What options would I have available if I am forced to buy a private health insurance plan? What do you get in a private plan, as opposed to what Canadians get in a national health care system? I was about to be eligible for COBRA for a large plan in California, when I received a contract job offer in another state. For the past year I have been living with extreme frugality at a low paying university job that was miserable. I quit for some higher paying temporary consulting, and had continued insurance eligibility for a while. Now I have accepted a contract assignment with excellent pay for one year in another state. It turns out that the health plan I have has no provision for medical benefits out of state except for emergency treatment until returning to California. The coverage is not applicable if one does not have a California address. All of the providers are in the local area. So my COBA eligibility is cancelled when I move out of state. The contract agency does not have a health plan any more. They used to have one, but they are based in Massachusetts, so I guess they don't have to offer their own any more. So on July 1 I will be stranded without a health plan. Here are the choices so far:
The first suggestion made was the AARP. It turns out that their major medical plan is not available in my state. They offer a plan that defrays some costs, but it only covers less than about $8000 for a surgery. It doesn't have any costs negotiated with the providers.
There are some private plans in the area I am moving to. They have deductibles or out of pocket expenses from $750 through $2500 and some have max out of pocket at $5000. In addition, the copays can be 20-30% even in the network. There is lots of "choice" of a doctor, but economically the choice is "none." I am willing to pay a higher premium, but as long as I pay in I don't want all of the deductibles and co-pays on top of it. I haven't even gotten into the pre-existing conditions.
I have found out that 50% employees of the state can get insurance, but I don't see how I can work full time at a company and take a 50% university appointment. So far I don't see a way that adjunct teachers can pay for the state health plan in this particular state. I would still like to find a way in which I can work for the state on a very part time basis and pay the premiums for the insurance myself (the state doesn't pay the premiums), as I did in a previous state. So far I have not found that.
I could join a professional society that has an insurance plan. I tried that twenty years ago. I was young and in perfect health, but got turned down after giving the insurance company the name of every doctor I had seen since I was born. Why? Because I seen a mental health counselor. You would think that alleviating the stress in one's family would increase the chance for good health and would be considered a positive factor, but that was not the case.
So I am still faced with the question of what, if any, kind of decent plan I can get in on.
Perhaps the best strategy is the high deductible, and then all of the health care payments will be tax deductible is I spend 7% of my income on health care. But that won't work if (when) I get laid off.
So even if I am working and am able to pay a decent premium, I don't see an attractive health insurance product out there that would be decent to buy. What will happen when the government requires people to buy these insurance products?
It sounds like a windfall for the insurance companies. We still need a non-profit national healthcare system, such as Medicare or the federal workers' plan for everyone who wants it.