I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!Okay, so the medical plan is pretty good. They had 3 plans to choose from and we got the one that has the lowest deductible and covers the most. It will be $300 a month for our portion for the whole family. The deductible is $500 per person with a $1500 max per family. Generic prescriptions are $20 each. It is a PPO, but their coverage of non-PPO is decent. We don't have a list of doctors yet, but it is Blue Cross/Blue Shield so it is probably virtually everyone in town.
Dental insurance is $18 a month for the family. It covers cleanings and x-rays at 100%. It covers fillings and crowns at a decent percentage, too.
Vision is $50 a month for the whole family and allows for one pair of lenses and frames every 12 months. That is $600 for the year, but all four of us wear glasses and by the time we walk out of the glasses shop we've dropped about $1200. Exams are covered at 100%.
So our total out of pocket for insurance will be $368 a month taken out pre-tax. That is a far cry from the $1337 a month in after tax dollars we are paying now. We won't qualify for an HSA because of the low deductible. I do not believe they have a FSA available.
If we had gone with the $5000 deductible plan it would have been $100 a month for the family and the $15,000 deductible plan would have been free, but covers nothing until you hit that. We could have had an HSA with those plans and the parent company gives you $1000 to start it with each year. Doing the numbers though, with our prescription costs and number of doctor visits a year, our best choice was the $300 plan and honestly, I did not think there were companies out there that had insurance like this anymore.
The new insurance won't go into effect for 60 days, so we will have to pay for the more expensive Regence for May and June. After that, though, it will feel like life got a whole lot easier again.
The Medical is Good
April 13th, 2017 at 04:08 am
April 13th, 2017 at 05:03 pm 1492102995
April 13th, 2017 at 07:32 pm 1492111947
So many people are just going on high deductible plans but they scare me.
April 14th, 2017 at 12:49 am 1492130955
April 14th, 2017 at 12:49 am 1492130975