For 2 years of my self-employment I had a plan thru Anthem for myself (and my daughters) and then my 1 employee. I paid about $400/mo. TOTAL. I deducted the premiums for my employee out of his check and that was about $120/mo. so I was paying $280/mo. for a 90/10 plan with no deductible.
I wonder if insurance is cheaper in larger markets. there is the hmo option, at least.. which we don't have here. this is outrageous, but we're kind of stuck with it for this year. the company had to change insurance this year because what they had before was going to go up something like 200%.. they did shop around and believe it or not, this is the best deal they found for the level of coverage, and it is not as good a coverage as we had before..
the deductable doubled, for one thing.. but the number of things it applies to went down, that's a plus. the vision coverage is not as good as it was.. although I haven't yet tested it to find out how much less good it is.. the old coverage was WONDERFUL.. we could go to optholmologist (probably spelled that wrong) and then get glasses from the adjoining optician.. some limitations applied, but most of the frames they had were covered, AND it covered progressive lenses.. for 25 bucks, exam and new glasses. new frames every other year, new lenses every year. with 2 of us in bifocals and all of us in glasses.. that was a benefit we fully used. the only one..
I was so pissed when they changed plans/increased premium back in the winter I cried. silly.. maybe.. but the economy is still sucky (my husband is an architect), we've been used to some overtime and haven't seen any since.. oh.. almost 2 years now.. have a kid in college now.. so income is down already, losing another couple hundred off each paycheck because of health insurance was depressing! but.. it's a small group (small company) and an old group.. 2/3 of the company is older than my husband and he's 49.. that was the best rate they could get and keep the coverage similar.
we could do much better buying our own insurance.. and if we can get the company to give their contribution to us and let us shop our own.. then we'll do that next year. I can't find a plan that will include vision.. but I can get comparable coverage in all other respects (with a lower deductable).. at a savings that would way more than cover our vision bills.. I THINK. heh. there's the whole taxable dollars vs. pre-tax dollars thing I've not quite wrapped my brain around yet.
it's depressing. our monthly health insurance bill is larger than our mortgage payment. that's insane.
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