I looked awhile back so I knew vaguely which insurance companies cover our area. It was pretty simple to find them online and then go to their respective websites and see the available plans and rates... but then I started to get mad. See I found a decent company and plan that will cost me about $160 a month. We can afford that, especially considering that to have a kid with no insurance would cost about $15,000 – or at least that’s what it would seem from all the bills we got. But of course you know insurance companies always have a set rate so even they don’t pay that much.
Anyways, my doctor is in the preferred network for this company so it would seem that we’re all good. The part that really makes me mad though is Premera. They were one of 4 companies that offer coverage in our county. They are the most expensive by far (like 3 times the one I’m going to get) AND they don’t even cover maternity on any of their plans except the most expensive one. How crazy is that!!! I hate them. Unfortunately it seems that every school district in the state uses them (can we say M-O-N-O-P-O-L-Y?) so they can get away with charging whatever they darn well please. Seriously, as an individual consumer I hope NO ONE ever opts for them when there are alternatives. I don’t understand how they can still be in business!!! Oh yeah, that monopoly thing.
Oh, and one of the other companies is called LifeWise. Don’t be fooled, it’s not wise at all. It’s a subsidiary of Premera, and according to some recent news releases on the Office of the Insurance Commisioner’s website they have never (NEVER) turned a profit. They have always operated at a loss and yet Premera wants to move the headquarters to Arizona so that the Washington state authorities don’t have any authority over them anymore. Smells like a rat to me.
The other nasty thing about Premera is that we have to have them because unfortunately Wenatchee School District is a subscriber to their health plan. The district pays X amount every month for health coverage for it’s employees and their dependents. You can choose which plans you want and how many people you want covered, but you have to pay anything over their monthly allotment. Which is like $500 some dollars. We put Brian and Cory on their plan and still have to pay some out of our pocket. To add me would have been another $400. Insanity! Especially when we could have taken that $500 and gotten coverage for all three of us through my new favorite company – Asuris Northwest. Hopefully I won’t be singing another tune in a few months, but from everything on their website there aren’t any hidden fees for some types of service, etc.
Insurance has been such a struggle for me, that it was actually like having a full-time job dealing with all the paperwork and red tape after my daughter spent seven weeks in the hospital. Though, with two preemies (one with lots of continuing health problems), we'll never pay back what we've used. So, I shouldn't complain!
ReplyDeleteInsurance is such a hassle. Ours recently went up a good bit monthly and raised our copay to $30.
ReplyDeleteAt some point I want to go back and get my masters and teach math. I'm not sure what kind of insurance the school systems here have. It can't be worse than what we have now (my hubby works at a hospital).