Re:I Left My Job: What Do I Do Now For Healthcare Insurance ...
by latchkey on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @03:26AM
(#3615714)
I'm in the US and I recently went through the same process. I'm sure other countries have different problems.
Just prior to quitting my job to start my own company, my wife was diagnosed with a health issue. My wife and I were both on the company plan. When we went looking for insurance, she was denied because of her 'pre-existing' issue.
So, we've had to keep her on expensive COBRA until it expires and then there is something after COBRA that we can hopefully switch her to. I hear that there is legislation to prevent insurance companies from denying people coverage if they already have it, but who knows when that'll happen, if ever. I've been able to switch to my own plan, but it still seems really expensive since I very rarely need medical help.
That said, the industry is a mess. The plans are very confusing and definitely directed towards getting the most out of you. No plan is a 'good deal'. The fact that there is three different insurance plans that you need (medical, dental and vision) shows how broken things are. I ended up using a broker who helped explain things a lot. The fact that I needed a broker to explain it is also broken.
Sites like ehealthinsurance.com are massive spammers (try putting your real information in, you'll get phone calls, emails, etc.) and are really no less confusing. It is like they purposely make it hard to figure stuff out by using terminology that nobody else understands and burring it in their website behind forms which ask for your information first. You better figure out what hmo, ppo, copay, coinsurance and deductible mean and how they affect office visits and prescriptions. Then, chart it all out and if you are lucky pick something that seems like what you might need. Once you've got that done, fill out 20 pages of forms with all of your medical history.
Grrr... just thinking about it all makes me so angry. It is such a huge waste.
Just prior to quitting my job to start my own company, my wife was diagnosed with a health issue. My wife and I were both on the company plan. When we went looking for insurance, she was denied because of her 'pre-existing' issue.
So, we've had to keep her on expensive COBRA until it expires and then there is something after COBRA that we can hopefully switch her to. I hear that there is legislation to prevent insurance companies from denying people coverage if they already have it, but who knows when that'll happen, if ever. I've been able to switch to my own plan, but it still seems really expensive since I very rarely need medical help.
That said, the industry is a mess. The plans are very confusing and definitely directed towards getting the most out of you. No plan is a 'good deal'. The fact that there is three different insurance plans that you need (medical, dental and vision) shows how broken things are. I ended up using a broker who helped explain things a lot. The fact that I needed a broker to explain it is also broken.
Sites like ehealthinsurance.com are massive spammers (try putting your real information in, you'll get phone calls, emails, etc.) and are really no less confusing. It is like they purposely make it hard to figure stuff out by using terminology that nobody else understands and burring it in their website behind forms which ask for your information first. You better figure out what hmo, ppo, copay, coinsurance and deductible mean and how they affect office visits and prescriptions. Then, chart it all out and if you are lucky pick something that seems like what you might need. Once you've got that done, fill out 20 pages of forms with all of your medical history.
Grrr... just thinking about it all makes me so angry. It is such a huge waste.