Insurance

[TREETX]

How many of you that work for companies of 10 or less people have health insurance? How many have a good sense of self preservation? Both?

 

[Reed]

I guess I settle for the "self preservation" clause.

I sent you a private mail, hope you got it 'cause I'm fixin to drive back down there and exercise extreme restraint. These people are not going on my referral list. Oh, they called and asked if I would charge "standard labor rates" (meaning ******* wages) if I would firewood the limbs I left yesterday.

Why when it's hot out do the weirdos happen?

Reed

 

[Stumper]

You left one off-"I used to have medical insurance until the *&%^ *&$#@$ (&^%$& &^^*&*^89789^ ins company .............(fill in blank from plethora of possibilities). So I dropped it.

 

[TREETX]

that is 3 for 3 with none right now. I forgot to add I don't have it now but desperately want to get it soon.

I have been without for 2 years now. I have friend with office jobs that freak if their coverage lapses a week.

Chainsaw+height+large wood+dead tree+..........

you do the math. I just wonder how long my luck can hold out.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

My wife's ins. covers me and the kids.
Before I was married, I had major medical, $2500 deductable. It's cheap and covers you for those "big" things. Then you are on your own for the little visits. $2500 ain't gonna put me under but $100,000 would.
I think I was paying around a grand a year for myself and three kids.
When you are working though, I'm not sure if they would cover you under normal health insurance. At work we have worker's comp, and my company is as small as they get, you need to get yourself some workers comp too.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

What about disability?
That covers you for loss of income if you got hurt outside of work, and couldn't work.
Who has that?

 

[Reed]

If you pay Social Security (hey, don't know how many "anonymous" people are out there), you're covered with disability (if you can live on a pittance). Supplemental Security Income, or SSI and disability are our federal right. It takes 3 appeals however to be accepted.....I helped many brain tumor terminal patients get it but the standard response is always to deny it, 3 times before it's granted.

As far as major medical, my advice is to nix it. Rules in states of "no-fault", or most areas the favors are legislated on the side of the insurers. Claims for major medical are always short-changed leaving our pockets to cover the incedentals and that leads to bankruptcy. If we're not covered, federal rules dictate that treatment centers MUST eat the expenses. If we DO have major med, we assume all co-payments and additional charges not outlined by the policy. This sucks, but that's America. They can and will sue to get your home, trucks, business, and your first born.

I recommend a standard liability policy, emergency care, and comprehensive to cover property and theft. If you employ occassional help, it has to be contract.

On cancers or other major mishaps (hey, were in the business) to have an insurance contract is actually a limiting factor on quality of care - all institutions will dictate treatment options limited to coverage, not what's appropriate. From experience, I suggest not having cancer coverage, it'll break you if it happens. If you get the big "c", the best possible option is to qualify for clinical trial at a regional cancer center, not a private hospital which would be the case if you have insurance coverage. Private hospital cancer treatment programs have unacceptable mortality rates and higher than reasonable billing practices, whether you live or die.

Or, you can just do what I do......

"put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up"

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

As a vet. and being self employed I take everything to the VAMC here.

With many people I've talked to in the industry, most with micro companies, they take a wage increase and decline insurance coverage.

The only one that steams me are the low wage payers that will not get W/C coverage for their people. Then they complain they cannot keep good emloyees





If you start to get a comfortable accumulation of wealth/propert then an umbrella policy may be in order.

 

[Treeman14]

I'm one of those employers with less than ten employees. I provide full coverage for all employees if they choose. I also provide worker's comp coverage AND good wages. Guess I'm a minority.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Mike

I have a separate policy for short term disability. My day gig (which has nothing to do with tree work) has me operating radial arm saws with 20" blades. So i'm covered on both fronts. Rich.

 

[DDM]

Im Self employed And Carry Health insurance on my family But i dont have any employees I do carry Short and Long term disability on me and my wife My Health insurance covers me on and off the job. So we dont need W/C.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Dave,
What's that disability cost you?

 

[Jumper]

Quite a different story up here....

Everyone in Canada is covered under the various provincial health insurance plans, funded by tax dollars, which cover most medical expenses less drugs and the like.

I pay $26 a month for two plans as a military retiree, which covers me for the "other" things and basic dental care.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

As a vet with service related disabilities, why do you need to buy OTC pain meds?

I have a $2 copay on my ainti fungal creams, the rest is part of my VA disability pension.

 

[Jumper]

Originally posted by John Paul Sanborn
As a vet with service related disabilities, why do you need to buy OTC pain meds?

I have a $2 copay on my ainti fungal creams, the rest is part of my VA disability pension.

Because I have yet to go after Veterans Affairs. A file is started, and benefits will be retro to the date of injury as it happened in former Yugoslavia. Believe it or not it cheaper to buy them OTC because my plans only cover a %, and there is that $15 dispensing fee to count pills...... In any event the adjustment will be made to the gross amount of my pension, and then the fedds will take their cut, which will leave me with somewhat less.

 

[Nickrosis]

Good for you, Brett.

With us, each employee ends up working off $10,000 a year in insurance - health, long and short disability, dental, liability & other similar insurances, life, and WC.

Like I said before, our health insurance premium spiked $30k since last year, so we had to split the payment with the employees. Hopefully it doesn't go up that much for 2003, or we may have to say goodbye to health insurance. Our current program is the best you can possibly get - I can go to any doctor I want, any hospital I want, and procedure I want, except orthodontics and purely cosmetic surgeries.

Good thing, too, because two of my sisters were preemies with one of them having a $30k first month! Insurance is great until the companies lose money in the markets and take it out on us....I expect to see more premium hikes for a while.

Nickrosis

 

[Jumper]

Originally posted by Nickrosis

Insurance is great until the companies lose money in the markets and take it out on us....I expect to see more premium hikes for a while.

Nickrosis

Which is precisely what is happening here, except the federal government is not increasing the $$$$ paid to Ontario/OHIP proportionate to the massive increase in costs in recent years (they are too busy spreading graft instead to ensure their re election).This is only going to get worse as we Baby Boomers age, and our parents hit their 80s, surviving in record numbers to that ripe old age.

Universal health care is a sacred cow here.

 

[Reed]

Nickrosis,

you state: "I can go to any doctor I want, any hospital I want, and procedure I want". In general that's true, but with faced with catastrophic prognosis, one reaches far for options. Approved therapies only, and true while most are effective, it still leaves unacceptable mortalities. U.S. health care delivery, rated by the World Health Organization stands now at #12 in overall quality based soley on mortality rates in disease treatments.

Read the fine print before signing any policy, there IS room for negotiation but it takes some study. By far most total health packages still refuse recognition of bone marrow transplants, most hard organ transplants, or gene therapies....now the most responsive treatments for many cancers. Approved therapies have to be examined as not having changed much in 25 years.

Again, in the fine print, there are obstacles such as dictates of coverage for lengths of stay, incedental charges, proceedures, and recoveries including physical therapies or prosthesis programs. There are attorneys who examine policies and it's a good place to start before renewals, especially considering the huge percentages your company covers for employees.

Actually here in America it's better to be indigent, a federal
prisoner, or an illegal alien. Personally, I opted for guinea pig, but not until after they took everything I owned.

 

[Newfie]

I'm surprised anybody would turn to an attorney for advice regarding health care. They are the chief culprits in our system being so expensive and inneffectual. Attorney's (politicians) make the laws, attorneys make those healthcare contracts and attorneys chase ambulances and bring frivolous lawsuits against physicians and hospitals, further escalating the cost of healthcare.

Americans as a whole need to open their eyes and grow up. If everyone is entitled to affordable healthcare (as politicians seem to have convinced us of) then something has to change or someone has to pay for it. No one wants to or can afford to pay out of their pocket and everyone complains that they already pay enough taxes (as a country we pay no where near what other nation's citizens pay) so the government can't afford to subsidize everyone. You get what you pay for, just like anything else. Most of all we need to bring about serious torte reform and stop allowing creeps and slimeballs from trying to cash in without just cause.

BTW, we pay $1150 a month for medical & dental for a family of four. Adequate life & disability tacks on another $350. I don't like it, but it is a fact of life and we(my wife and I) owe it to our kids welfare.

 

[DDM]

Newfie, Try Nase.com For more resonable Insurance.


Mike The Premium is 34.80 A Month