Oh! Look! Someone Who Got that $10,000 Deductible Health Insurance Policy I Couldn’t Get Because I Might Need It (Updated. What, Already? Yes, Already) 1
Her premium was smaller than the one I was looking at because she was not trying to insure a dependant.
But she can’t afford it any more (emphasis added):
To keep costs reasonable – at least what is considered reasonable in the health insurance game – my plan has a $10,000 deductible. This means that I pay for everything – doctor’s visits, lab tests, prescriptions – out of pocket. The insurance company will start covering anything after I’ve reached the $10,000 mark.
Gee, thanks.
I hate to admit it, but I’ve not gone to the doctor because I couldn’t afford it. I’ve waited out that rattling cough to see if it would go away on its own. I’ve wrapped my hands in bandages to see if my eczema outbreaks, which left open sores on my hands, would self-seal through over-the-counter lotions and perseverance. I’ve even skipped routine tests because to do so would put me, conservatively, $300 more in the hole. I don’t play soccer anymore for fear of what one broken bone could do to my bank account. And I really like soccer.
To put it bluntly: It stinks being underinsured. Health care is my second-highest monthly bill – only to my mortgage – and still I feel like I can’t see the doctor when I’m sick. Still, I pay my bills on time, both to the insurance companies and my doctors. And how am I thanked for it? With another rate hike – up from $373.27 to $429.26 a month for this year.
Well, someone has to pay the insurance company executives’ salaries.
If not I, why not her?
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
Daniel DiRito shows how we’re not getting our money’s worth.
January 8, 2008 at 6:39 pm
If the Democratic Party would start their own health insurance company, they wouldn’t have to pay big salaries. The savings could be passed on to the policyholders. The lower prices would get people flocking to the DNC plan and dropping the other companies like crazy. So why don’t they do it?