Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

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RenoJay
Posts: 748
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:20 am
Location: Nevada

Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by RenoJay »

The only reason I'm writing this post is because I feel somewhat proud and I figured the BH community would appreciate the effort more than my family would. :)

My family has been on individual health care plans through Anthem BCBS for years. Our premiums have increased dramatically, and for the past few years I've been paying over $1,000/month for my young, healthy family of four with deductibles of $1,000 for each person. :oops:

In 2010 I called Anthem to see about switching to another plan, and they gave me the runaround and I recall thinking it wouldn't happen so I gave up. Then, I applied to another company and applied for a higher deductible, lower premium plan, but they ultimately rejected us because we didn't have enough paperwork available on a procedure from six years before, and they were insisting that my wife do some pointless procedures that she wasn't willing to do.

Finally, a few weeks ago I called the broker who originally sold me the policies we've been on (about seven years ago) and he was shocked at the premiums we've been paying. He helped us streamline the process of switching to another plan and got us into a family plan for $504/month where each family member has a $2,000 deductible, and there's a total "family deductible" of $4,000. No matter how you cut it, this is a win compared with the old plan. I guess the take-away is that it's worth working with a broker in regards to health insurance, because he got tangible results I couldn't get on my own.

Again, just feeling happy about this and wanted to share.
kerplunk
Posts: 842
Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:58 pm

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by kerplunk »

This thread would have been better suited for the "Personal Finance" forum, but congratulations! It's always nice to save money. I recently switched car insurance and am saving about 40%, so I know how it feels.

[I moved it to the Personal Finance forum. - Mel]
Topic Author
RenoJay
Posts: 748
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:20 am
Location: Nevada

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by RenoJay »

kerplunk wrote:This thread would have been better suited for the "Personal Finance" forum, but congratulations! It's always nice to save money. I recently switched car insurance and am saving about 40%, so I know how it feels.
Thanks. It dawned on me after I posted that I may not have chosen the right forum. Anyway, congrats on the car insurance. I did that move a few years ago and have been pretty happy.
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Cut-Throat
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 9:46 am

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by Cut-Throat »

I'm glad you are happy and saved money.....

But the reality with Health Insurance is that you don't really know what you bought until, if and when you are going to use it. It's a balled up system that will fail eventually. Right now Insurance companies are making money, but there are thousands of people that come up short when they try to use their insurance.
Topic Author
RenoJay
Posts: 748
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:20 am
Location: Nevada

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by RenoJay »

Cut-Throat wrote:I'm glad you are happy and saved money.....

But the reality with Health Insurance is that you don't really know what you bought until, if and when you are going to use it. It's a balled up system that will fail eventually. Right now Insurance companies are making money, but there are thousands of people that come up short when they try to use their insurance.
That's very true. Part of the reason I wanted a higher deductible plan is b/c the insurance company so often rejects claims that I feel should be covered. If I'm going to have to pay out of pocket anyway, I might as well have lower premiums.
socca
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Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:19 am
Location: Sarasota, FL

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by socca »

RenoJay wrote: I guess the take-away is that it's worth working with a broker in regards to health insurance, because he got tangible results I couldn't get on my own,
Theoretically, you should have been able to go to the BCBS website, review the available plans, call BCBS, and talk to an in-house agent about the particular plans you found attractive. I don't see much potential for 'run-around' here, since you obtained the info from the website. An independent insurance agent wouldn't add much value.

You really didn't 'save' 50% on your premiums. You accepted higher risk in exchange for lower premiums. If you had kept the exact same plan and negotiated a lower premium, then you could indeed claim to have 'saved' 50%.

I am fond of $10k deductible plans, which may or may not be available in your state. My major concern is protection against a medical catastrophe. The difference between forking over $2k vs. $10k is negligible to me in a medical catastrophe scenario. If the major insurance companies offered a $20k deductible plan, I might go for it. The $10k deductible plans are only a few years old, so it may be awhile before they get around to offering $20k deductible plans.

In the past 5 years, I've had medical insurance with AETNA, United Health, and BCBS of FL. I'm not afraid to jump ship when the companies try to jack up my rates, which they invariably try to do. It's remarkable how much less coverage my premium dollar purchases today as compared to only five years ago. :annoyed
Topic Author
RenoJay
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Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:20 am
Location: Nevada

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by RenoJay »

socca wrote: Theoretically, you should have been able to go to the BCBS website, review the available plans, call BCBS, and talk to an in-house agent about the particular plans you found attractive. I don't see much potential for 'run-around' here, since you obtained the info from the website. An independent insurance agent wouldn't add much value.
Theoretically you're right, but in practicality my experience was much different. When I called the BCBS directly a few years ago, I had trouble getting through to humans who knew anything. When I did, the lady I spoke with informed me my plan was "grandfathered" and that by changing plans, I'd somehow lose some benefits of Obamacare. (A load of B.S.) She also wanted me to complete a full application which delves into medical history for the past decade. With the broker, he was able to quote me real rates for real plans and the questionnaire I filled out was only for the past six months and only four pages. More importantly, he's paid by BCBS and the policy prices, from what I can tell, as the same whether you use a broker or not. Therefore, if other people are subsidizing the value I got from the broker, I have no issue using one. It's not like paying 1% in perpetuity like you do with a financial advisor.

I admire that you've changed insurance so much. I've certainly been tempted, but the hassle of remembering the medical history for four people each time has stopped me.
riskonoff
Posts: 225
Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:22 am

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by riskonoff »

i had a similar experience last year. saved around $5k to $6k with BCBS Illinois (High Deductible/HSA). Had Aetna before and was part of a small group and premiums went up dramatically.

0n another note, my State Farm agent called me last week about State Farm Health Insurance. Anyone have any experience (good or bad) with State Farm health insurance?
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tc101
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Location: Atlanta - Retired in 2004 at age 54

Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by tc101 »

I have learned that I should get new health insurance every few years. They raise the rates every year. People with poor health and pre existing conditions stay in the plans because they can't get anything else. People who are healthy move to new plans. So the older plans end up being pools of people with expensive problems and the prices get very high as the years pass.
. | The most important thing you should know about me is that I am not an expert.
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PaddyMac
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Re: Saved 50% on my health insurance premiums

Post by PaddyMac »

tc101 wrote:I have learned that I should get new health insurance every few years. They raise the rates every year. People with poor health and pre existing conditions stay in the plans because they can't get anything else. People who are healthy move to new plans. So the older plans end up being pools of people with expensive problems and the prices get very high as the years pass.
+1.
When we lived in CA we moved plans about every 3-4 years. Usually the first year seems to be a sort of teaser rate, then after a few years there's a 25% raise that is just too much. I think they assume that you move plans when you're healthy, and then after a few years you'll have a pre-existing condition and then are stuck. If you're lucky enough to still be healthy, it's worth moving around. (So far in NM we've only had one large increase but that was BCBS for customers statewide, and not just our plan, plus we passed an age milestone. The first year's increase was all of $1.18...)
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