# Health Insurance



## Teoli (Feb 27, 2010)

*Good info here*

There's some decent information here

I think the best piece of information you can take from this is, get yourself a broker. That completely opened my eyes as to how the mysterious world of Health Insurance works.

I went on my own a few years ago and had to get my own insurance. At the time I went with Blue Cross. I recently switched plans again because the prices went up. I called the same broker and he walked me through the process again.

Bottomline is....You get what you pay for. The Obama plan has changed things too. How long that lasts, who knows.

I personally have a HSA plan with a $5000 deductible. It's about $130/month. This is about half of what my old plan cost but that one had a $2500 deductible.

The way things cost these days, I'm just looking for catastrophic insurance. I have 1 checkup a year and my cholesterol checked, which is covered. If I get hit by a bus. It only costs me $5k.

PM me if you want to talk to my broker. Hes a decent guy and explained everything I needed to know. It's probably the best place to start


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## Mud Master (Feb 26, 2007)

In addition to the HSA, which was mentioned...an FSA(Flexible Spending Account) is also good to have.

Again, it's pre-tax dollars you add on, and is used for all RX fills.


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## SuperiorHIP (Aug 15, 2010)

Man, I pay too much. My wife gets ours through the hospital she is a nurse at and we spend just under $600 a month for a family of 4.


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## Moxley-Kidwell (Jan 28, 2011)

Finally got some answers on the tax credit I spoke about earlier in this tread. It's really a bit pile of BS for most contractors the way I see it. They define a full time employee as someone who works 2080 hrs per year. I understand that is 52 weeks @ 40/ week, but I have a hard time keeping my guys working a full week all year long with the winter weather and rain thoughout the year (without going broke). My per employee avg. salary was too high to get any credit for our heathcare.

Sorry it took a while, but the accountants just sent me the worksheet late last week.


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## Station1 (Apr 20, 2010)

Mud Master said:


> In addition to the HSA, which was mentioned...an FSA(Flexible Spending Account) is also good to have.
> 
> Again, it's pre-tax dollars you add on, and is used for all RX fills.


Just to clarify: You can't mix the two. You either have to pay via HSA dollars or via your FSA (that's part of a Section 125 plan).


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## Mud Master (Feb 26, 2007)

Station1 said:


> Just to clarify: You can't mix the two. You either have to pay via HSA dollars or via your FSA (that's part of a Section 125 plan).


Did not know that.

Good info!


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## SWOH REO (Jul 10, 2010)

OldSwedeFloors said:


> I'm new here so forgive me if the question has been asked before.
> 
> Where do you guys get health insurance from and how much are you spending on it? Is there someone that offers special rates to contractors?
> 
> ...


If you are just looking to cover yourself and your family, you should look into individual insurance. I currently have humana one. It runs just under $300 a month for the four of us. The deductible is high but still a decent deal for the money. I previously had anthem individual but switched for a better rate. Both go up every year or you can take a higher deductible.


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