Gov. Stitt on Fox Business now...

[Grendelshooter]

It's sad... I agree our vets should have better care. Yes, some folks have had great experiences, I know Dennis has been pretty happy with his V.A. care. I just know from OUR side, they make the hoops to jump through so difficult and you can't get a straight answer and you get a different answer every time you call... it's immensely frustrating. Not to mention the times I've been stiffed due to their runaround paperwork mess.

Like this...

We got a notification about April 10th that 6 of my V.A. patients' annual authorizations were being canceled. Apparently the V.A. office was changing their address, so the authorization we had for July 1-June 30 would no longer be valid. The problem was, when we got this notification (again, like Apr 10), it was dated for March 31st. During that interim 10d I think I had already seen 3 of those patients for regular checkups or something or other. Which means, those claims will be denied as having 'no authorization for care'. No appeal, no nothing. I've had this happen before.

Sorry for the vets, but eff the V.A.

I don’t think anyone would blame you.
As far as I can see it the issue is that regular health care options have gotten so bad that it makes tge VA look responsive and adequate.
Before the ACA went through our insurance was less than $100/month for full coverage of a family of three. Never was denied (we generally didn’t go to the doctor unless it was really necessary). In the ensuing years the premiums have gone up, the care has cratered to where we pay the $5000/year plus like $1500 in deductibles so that we can get denied for coverage.
So screw em. I’m having another kid on their dime and then I’m out.

 

[JD8]

It’s funny you say that, but my VA healthcare is orders of magnitude better than my “high option” .gov employer health care plan.

I used to work in benefits, and honestly, that's the first time I've ever heard anyone say that. Maybe things have changed in the last 7-8 years though?

 

[Grendelshooter]

I used to work in benefits, and honestly, that's the first time I've ever heard anyone say that. Maybe things have changed in the last 7-8 years though?

Drastically. I used to loath the VA.
If your options are pay for nothing or wait for something I’ll go with something.

 

[trekrok]

It's sad... I agree our vets should have better care. Yes, some folks have had great experiences, I know Dennis has been pretty happy with his V.A. care. I just know from OUR side, they make the hoops to jump through so difficult and you can't get a straight answer and you get a different answer every time you call... it's immensely frustrating. Not to mention the times I've been stiffed due to their runaround paperwork mess.

Like this...

We got a notification about April 10th that 6 of my V.A. patients' annual authorizations were being canceled. Apparently the V.A. office was changing their address, so the authorization we had for July 1-June 30 would no longer be valid. The problem was, when we got this notification (again, like Apr 10), it was dated for March 31st. During that interim 10d I think I had already seen 3 of those patients for regular checkups or something or other. Which means, those claims will be denied as having 'no authorization for care'. No appeal, no nothing. I've had this happen before.

Sorry for the vets, but eff the V.A.

Curious, what do you think of the direct pay model? We pay about $50 per month per person to our doctor. He doesn't take ANY insurance. For the routine stuff it works great for us and he seems to prefer it to dealing with insurance companies. The only problem from my side is that we still have to carry insurance of course, and we're forced to buy stupid expensive coverage that duplicates many things we don't even need - ie dr visits/copays etc. If we could get cheaper catastrophic type insurance coverage that would only kick in for hospital stays, cancer and so on, this type arrangement would be ideal, IMO.

 

[JD8]

Curious, what do you think of the direct pay model? We pay about $50 per month per person to our doctor. He doesn't take ANY insurance. For the routine stuff it works great for us and he seems to prefer it to dealing with insurance companies. The only problem from my side is that we still have to carry insurance of course, and we're forced to buy stupid expensive coverage that duplicates many things we don't even need - ie dr visits/copays etc. If we could get cheaper catastrophic type insurance coverage that would only kick in for hospital stays, cancer and so on, this type arrangement would be ideal, IMO.

How about going with your current VIP/MD setup and then get a High Deductible/Catastrophic plan that is paired up with an HSA? Should be a win win situation + it's a triple tax vehicle.

 

[trekrok]

Everywhere I looked for coverage i ended up getting pushed back into obamacare - bronze, silver, gold offerings. The plan we're on has crazy deductibles and is still almost $1500/month for 4 of us.

 

[tRidiot]

I think our plan at work is the same as the exchange plan for BCBS. It sucks, we have a deductible of $7700 per person and double that for the family, in addition, I'm paying about $7-8k in premiums for myself and the family and my employer pays more than that.

As for direct pay, I don't think it's really feasible unless we scrap the system and go back to reasonable charges for everything instead of inflated charges to insurance to get them to pay anything resembling a fair price. Then the private pay individuals get screwed because they can't get things done at the same rate insurance companies do - private pay patients pay more for the same services than market value due to laws that prevent you from charging different rates.

The whole thing is a mess.

 

[JD8]

Everywhere I looked for coverage i ended up getting pushed back into obamacare - bronze, silver, gold offerings. The plan we're on has crazy deductibles and is still almost $1500/month for 4 of us.

Just curious as to what you mean by pushed back into "Obamacare?"

Is your plan HSA certified?

Either way, like I said, you can find a High Deductible plan and put cash into an HSA tax free to use as your first dollar towards your expenses before your deductible limit is reached. If you are paying a Doc/VIP/Membership fee, then you might as well use pre tax dollars to do so.

 

[trekrok]

Just curious as to what you mean by pushed back into "Obamacare?"

Is your plan HSA certified?

Either way, like I said, you can find a High Deductible plan and put cash into an HSA tax free to use as your first dollar towards your expenses before your deductible limit is reached. If you are paying a Doc/VIP/Membership fee, then you might as well use pre tax dollars to do so.

Go into a site, like healthmarkets.com and answer the questions looking for a family health insurance plan and I'll get 25 options for my zip code. All were obamacare plans. Which all include dr visits, pregnancy coverage etc. I tried to look under employer plans, but I'm the only employee in my business. Everyone else is contract. So, answer that question and again, we get directed into the obamacare world.

Where would I look for a high deductible plan without doctor visits etc? I didn't call a broker this year, I just did online looking. So, if something changed from previous years that would allow other options for me I'd certainly like to explore them.

 

[JD8]

Go into a site, like healthmarkets.com and answer the questions looking for a family health insurance plan and I'll get 25 options for my zip code. All were obamacare plans. Which all include dr visits, pregnancy coverage etc. I tried to look under employer plans, but I'm the only employee in my business. Everyone else is contract. So, answer that question and again, we get directed into the obamacare world.

Where would I look for a high deductible plan without doctor visits etc? I didn't call a broker this year, I just did online looking. So, if something changed from previous years that would allow other options for me I'd certainly like to explore them.

You have to understand something.....there are no "obamacare" plans.......there are plans that are compliant with the law.... and that is all of the new available healthcare plans. You will find those on the exchange or carrier websites. It doesn't matter if do it on the govt website or not, the offerings are the same with regards to the carriers offerings. So any BCBS given offering on the government exchange will be the same as going direct to the carrier.

I believe you have to have 2 total employees to have a employer plan but that may have changed. Either way, most HSA certified plans would probably fit what you need, if you're used to paying an amount of cash before the deductible.

Watch this here for more info...



It's a decent video but he does miss some points, as highlighted here by one of the first comments to the video.


Dave does a poor job of making a key point clear in this discussion - that an HSA is NOT an insurance plan - it is a savings account. Contributions to the account are made possible by participation in a particular type of insurance plan - a Qualifying High Deductible Health Plan (QHDHP). Some important things to remember about an HSA are these; (1) The money that goes into an HSA is yours. Forever. Period. You can use it for qualifying medial expenses without paying taxes on it. If you change jobs, change insurance, etc, you still get to keep your HSA. (2) As long as you are covered by a QHDHP, you can contribute up to the IRS allowed maximum ($7,000 for a family in 2019), but you are not REQUIRED to contribute a dime. It's a SAVINGS account! (3) If you are only covered by a QHDHP for part of the year, you can contribute that percentage for which you had QHDP coverage, so for example if you have a QHDP for 6 months you could contribute $3500 in 2019. If you have a QHDP for 3 months in 2019 you can contribute $1750. (4) If you lose your insurance or change jobs and your new employer does not offer a QHDHP, you can still keep your HSA, and use any funds that are in it for QMEs, but you can not CONTRIBUTE to it until you are again covered by a QHDHP. (5) You can contribute to your HSA at any time during the year. You do NOT have to make contributions with each paycheck. You can wait and make one lump-sum contribution at the end of the year (technically, through April 15 of the following year) if you so choose. (6) Contributions made to your HSA are not taxed. They are an "above the line" deduction, meaning that it's like you never earned the money when it comes time to figure your taxes. So, if your gross for the 2019 is $100,000 but you contribute $7,000 to your HSA, your taxes will be figured based on $93,000.