Yyyyyeah. To get that, you better bring your kneepads to the office with you, or be the dentist's next-door neighbor and mow his lawn for him.

Get anything major, you will pay out of pocket through the nose even with insurance.

"OK, for that crown you need, the one insurance covers will fall out... but it will give you cancer first." That's a direct quote from the ********** I used to use.

****ing hate dentists, almost as much as insurance salesmen

$100 to $150 sounds pretty cheap compared to the BC/BS plans (where the cheapest plans were around ~$250/mo). 02128 for the zip.

Hey guys, anyone know anything about international insurance? I just moved to the Philippines and want to be able to go back to the US or Switzerland and still be covered. How much would it cost and what are some of the best companies to go with?

Another question/bump: why do these sites want me to fill out a form with personal info BEFORE matching me with a company/policy (at least on catastrophic plan sites)? I figured I should be able to enter basic info, have a fitting plan selected, THEN fill out a form.

Jin:

What personal info? If you are talking about home address/phone number then the site is probably a pseudo-scam. There are so many websites where you enter info thinking you will get a quote, but actually the site sells your information to health agents/brokers for anywhere from $10 to $25 a pop (and they will sometimes sell your info to as many as 8 different agents).

SO, you think you are getting a quote, but then you get inundated with calls from agents all warning you to watch out for all the other guys who will try to scam you.

BTW everyone:

Health insurance prices don't vary depending on who you go with. So you pay the same price for an Aetna plan (for example) if you buy it through ehealthinsurance or an agent or whatever.

However, you should know that the commissions paid to whoever you buy the policy from are enormous. I'm talking 20 to 24% of the annual premium, and it's paid up front.

So on a standard $200/month policy, the agent/broker/website is making $600. This is why some health insurance brokers make upwards of $500K per year (do the math -- it doesn't take that many policies).

I think it's obvious what you should do with that information...

Jackflash, yeah, I'm way too lazy to completely fill out a form just to get MATCHED with a plan/carrier. In addition to that, it just didn't seem like it made much sense to me to do it in that order (filling out the form first). Also, do you have any links or examples of the aforementioned $100 - $150 plans?

It depends on where you live. The same plan will be twice as expensive in one zip code as in another. Each carrier has preferences about the markets it wants to be in vs. price itself out of. Post the first 3 of your zip code and I can tell you which two or three carriers are the most competitive in that area.

100

still havent found reasonable insurance--feel so dumb for not having it but haven't found anything suitable.

I posted it a few posts up: 021.

I still feel relatively lost when it comes to picking the one that best suits me. For example, 2k is the deductible for a good portion of the "regular plans" that I've looked at, & the rest of the stuff (doctor visits, ER, & hospital stay) seems relatively close to each other from one plan to each other. I have no idea which of these should be weighted more when making a decision.

In New York, health insurance companies can't use age or health status to determine how much they charge someone for health insurance. Consequently, policies are really expensive and very few people under 40 buy their own insurance because rates are often $400 a month or more.

So you shouldn't feel bad because you really don't have any good options.

There are about 5 states I don't have comparative rates on and unfortunately Massachusetes is one of them. (I can only see comparative rates for states in which my wholesaler operates).

As for the other part of your question, if those factors are close to each other among the plans then they really don't matter that much. Your main concern should be the company, the deductible, price, whether it is an HSA/not-HSA, and that there are no big holes such as limits on prescription coverage or outpatient treatment.

980. Can you also tell me who offers the best rate for HSAs here too? I really appreciate this.

I know I've been asking you a lot jackflash, & I just hope I haven't been bothering you. >.< I'm wondering if any of following plans are any good/if you would choose any of them & why from the following plans (the screenshot only covered about half the list, so I figured if you recommend one or more, maybe I could use your recommendation and reasoning to either pick from these, or extrapolate & pick one of the not shown plans):

I'm 25, and have never had health insurance. I'm not overweight, I don't smoke, I haven't been to the doctor in over 10 years (probably not good, I should at least have had a check up or two). My grandmother died of brain aneurysm at 32, and my mother nearly died of brain aneurysm a few years ago at 38. Every since then I've been needing to get a contrast MRI of my head (for ldo reasons) but its gonna be like 2-3k out of pocket which I can't really afford.

Questions:

1. Am I gonna get hit with family history wrt the aneurysms (i.e. have to pay more)?
2. What is the best bet for insurance so that I'll be able to more easily afford testing?
3. I know common tests and procedures typically are charged at a discounted rate just for showing them an insurance card. Will my MRI cost considerably less out of pocket even if I opt into a catastrophe plan?