Havnt posted on DU in years... But dammit I have an insurance rant...

[frazzled]

62. Is that the only plan offered by your employer?

We were buying the PPO (you know, the kind where you can just go to a specialist if you want, without prior approval) but the deductible started going up to $2000 a year. Several years ago, we hadn't used the insurance at all, but at the end of the year, my husband had to have a test and I had to have a foot x-ray. That ate up our $2000 deductible, and we felt like we weren't getting a good deal at all.

So when the next sign-up time occurred for benefits, we looked at the HMO coverage. Same company, but NO deductible, 100% hospital coverage in network, and the premiums were lower. Plus we saw that we could keep all our same doctors. So we signed up and have been happy with it. It's paid for everything (some fairly big stuff) and has worked well. Only difference is that it's a pain in the butt to have to call or see our primary care physician if we need to see a specialist, like a dermatologist or ophthalmologist (for anything but a standard yearly vision check). But that's a small inconvenience in comparison to the money saved and better coverage.

If that is not available to you: in 2014, when the ACA is implemented, if this insurance constitutes more than a certain percentage of your income (depending on what that is), you can opt out of your employer's insurance and get a subsidy to buy insurance on the exchange.

Insurance that costs 50% of your paycheck is not allowed in the ACA, so that will change for you.

On the other hand, let me just say: $8,000 a year for insurance sounds crazy: but just 36 hours in the hospital can cost that in a heartbeat. (Take it from experience: my husband had to go to the ER with what turned out to be a staph infection in his leg, was admitted overnight to be on IV antibiotics and released the next evening, and the bill came to nearly $10,000. Our insurance paid every penny of it.)