what's your insurance cost you?

[Dustin07]

we're looking over medical insurance, dental, vision, etc. and I'm trying to figure out what other people are looking at.. averages. so I know if I'm getting greedy or if we really should do better.

damn this stuff is expensive.


I think my last coverage was mediocre (my opinion) for a small biz.

$20 office copays
$15 for meds
$500 deductible
$0 copay for dental visits but I think I had a $1000 max on expensive procedures (fillings, crowns, etc) and only 50% coverage on a lot of the big ones (up to that $1k)...

any input? ours is about to go to a $1k deductible I think. I don't like that but it saves the co. a TON of money. But I know next year when I have to have my steel plate removed from my collarbone I'm going to fork out that $1k+...

I know that's a bit greedy on my part, but I'm trying to get an idea of what average is. It that's pretty average stuff for a small business, I'll quit complaining

[Dustin07]

oh yeah, when I had my collarbone surgery in July (the steel plate) I think my total cost, including my initial emergency room visit (I only got x-rays there) was around $600-800. Insurance covered the rest. The total amount that everything cost was probably about $5-6k. so Insurance covered around $4400-5400.

do you think that's good, bad, or middle of the road?

[Julie]

No deductible for me. $10 copay on doc. visits. $50 emergency room (if you aren't ultimately admitted to the hospital, if u r then they don't charge u the $50). Meds are on a sliding scale depending on the cost, so either $7.50/$15/$30. Surgeries and hospital stays are 100% covered by insurance. I don't really have to pay for much other than regular visits and prescriptions (if I need them).

Dental - no deductible, no copay. Cleanings, tooth extraction, fillings etc. all $0. The only stuff I have to chip in for is non-essentials...like if you want white fillings instead of silver, teeth whitening, or complicated things like caps or whatever.

[Dustin07]

yeah thats pretty good. Small biz has a tough time with insurance.

[Julie]

Oh yea. My parents, now that's a different story. I think they had to go with the $1000 deductible because the prices are just skyhigh. They pay a fortune each month. They own a small biz, btw.

[John Scott]

Japan has a gov't sponsored healthcare. A nominal co-pay applies, but damn it's great to live here

[Julie]

I did a research paper on Japan's healthcare system like 3 or 4 years ago for my "International Governments & Politics" class in college. It was interesting.

[littleFella]

Originally Posted by John Scott

Japan has a gov't sponsored healthcare. A nominal co-pay applies, but damn it's great to live here

Weren't you a stark opponent of socialist systems?

Canada has mostly feee healthcare but not dental.
Drugs are not free and you even have to pay taxes on them. Drug co-pays is anywhere between 1% and 20% co-pay, depending on the insurance company.

[John Scott]

Weren't you a stark opponent of socialist systems?

I am, but Japan's in the lessor of two evils. American socialism takes money from the middle class and pours it on the happily unemployed and the system abusers. Japan takes money from the middle class and gives it back to the middle class.

[littleFella]

Originally Posted by John Scott

I am, but Japan's in the lessor of two evils. American socialism takes money from the middle class and pours it on the happily unemployed and the system abusers. Japan takes money from the middle class and gives it back to the middle class.

So the poor (less than middle class) have no free medical care in Japan?

[John Scott]

If people are bought up to believe that part of them is "evil" or "immoral" when it is in fact just part of being human

Japan does not have lifelong unemployment / welfare. In America, there are generations of people who have never worked a day in their lives. Not so in Japan. Either you work or you don't eat.

That being be the case, there isn't really a distinct "poor" class here. Everybody contributes.

[Dustin07]

I used to feel really bad for poor people in America. But since my adult life I've spent time around a lot of people who show me through their actions, why they live the life styles they live.

[kristeejo]

I'm going to have to get insurance outside an employers coverage as well. I've been putting it off - watch me get hit by a truck.

[SVB]

I don't pay anything, hospital, dentist etc, I just turn up, get treated, and leave.

[Dustin07]

watch me get hit by a truck.

link?