This question is for the full-timers out there. Do you pay monthly for Medical insurance or do you pay for the Doctor when the need arises? is there a good plan out there that can cover your Medical, Dental and checkups an be pretty inexpensive?
The reason for this question is because I’m planning on what my expenses will look like in the future when I make enough passive income to cover my expenses. Thank you!
Health Insurance? That is what a spouse is for right?
You are worrying or planning far too in advance. Your not gonna go anywhere doing that. Use every bit of effort to find and execute your first deal and you will learn a lot trust me. Flip foreclosures man! There is no better return right now that I can find. Almost none of them have equity, so find one where a first lien wiped out the second. Figure out a way to finance the first few, if you don’t have enough $$ for at least a downpayment, well that is your real problem you HAVE to fix. No money means no investing. Figure out a way to get your hands on at least 10K. With good credit (another MUST) you should be able to get enough credit card balance transfers going into your checking accout to get started. That helped me a ton. For more info go to fatwallet’s finance forum.
Don’t worry how you will insure yourself when you have enough “passive” income, that is just not something you should be wasting time thinking about right now.
You can purchase medical insurance for yourself. It is quite expensive.
There are “cheaper” plans (none are really cheap) but the cheaper the plan, the less coverage you are going to get and I suspect that less of a bargain they really are.
Unless you have a large medical bill, it is cheaper to pay for your doctor’s visits than it is to pay for insurance. Or you can self insure and have a savings account for that money that would have been paid to the insurance company.
But if you have any sort of serious issue, and you don’t have insurance, you are going to be wiped out. Unfortunately, even if you have insurance and you have a serious medical issue, you are still going to get wiped out. The big difference is that you can actually get treatment (usually) if you have the insurance.
Prescriptions are what the large medical cost is, and most insurance doesn’t cover them.
Of course, with Obama’s plan, if it stays in effect, you can go without insurance. It’s cheaper to pay the small fine than to buy insurance. Then, because the insurance companies can no longer refuse preexisting conditions, if you need a heart transplant, you simply go and purchase insurance at that time.
If you are willing to operate with a large deductible of at least 5K then you can get reasonable insurance for you and your family. I have a full time job and for the last two years I dumped my company’s insurance in lieu of a cheaper monthly premium for a plan I shopped myself.
Isn’t that is why we voted Obama in. Oops that sounds political.
All jokes asside. I wonder if anybody knows if there is better access to healthcare from the government program? Not political just is it availible.
There’s a government program that provides health insurance?
Here’s the results of the new health care bill at my house:
My son’s monthly premium went up sharply and his coverage was cut back. His employer now covers less of the cost because the employer had his taxes increased.
My insurance cost went up and my deductible went up. Also, my co-pay and prescription costs were increased. I suspect that the insurance payments went down to the doctors, because it was difficult to find a doctor who would take my insurance before and it is nearly impossible now. It’s taken me 8 months to find a new primary care giver and the new one is 125 miles from my home.
So, not doing so well with Obama-care in my household.
That is good to know tatertot. The number one thing that keeps people employed is not the paycheck that they get ever Friday. Money can be made without being an employee. The number one reason people don’t quit is benefits. If we can get benefits without being an employee this would open the door for lots of people to do this business. That is why I am trying to find out about people without insurance. I have good insurance probably what they call a Cadillac plan. I was wondering about people with small businesses that never had health insurance before. Have you guys even looked into what is now available?
I’m currently employed and I put in about 60 hours a week. Yes I work for someone else, hopefully temporarily. John: The reason why I asked about this is because I am a good planner. I’m not wasting time I’m actually doing the work. I haven’t been to the doctor in years since they took away my medical because it got too expensive.
There is a website that I am considering called e-health google it you can pay for medical insurance there. I’m trying it, I will let you know how it works out.
Starbucks offers health insurance to part-time (20 hours week) employess .
Starbucks huh? I might have to check that out and put in an application. I can make a meeeaaannnn cappuchino…
I currently work at citigroup and they slashed our benefits in half and doubled our costs. Sucks but for most of the folks here the idea is “what can I do about it?”. I’ve checked into the self-employed plans and your best bet is to get tagged on an employed spouse’s plan if possible. Sucks but its cheaper with better coverage…Other then that I would guage what the current plan is for self-employed workers, build your investments to match what you make PLUS the cost for the insurance and then quit. Thats my plan at least…
I currently work for a United Kingdom company called Serco n.a… The n.a. is the American branch of Serco United Kingdom. When they bought out the company I was working for they did a hard sale on the low cost of benefits because the company has 58,000 employees. And, I mean they sold it hard.
I think they sold it so hard because in buy outs employees tend to walk. At our government contract there were 1000 of us. Six months after the buy out they canceled the 210 hours of vacation carry over and in November they increased our health premiums by 30% my 90/10 plan shrunk to 80/20 with all kinds of deductibles.
They did all this to employees who have not had a pay increase in 5 years. The premium now is equal to 1/2 a months pay check. Its a good thing I’m nearing the end of an interviewing process on a job that will pay twice as much, but I’m hearing from my soon to be new employer they don’t have much of a plan either.
This is motivating me to get into mobile homes and some day my own park in Arizona. I have a huge business and project management background where I’ve made my employers millions. Now it’s time I do it for my self.
By the way, there are small business associations where as a member they pool small business people and they can get medical and other insurance through the membership. I will keep my ear out for the next ad and update this site.
Frank
WOW, I never realized until reading your responses what a confused mess this topic really is. I am an Insurance Broker that actually likes helping people answer these types of questions. A few responses were fairly accurate, but mixed in with more personal bias than fact. Since I am only licensed in Calif, I have nothing to gain financially in answering questions for those interested in others States. If you want an unbiased truthful response on how to get what you need or want, how to customize a plan to meet your needs and fit your budget, make up the difference for what changes have been made to your plan and anything else. I will be happy to let you know how to achieve that and take the mystery out of this mess.
James Irvine
Ease. Get a fulltime job (career) and a hobby (REI) that pays well. :biggrin
Since your in FL, Blue Cross Blue Shield has some competively priced policies. Also it is best to call brokers and ask around. There is also a type of medical card that you can get. I think some banks have it, its a type of account and doctors give a different rate. Also prescription drugs have become competitively priced.
Walgreens, CVS, Publix, Walmart, BJs, Costco and more have reduced prices as low as $4 for most basic pills. You can get a list from them. If your sick see if there is a pill on list your doctor can give you. Also I think all the discount clubs will let you get prescriptions even if your not a member. You can fill an RX but no shopping.
Remember to ask doctors for some freebies too
Spouses’ insurance from govt job
Major medical is reasonable but doesn’t cover much unless you spend a lot.