One of the small nice things about being enrolled in school for the last several years was having high-quality, low-cost health insurance with reasonable deductibles/copays. My student policy expires next month, and I've been shopping my alternatives. Ugh.

What I find ironically amusing is that the lowest premium cost plans have a substantially higher total annual cost if you expect to actually USE healthcare. I make just a bit too much to qualify for any of the ACA subsidies/credits, so my options are mainly through the State Bar of Texas. About $8,600 per year for actual coverage i.e. a $350 annual deductible, low rx copays. As a business expense, it's painful, but not intolerable.

But I feel for those folks who are in that middle income bracket and make too much to qualify for the tax credits ... AND have to include a spouse & children on their plan. That comes down to a Hobson's choice of insurance that doesn't cover anything but the most catastrophic events.

Whatever you do, don�t do this...

There are no good deals on health insurance. The only way they lower premiums is to not cover something. Buyer beware.

Hmmm....

You mean cadillacs cost more than Fords?

Imagine my surprise....

I remember being told it was going to be even lower than before a few years ago-
Imagine my surprise at that not being the truth-

How much is Obummer Care now a days?

Without tax credits, the premiums ranged from $486 to $882 per month. Of course, the deductible on the $486 is something like $6K per year. The $882/month has zero deductible, so for someone with chronic health problems (diabetes for example), this would actually make financial sense.

Went to the insurance Market Place and punched in a 47 year old, non smoker, single male making 98,000 a year. Premium for the Gold plan was $661 per month. $7932 per year.

Crazy shat!

And it gets worse. Medicare for me coming up in Feb. Of course with Medigap and Prescription D and paying for mandatory Part B, I'm looking at $650 month and the wife who is not medicare eligible close to $780 a month. Eventually a few years down the road, it should reduce some.

But everyone has "access" to health insurance

you are doing something wrong then. My medicare is like $142/mo plus my advantage plan which is about $42/mo. I have no deductable, and Rx coverage.

Being that you are self employed you should be writing this off. I have written mine off for years. I know that's not a perfect solution but at least it makes it tolerable at tax time.

And the solution is?

Agree that Bob's price sounds high, but he may be looking at supplemental plans instead of your advantage-type plan, and supplemental plans will have higher premiums but much lower deductibles and/or co-pays. I started looking last month and the cost seemed to be about $140 for Part B, $100 for a Part C supplemental (Plan G) and $15-$30 for Part D.

don't kow how much lower you could get. I have zero deductible, and copays are like $10 for pcp and $25 for a specialist. Almost all of my rx's are under $12