Why? Insurance... (1 Viewer)

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My baby is getting closer. I was looking which insurance he will be on. My wife or mine. I have Cigna and my wife has Blue Cross. Called ol HR and asked what the plans were. If I just have me on my account, my deductible is $1000. If I add the baby to a family plan, it jumps to $3,000. Why? Why wouldn't it be $1,000 per person?

Doesn't make sense.
 
My baby is getting closer. I was looking which insurance he will be on. My wife or mine. I have Cigna and my wife has Blue Cross. Called ol HR and asked what the plans were. If I just have me on my account, my deductible is $1000. If I add the baby to a family plan, it jumps to $3,000. Why? Why wouldn't it be $1,000 per person?

Doesn't make sense.

you wouldnt be "adding to a family plan"

You would be changing from an individual plan to a family plan.
 
My baby is getting closer. I was looking which insurance he will be on. My wife or mine. I have Cigna and my wife has Blue Cross. Called ol HR and asked what the plans were. If I just have me on my account, my deductible is $1000. If I add the baby to a family plan, it jumps to $3,000. Why? Why wouldn't it be $1,000 per person?

Doesn't make sense.

I suspect that the premium doesn't double when you add a person - right? It's more than for just you, but not double?

So it really does present a different cost structure. So you pay less monthly premium on the family plan than you would paying the same premium you paid for just you multiplied by the number of people in the plan.

Meanwhile, the company is now covering two people in the family plan for less premium than it would be for two individual insureds. So I imagine that part of the trade off there is that your deductible goes up.
 
Here in NY, if both partners have coverage, whichever partner's birthday comes first in the year, they're the primary insurance coverage.
 
Something else they don't tell you, which matters if you pay for your own insurance as we do :covri: :rant: :bigcry: :

Depending on how your policy is structured, it can be cheaper to get your kid his/her own policy after birth (probably at age one, maybe later) than to insure him/her on a family plan. No one told us about this and we didn't figure it out for several years, after wasting a bunch of extra premiums.
 
Something else they don't tell you, which matters if you pay for your own insurance as we do :covri: :rant: :bigcry: :

Depending on how your policy is structured, it can be cheaper to get your kid his/her own policy after birth (probably at age one, maybe later) than to insure him/her on a family plan. No one told us about this and we didn't figure it out for several years, after wasting a bunch of extra premiums.

There are a lot of reasons to pick insurance and cheapest isn't always the best.

Consider the max out of pocket for a kid and know that any serious illness will cost bunches and bunches of money. Also, multiple deductibles can raise your total out of pocket.
 
I suspect that the premium doesn't double when you add a person - right? It's more than for just you, but not double?

So it really does present a different cost structure. So you pay less monthly premium on the family plan than you would paying the same premium you paid for just you multiplied by the number of people in the plan.

Meanwhile, the company is now covering two people in the family plan for less premium than it would be for two individual insureds. So I imagine that part of the trade off there is that your deductible goes up.

You're right. If I add my son, it's $80 more, but if I add my wife and my son, it is $325 more. $500 a month.
 
Something else they don't tell you, which matters if you pay for your own insurance as we do :covri: :rant: :bigcry: :

Depending on how your policy is structured, it can be cheaper to get your kid his/her own policy after birth (probably at age one, maybe later) than to insure him/her on a family plan. No one told us about this and we didn't figure it out for several years, after wasting a bunch of extra premiums.

And why would they tell. More money in their pockets. Agent & Company. This is America bend over and shut up. This applies to most companies!


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Ah. I thought this might be about insurance and banks taking people's cars away cuz of the hailstorm. They're all one big fat joke...
 
Also, multiple deductibles can raise your total out of pocket.

Not if the billing rep knows what they're doing. In fact, multiple coverages should reduce or eliminate out-of-pocket expenses. You may have to educate your doctor/dentists' billing person, however.

Here's how most people think it works.

You have two coverages, each with a $50 deductible. You get a procedure that costs $500. Coverage A will pay $450 of that, then you bill $50 to coverage B and they say "Your deductible is $50, so we're not paying anything." You end up paying the $50 yourself.

Here's how it really works.

You get the same procedure. Your provider bills both coverages at the same time. Coverage A pays the $450. Coverage B would pay $450, but you only need $50 of that, so that's what they pay. You pay zero.

If possible, flip-flop which gets billed as primary so your yearly allowances go down at the same rate.
 
Not if the billing rep knows what they're doing. In fact, multiple coverages should reduce or eliminate out-of-pocket expenses. You may have to educate your doctor/dentists' billing person, however.

Here's how most people think it works.

You have two coverages, each with a $50 deductible. You get a procedure that costs $500. Coverage A will pay $450 of that, then you bill $50 to coverage B and they say "Your deductible is $50, so we're not paying anything." You end up paying the $50 yourself.

Here's how it really works.

You get the same procedure. Your provider bills both coverages at the same time. Coverage A pays the $450. Coverage B would pay $450, but you only need $50 of that, so that's what they pay. You pay zero.

If possible, flip-flop which gets billed as primary so your yearly allowances go down at the same rate.

Yes, but not what I was talking about.

He was talking about carrying a policy for himself, another for his wife and a third for the kid.

As far as I know, each policy would have its own deductible and, therefore, it's possible he'd have to pay more in deductible and have less in annual coverage.
 
Yes, but not what I was talking about.

He was talking about carrying a policy for himself, another for his wife and a third for the kid.

As far as I know, each policy would have its own deductible and, therefore, it's possible he'd have to pay more in deductible and have less in annual coverage.

Family plan! It's your cheapest option.

Open up an HSA bank account and put money into it. ANYTIME you need to pay med bills ( dr visit, vision, prescription whatever it is as long as it IS medical) you deduct it from taxes. Your deductible must be over $1000. It's also like an IRA which builds interest if you don't use the money in the account. Oh don't try to pay yourself back on the premiums ok? Lol

I have one and last yr I input $3100 into account. I have a $2500 deductible. I paid $3400 in out of pocket expenses which is def over 7.5% above my deductible. Now they increased it to 10% above before you can deduct it. Thing is it doesn't do a thing for you when you deduct. It's better to pay yourself back with the money you input into HSA and get to deduct it off taxes than to try deducting med bills unless you're neck deep in med bills.
 

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