Something I haven't seen mentioned is that when you have a child, your insurance costs also go up. Typical employee-paid monthly costs just for insurance premiums average something like:
Single person: $100
Couple (no children): $350
Family Plan (one or two adults with unlimited number of children): $700
That's just the portion of the premium that the individual pays. Then we have co-pays for doctors visits, a variable percentage owed for all testing/procedures, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums that only apply if you see doctors/hospitals in network.
Each insurance plan comes with a giant "benefit book" that's about 50 pages that outlines what is and is not covered, and under what circumstances.
Even then, insurance companies will try to get out of paying, so you have to appeal their decisions (more than once, up to 3 times per claim) to get them to actually cover the costs they say they are going to cover.
I paid $40 once to go to a class about how to deal with health insurance companies. They told us in the class that health insurance companies will deny coverage for certain things outright, because over 90% of people don't know they can appeal the denial. It's considered a "cost saving measure" by the insurance companies.
And that's not even going into prescription medicine costs, which is an entirely separate booklet, and an entirely separate department of the insurance company. Often times you have to get a "co-pay" card from the drug company itself to be able to even remotely afford medicine.
Above all, you have no idea what any of this is going to cost until 1-3 months later and you get the bill in the mail.
I just got slapped with a $200 bill for a single blood test the insurance company requires I get done once a year to approve my medication.
Yep, it's not the doctor that needs or requires the test, it's the insurance company.
I once asked to get a quote for a simple out-patient test. I was quoted $300, so I went ahead and scheduled and did the test. When the bill came a few months later, it was over $5000 for a simple out-patient test. I appealed it successfully and forced my insurance company to pay for it, but it was an extremely stressful 3 months of my life waiting for the appeals to be reviewed.
This is the bullshit Americans have to deal with when you have any health issue at all, no matter how large or small.
Single person: $100
Couple (no children): $350
Family Plan (one or two adults with unlimited number of children): $700
That's just the portion of the premium that the individual pays. Then we have co-pays for doctors visits, a variable percentage owed for all testing/procedures, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums that only apply if you see doctors/hospitals in network.
Each insurance plan comes with a giant "benefit book" that's about 50 pages that outlines what is and is not covered, and under what circumstances.
Even then, insurance companies will try to get out of paying, so you have to appeal their decisions (more than once, up to 3 times per claim) to get them to actually cover the costs they say they are going to cover.
I paid $40 once to go to a class about how to deal with health insurance companies. They told us in the class that health insurance companies will deny coverage for certain things outright, because over 90% of people don't know they can appeal the denial. It's considered a "cost saving measure" by the insurance companies.
And that's not even going into prescription medicine costs, which is an entirely separate booklet, and an entirely separate department of the insurance company. Often times you have to get a "co-pay" card from the drug company itself to be able to even remotely afford medicine.
Above all, you have no idea what any of this is going to cost until 1-3 months later and you get the bill in the mail.
I just got slapped with a $200 bill for a single blood test the insurance company requires I get done once a year to approve my medication.
Yep, it's not the doctor that needs or requires the test, it's the insurance company.
I once asked to get a quote for a simple out-patient test. I was quoted $300, so I went ahead and scheduled and did the test. When the bill came a few months later, it was over $5000 for a simple out-patient test. I appealed it successfully and forced my insurance company to pay for it, but it was an extremely stressful 3 months of my life waiting for the appeals to be reviewed.
This is the bullshit Americans have to deal with when you have any health issue at all, no matter how large or small.
