Was out of the country since 2006 and just moved back last Sep… obviously a lot has changed, in particular health insurance.
Prior to moving abroad, had a good corporate job and thus good subsidized insurance. Fast forward to today, and I’m “retired” (ok, better word than unemployed) at 50yrs old with family of four (10yr and 17yr old kids)
Shopping around for health insurance and I’m like OMG WTF! Checked a couple providers in my area and even HDHP runs >$1k/mo (I think myself and 47yr old wife price out to ~$400 ea). Quick Google search on nationwide averages is about the same (I’m in the PNW). And these HD plans have something like ~$15k max out of pocket
So couple questions:
- Are these numbers realistic? US median household income is ~$70k so $12k/yr for health insurance is 17% of GROSS income
- For those who don’t have job sponsored plans… do you actually shell out that $12k/yr? Or go with a cheaper alternative (like various forms of membership plans, cost sharing groups, self insurance)?
Right now I’m self insuring which I fully realize is exceptionally dicey… BUT, the caveat here is that I am covered by a nationalized health care plan outside of the US (in Taiwan, where I was living for much of this time abroad). So the sort of things that are not realistically “self insurable” like cancer, I figure I could just go back to Taiwan for that care. And the real risk for when I’m in the US are for things that require immediate attention (like say getting hit by a car or COVID)
I guess the reason I’m posting here is that my primary objection to paying that much money for health insurance is really a financial one.
- Homeowners insurance – pay ~$1k/yr for ~$1m of coverage (0.1%)… low probability event
- Auto insurance – pay $1k/yr for ~$100k of coverage (1%)… higher probability event
- Health insurance – pay $12k/yr for ??? Even if I use auto insurance as a comp… then that $12k/yr should protect against a ~$1.2m event that is at least as likely to occur as an auto accident… which intuitively (obviously I could be wrong) just seems out of whack
Thoughts/suggestions?
submitted by /u/neuromancer88
[link] [comments]
Was out of the country since 2006 and just moved back last Sep… obviously a lot has changed, in particular health insurance. Prior to moving abroad, had a good corporate job and thus good subsidized insurance. Fast forward to today, and I’m “retired” (ok, better word than unemployed) at 50yrs old with family of four (10yr and 17yr old kids) Shopping around for health insurance and I’m like OMG WTF! Checked a couple providers in my area and even HDHP runs >$1k/mo (I think myself and 47yr old wife price out to ~$400 ea). Quick Google search on nationwide averages is about the same (I’m in the PNW). And these HD plans have something like ~$15k max out of pocket So couple questions:
Are these numbers realistic? US median household income is ~$70k so $12k/yr for health insurance is 17% of GROSS income For those who don’t have job sponsored plans… do you actually shell out that $12k/yr? Or go with a cheaper alternative (like various forms of membership plans, cost sharing groups, self insurance)?
Right now I’m self insuring which I fully realize is exceptionally dicey… BUT, the caveat here is that I am covered by a nationalized health care plan outside of the US (in Taiwan, where I was living for much of this time abroad). So the sort of things that are not realistically “self insurable” like cancer, I figure I could just go back to Taiwan for that care. And the real risk for when I’m in the US are for things that require immediate attention (like say getting hit by a car or COVID) I guess the reason I’m posting here is that my primary objection to paying that much money for health insurance is really a financial one.
Homeowners insurance – pay ~$1k/yr for ~$1m of coverage (0.1%)… low probability event Auto insurance – pay $1k/yr for ~$100k of coverage (1%)… higher probability event Health insurance – pay $12k/yr for ??? Even if I use auto insurance as a comp… then that $12k/yr should protect against a ~$1.2m event that is at least as likely to occur as an auto accident… which intuitively (obviously I could be wrong) just seems out of whack
Thoughts/suggestions?
submitted by /u/neuromancer88 [link] [comments]Read Morer/HealthInsurance