So who's self-insured, health-wise?

[Robb]

I'm of course losing the fine health insurance that came with the ex-Mrs. Robb's job, and am looking around. There was a thing about to come on CNN yesterday about people who are just paying cash these days, but naturally I missed it; anyone have a story to tell?

[physioex]

1. Check out this web site...

www.simplecare.com

[papau]

2. Nothing Cheap is available - but ins via groups you may belong to

is a new thing. They get a commission, and you get insurance at rates that might be lower than an individual Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy in your area.

[eyesroll]

3. When I was between jobs, I used a State Farm catastrophic policy

It was something like $80/month, with a $2,000 deductible, no routine care, no prescription, no maternity care (not that you'd need that) etc. -- but if I were to, say, have a heart attack (at 22), it wouldn't have bankrupted me. I married Whitacre D_WI and went on his insurance before I needed anything with that policy.

You also may want to consider COBRA -- I think you can pay (astronomically) out of pocket for the coverage you used to have under ex-Mrs. Robb's policy for something like 18 months. Most people think of COBRA when they lose their job, but I think it works for others who lose coverage.

[Burma Jones]

4. I belong to IEEE and get insurance through them

I'm 44, have a big deductable and it still costs me $330 per month. However, that's better than I could get elsewhere. I'm surprised that more established churches don't form groups to buy their members health insurance.

[Nay]

5. COBRA is impossible to pay for.

My son, a healthy 21-year-old with no medical problems at all, was quoted about $500 per month for a COBRA policy. We ended up buying a high-deductible catastrophic insurance (just to pay for the ghastly possibility of a devatating car accident, etc.). It did not pay for regular dr visits, etc.

[Lars39]

7. I'm paying $1000/month for COBRA right now for my family of four.

We had BC/BS at 90/10. I had to have major surgery, and have to have more MRI's with possibly more major surgery. I have been more afraid of bankrupting my family than I have been of the surgery.

[flamingyouth]

6. I have Blue Shield

I pay about $200/month with a $750 annual deductible, which I've already met this year thanks to a CT scan on my kidney in January. I can't go without health insurance due to a chronic health problem, so it's just part of the budget for me, unfortunately.

[1monster]

8. I have a policy with American National Health Insurance of Texas

A $2500 deductible for each family member (and no family aggregate). It does pay for childhood immunizations (which added $17.00 per month to the whole tab for the duration of the policy. We get a discount on generic drugs and a small (maybe up to ten or so dollars) on Rx.

We've had the policy since 1992 and never made a claim on it (with the exception of the Rx discounts) until last year when my husband developed angina and spent a week in two different hospitals and had an agioplasty and a stent placed.

Yet every year from the first year, we got increases in our premium. The last two years, we have been getting increases twice a year. We are now paying $465.00 per month. But it is, essentially, catastrophic coverage and little else.