10 a week for BS/BC with Target.