Weddingbee boards

So I guess I should be grateful that I have access to health insurance.

However, I am spazzing out.

I just dropped my employer-provided insurance in favor of my new husband's, because it was getting close to the "qualified event" time period expiring. DH works for a very fancy company and they had great benefits (as recently as two years ago, their health insurance was FREE). Currently he has two benefit options he can choose from, a super nice plan or an OK plan with differing premium levels. He (we) have the super nice plan.

They are going into their benefits enrollment period for 2012 and the whole office had a big meeting with an HR rep today. The gist of it is that DH thinks they are now switching to a high-deductible-only plan. No choice, just this or no insurance. A $3,000 deductible, or nada.

I told him this can't be true. Sure health insurance is getting expensive but they can't possibly be taking all choice away. Granted most of the employees make bank (DH does okay, but not so well that $3,000 would be nothing). He's not sure if there IS another option, but the high deductible plan is what stuck in his mind.

He didn't bring the paper work home for me to read. He didn't really pay attention, he brought some work into the HR meeting and kept at it while the lady was talking. He didn't realize this was a big deal because he told me about it casually when I was cooking and his face gradually changed when he saw me hitting the panic button.

I don't understand why he didn't ask questions or pay attention at the meeting. He has a serious chronic illness and even with the NICE insurance his drugs alone cost $125/a month. Right after he told me, "yeah I think they are doing a high deductible plan ONLY next year" he grinned at me in his goofy way and said "I guess we'll just have to not get sick eh?" Pal, you ARE sick already to the tune of $1500 a year in medicine, not counting specialists and tests!!! Pal, pregnancy is not an illness but it is expensive and we are not having safe sex!!! Why doesn't he think!!??

In his defense I don't think he really understands what a deductible is and what that means. His expertise is stocks and bonds and that stuff and not insurance. I didn't raise my voice but I definitely "yelled" quietly if you know what I mean. This is our first major issue as newlyweds and I am worried I didn't handle it well. We cuddled in bed for a little while but I still feel bad that I was too hard on him. He is going to call HR tomorrow to clarify whether there IS another option besides this one. My question to the bee is, does that seem normal - a $3,000 deductible plan as the only option? This is not a small business or anything like that.

I work in dental insurance and so many people don't understand what deductibles are. You explain it to them over and over again, and then when they go to the dentist the first time each year they have no idea why they're paying the first X amount. $3000 seems crazy to me. Is that $3000 per person or total for family? To me, unless you have some type of major health issue going on, it's almost not even worth it if you have to pay the first $3000 out of pocket. Hopefully he misunderstood and there are other options.

Ugh. I have a feeling we are going to have to shop on our own. Next year we could go back on my benefits which are apparently the better option now. It's just this year that would be a bear. Is it weird that I was looking forward to not being "responsible" for the family health benefits? I felt more free to look around for new work...blah, I guess not so much...

@Robin_Sparkles: I actually work for a medical supply company and every year for the first 3 months we have to deal with angry Medicare people claiming we are overcharging them... no really it's the deductible... remember last year? Sigh.

Yeah, not only do I work in insurance, but we are an individual plan dept. and we handle retirees from certain big companies who have recently dropped all of their retirees benefits so now they're paying for it on thier own. So not only are they confused, but they're angry because they've lost everything so they take it out on us. Oh, and at the end of the year, they always think they get all their money back if they don't use their insurance at all. Um, no....do you get your car insurance premiums back each year if you don't have an accident? *sigh*

@MissGreen: oh my gosh I feel for you. I couldn't take that situation. I would be in outer space right now.

That's a high deductible but health insurance is ridiculously expensive for employers and employees and most companies are re-evaluating and making switches.  I just went through this last year, right after we got married. It was really our first newlywed / grown-up-exercise to figure out whose plan to go on and it was really annoying!  But now we are saving money.  (We are on mine - there is a high deductible but my company covers it by contributing to an HSA).

It's a pretty big deal and I think you have every right to be annoyed with thim - this is important stuff that no one likes to deal with it but it is not just him anymore, it affects both of you.  I have a lot of trouble understanding all the insurance stuff and never bothered to learn much when it was just me.  This time though I was super annoying and asked a million questions - I felt kind of dumb but the HR reps were really patient and helpful - it's their job to help you understand everything.  He should have a few days for follow-up questions before the paperwork has to be in - please talk it over with him and make sure he asks about options - HSA, Flex Spending, etc.  Good luck! 

Okay, so I got a chance to look at the paperwork today. The company is pre-funding an HSA account with $1500, half the deductible. So that will be enough to completely cover his meds for the year. So they did not go completely bonkers after all. The premiums went down this year too and the drug copay is about $25 cheaper so that compensates a bit.

This was definitely a moment of truth for us though. They are doing some cost-cutting moves at this firm (even though they are doing well) - for instance, until this year they had a pension, well they've frozen that and if you're under 45 they're just going to contribute a 200% match to the 401k. I mean that's awesome that they will give a $2 to $1 match but I (we) are just wondering where this is going. DH has decided to reactivate his job search.

I'm on my parents till January. I will miss it. No deductible, $15 dr. co-pay, $25 specialist co-pay, $35 er visits, 100% coverage on surgeries and such. My deductible on the private plan I am going to after that is crazy high, like $5,000 or something. 

i just met with our insurance broker this week.  it's getting more and more difficult to offer rich plans. we try our best each year to keep the same plans each year.  one year we saw a 34% increase and we had to switch from our grandfathered plan.  i spent days analyzing the numbers.  we finally decided to switch to a similar plan with same deductible and slightly higher ($5 more) office visit copay and then also offered a high deductible plan.  we have funded (and wil continue to fund in 2012) HSAs for each employee. 

individual deductible for HD plan is $2,000 per year and we deposit $3,000 per year into employee's HSA account.  family deductible is $4,000 per year and we deposit $4,000 per year into employee's HSA.  (we also fund $300 per year for a limited FSA account.) those who elect the PPO plan continue to get $2,400 into an FSA.

i could have stayed with my regular PPO and my employer would pay 100% of the premiums for the plan but I chose to switch to a high deductible plan.  it sounds like a stupid move since my employer would pay 100% of the premiums for either plans but with the high deductible plan, i get a total of $3,300 per year into HSA & FSA (instead of the $2,400 into an FSA).  My HSA is not use it or lose it like my FSA and for years where I do not use the money, it continues to grow.  If I ever leave my employer, I can use the money to pay for my COBRA premiums. 

Also with the high deductible plan, once I reach my deductible, all my doctor visits are covered at 100%.  (I still have to pay prescription copays but that's minimal.)  this year i took care of my deductible early in the year with a planned surgery and my other visits have all been covered.  i did have to pay full price for all doctor visits and prescriptions. (By full price, I do not mean retail but the contracted rate.) I paid whatever i could myself and saved the money in my HSA.  If i didn't have the money, I paid directly with my Merrill Lynch HSA debit card or check.

most employers do not switch over to high deductibles for the right reason and they go about it the wrong way.  when we made the switch, i made sure we did not leave our employees with a possible $2,000 or $4,000 bill if they got hurt.  we covered the entire deductible.  we did not promise to fund at the same level every year but so far we have been able to. 

we also made sure we made a point to educate our staff.  i became the expert on high deductibles and HSAs and made sure I was always available to help staff whenever they had a question.  For the most part, I was able to answer all questions on the spot without having to say, "i'm not sure but I'll get back to you on that." Because of the education we provided and the way we structured the plan, we go over 50% voluntary participation in the high deductible plan during the first year of offering it.  each year we have more people switch over.  i never push it when i meet with new employees because we never want employees to feel that they were pressured to choose one plan over another.  i want employees to choose a plan that is right for them.

@profiterole: I wish DH's HR people were like you :(