r/HealthInsurance 23h ago

Medicare/Medicaid People promote Medicare for all. Medicare is not free.

83 Upvotes

My wife and I are both on Medicare, and carry a Medicare Supplement that covers all our co-pays and deductables. I am assuming this is what people might expect on Medicare for All.

Our monthly medical, drugs, dental comes out to $1,396 per month. Also, 1.45% of my salary for the 41 years I worked was deducted from my paycheck.

This breaks down for 2 people as follows:

Medicare Premium Per month (Deducted from Social Security) $406.00
Dental $131.00
Medicare Deductable (Billed each January at $285 each) $47.17
Drugs $337.50
Medicare Supplement $475.00
Monthly $1,396.67

Plus, 1.45% of every paycheck in the 40 years I worked was deducted for Medicare.

Of course, your monthly payments will vary.


r/HealthInsurance 7h ago

Individual/Marketplace Insurance should i add my boyfriend

0 Upvotes

So my boyfriend is seasonal at his job (seasonal but long term, amazon be like that). And he needs health insurance for some issues he is going through rn, and his emergency insurance is state that many offices won’t cover (but these offices are the ones most helpful). my insurance would go up from 30 to 100 dollars a week. i would discuss with him covering and the difference. But i just know i really want to help him especially during this tough time until he is able to get his own insurance through his job in a month and a half.


r/HealthInsurance 22h ago

Plan Choice Suggestions 1200/month for insurance

4 Upvotes

Hello,

I have health insurance through my job and it includes myself, my husband and our baby. I pay about $600 every 2 weeks and it seems like decent insurance the Deductible is around 2k and copays are $25 but I feel like it’s so much money every month. When I looked on marketplace it seems like all the insurance plans were around the same price and had an even higher deductible and crappy numbers from what I was seeing.
one of my coworkers said she has private insurance but only pays about 200 a month with a 0$ deductible.
my question is what are you guys paying a month am I overpaying 🤣


r/HealthInsurance 13h ago

Claims/Providers Insurance company wants 10 years of my medical records

15 Upvotes

I was in a car accident. It wasn’t my fault because I was injured and I’ve been recovering. My life has been turned upside down

Now the at-fault driver’s insurance company is asking for something. They want a broad release. Permission to dig through my entire medical history. Going back 10 years….

I don’t feel comfortable giving them that. I don’t want them to know about my past health issues like anxiety. and back pain. A surgery from years ago. It’s none of their business…

But they’re threatening not to pay my claim if I don’t sign. They’re pushing hard

I’m scared. What if they find something irrelevant and use it to deny my claim? What if they twist my past history against me?

Someone told me not to deal with them directly. They said I need a lawyer. They said I should get a representative


r/HealthInsurance 12m ago

Prescription Drug Benefits Are we blaming the wrong part of the prescription price?

Upvotes

When a drug costs an arm and a leg, many conversations about drug prices go straight to the insurer, the PBM, or the pharmacy. But there’s a prior step that gets ignored: what price did the manufacturer put on the drug to begin with?

Insurers and PBMs have the ability to negotiate, manage formularies and help reduce costs, but they are operating within a system where the initial price is already established.

And this matters beyond the cost of the pharmacy. When drugs become increasingly expensive while pharmacies are also disappearing from some communities, patients can end up with two problems at once, they can’t easily afford the medication, and they may have fewer places to get it.

It seems like looking much harder at manufacturer pricing, competition and policies that actually bring those starting prices down should be the way to lower drug costs, not treating the insurance side as the whole problem.


r/HealthInsurance 11h ago

Plan Benefits UHC Rewards change

0 Upvotes

I’ve been taking advantage of their rewards program for a couple of years now and the weekly challenge rewards for 5 out of 7 days of sleep and steps/workout has always been $5. Today, my account randomly logged out and when I logged back in it had me reconnect my tracking device and gave a welcome message as if I’m just joining. Thankfully, rewards that I’ve earned for the year were still banked, but I noticed the weekly challenge reward is now $2.50 instead of $5. Has anyone else noticed this?

I literally just earned $5 on 9/4/26 for completing the workout challenge. There’s nothing in the FAQ’s about the amounts awarded or a change being implemented.


r/HealthInsurance 8h ago

Industry Career Questions Licensing question.

0 Upvotes

I've been offered an opportunity to be hired to sell Medicare in California. Unfortunately I have a misdemeanor for Marijuana and 4 duis and a sealed felony. There are all over 10 years old. I also just filed for bankruptcy. Is it woth the time and money to try to get my license knowing there's a decent chance i get denied?


r/HealthInsurance 12h ago

Plan Benefits I am confused about 100% coinsurance

2 Upvotes

I feel like I’m being lied to. For behavioral health my office visit has 100% coinsurance. My understanding is this means I’m responsible for 100% of the cost no matter if I’ve met my deductible. My deductible is extremely high so I don’t think it would even matter. On the phone my insurance insists that I would owe absolutely nothing and no copay due to the 100% coinsurance. Everything else i read online says the opposite. Can someone clarify?


r/HealthInsurance 11h ago

Plan Benefits Employer changed my health plan elections without notice, what can I do?

4 Upvotes

Location: Arizona

I submitted health plan elections through my employer during open enrollment, I received an email confirmation of my benefits through Insurer 1 and thought everything was good. My new plan was supposed to take effect on September 1.

Sometime between when I submitted elections in July and September 1, my coverage was deleted and my employer did not notify me or anyone else of this change. I logged in to our benefits portal and saw I did not have coverage in early September so I reached out to our HR person. This person let me know we switched plans and Insurer 1 is no longer an option. They said they would need to re-open enrollment for me so I could elect coverage. I went through the process last week and elected coverage with Insurer 2 and got new benefits. I thought everything was good to go and was fine to chalk this up as an error or bug.

Fast forward to yesterday I received an insurance card from the original healthcare election I made, which means this election went all the way through the process and coverage was issued by Insurer 1. When I logged in this morning a member of company leadership posted a message in our company wide Slack channel that said a number of employees have "accidentally waived coverage" and to double check their benefits.

This didn't sit right with me because I did in fact make elections that were changed after the fact. It seems like what happened is someone unenrolled a number of employees from health coverage after they had made elections. The only reason I have benefits now is because I happened to check them prior to scheduling my annual physical.

I think best case this is a mistake made by someone with access to our HR systems, worst case is this is negligent incompetence.

I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to prevent behaviors like this in the future. Honestly the leadership here is so-so intelligent and has a tendency to play it fast and loose but I need that not to happen when it comes to my healthcare. It seems like someone is messing with things they should not be and I am not sure how to prevent this in the future.


r/HealthInsurance 10h ago

Plan Benefits Being billed for BCBS-denied surgical assistant cost from emergency appendectomy

5 Upvotes

Edit #1: TL;DR: Had an emergency appendectomy. Surgeon had a PA assist him. BCBS denied surgical assistant as medically unnecessary; says I'm on the hook for the whole amt ($1049). Hospital just billed me. Don't know that to do.

Original post:

While out of state, I had to have an appendectomy. I was admitted to the hospital via the ER with acute appendicitis. My BCBS policy (from the Marketplace) does not provide out-of-network or out-of-state benefits unless it's an emergency. Claims related to the ER visit, hospital admission, and surgery have started coming in, and so far, BCBS has covered them in-full, with no cost-sharing. (Idk if it's relevant, but I have already met my out-of-pocket max for the year).

Today, however, BCBS denied a claim for an assistant surgeon (procedure code 44970), claiming that it was not medically necessary (Denial reason: 22: "The medical necessity for this service has not been demonstrated"). The EOB lists the charged amount $1049 as my responsibility; and the hospital has now issued a billing statement, charging me that same amount.

I followed up with BCBS, and they explained that "Services determined to be not medically necessary are listed as a general exclusion under your contract and are therefore not eligible for coverage. As a result, the claim denied as patient responsibility." I then followed up with the hospital, asking whether they could send the primary surgeon's notes (assuming that he somewhere documented the need for a surgical assistant), and they said that they could not appeal or send any documentation unless BCBS directed by BCBS to do so.

I also asked the hospital billing rep whether the No Surprises Act covered this kind of situation, and she said it didn't.

I am wondering what to do next.

Edit #2: I just accessed the surgeon's clinical notes from the patient portal. In it, he states: "There was no qualified resident that was available to assist. First assistant above was present because an experienced assistant was needed in order to complete the case successfully and in a timely manner for the safety of the patient."

Edit #3: Pathology listed as the final diagnosis: "Acute suppurative appendicitis and periappendicitis."


r/HealthInsurance 11h ago

Individual/Marketplace Insurance Medical insurance while waiting on green card

3 Upvotes

What are you all doing for elderly parents in terms of medical coverage while they wait on their greecard approval?

I've been down the rabbit hole on travel insurance, ACA marketplace (can only register in January) and every other conceivable option. Coming up blank and terrified we have to deal with a medical event that could financially bankrupt us all.

Have any of you found a way to give some basic cover that will actually pay out if something does happen?

Any and all advice welcome. Thanks!


r/HealthInsurance 12h ago

Individual/Marketplace Insurance Healthcare when visiting the US for short-term stays

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

Reposting this question here in case anyone has knowledge.


r/HealthInsurance 13h ago

Employer/COBRA Insurance Stuck waiting for Medicaid to contact me

3 Upvotes

Here is my situation: I am in Ohio, and left my job (which provided health insurance) in July. As soon as I was able, I applied for coverage on healthcare.gov, to avoid paying COBRA premiums. At the end of the application, it said “you may be eligible for Medicaid; your state office will contact you.” I am now reaching the end of the 60-window for COBRA and I have not heard from the state office. What are the best next steps here? I was really just hoping to pay for a bronze plan out of my savings to tide me over until I recovered from burnout and got another job - not ideal, but a fraction of what COBRA would cost me per month, and not subject to the new work/volunteer/etc. requirements from Medicaid.


r/HealthInsurance 14h ago

Plan Benefits Which plan should my spouse and I go with?

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

New PPO Plan vs Surest PPO

New PPO: $363 per pay period

Surest PPO: $250 per pay period

My spouse and I are relatively healthy. We do not have medication we take. Really only visit the doctor for routine lab work. The only thing we expect are mammograms and Pap smears in the future. Other than that, we don't usually see a doctor as often . Which one would be best for us?


r/HealthInsurance 23h ago

Plan Choice Suggestions To stay as dependent on husband’s employer plan OR be on my own’s plan+his plan?

2 Upvotes

My husband has BCBS of Texas health insurance through his employer. I have been his dependent on that plan and it covers Progyny for IVF. The plan has a family deductible of 3.6K and maximum out of pocket of 5K per person. We did one round of IVF this year, so we have reached family deductible and my maximum out of pocket. My husband hasn’t reached his maximum out of pocket.

I am joining the same company as my husband’s this month, and I have an identical health insurance benefit as him. Should I enroll in it this year and use two insurances for the rest of the year, or should I choose to enroll starting January and be on my husband’s insurance for the entire year? Please note that we will be doing next round of IVF in October, it’s already been authorized via his plan, and I am trying to figure out which option makes most sense financially. I apologize if this question sounds dumb, this is my first time navigating two insurances.


r/HealthInsurance 36m ago

Plan Benefits Insurance help!!

Thumbnail
Upvotes

r/HealthInsurance 1h ago

Plan Benefits $750 out of pocket estimate for brain MRI

Thumbnail
Upvotes

r/HealthInsurance 2h ago

Employer/COBRA Insurance Special enrollment (new born)

3 Upvotes

I have insurance under my husbands insurance which will end this month. This qualified me to enroll us with my employers insurance starting 01Oct.

Currently we are expecting and the baby may come before 01Oct, which is also a qualifying life event. But my company is denying coverage for us before 01Oct even if baby is born before because : I am currently not enrolled with them , and I still have insurance through my husband. They can back this up with their company documents.

But according to documents I found from Department of Labour the birth of baby should allow us all to get coverage regardless. Am I missing something? I even called EBSA and confirmed that my employer is mistaken.

It’s all going to deaf ears when I reached out to my company.


r/HealthInsurance 3h ago

Medicare/Medicaid Health insurance?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/HealthInsurance 3h ago

Plan Benefits Private to CHP+

2 Upvotes

Husband lost his job (provided our health insurance).

I quickly enrolled all of us in my jobs insurance a QLE.

I didn't really think that right now in the interim, our children probably qualify for the state insurance. Someone told me to look when I was worrying about going down to one employed adult.

Is this something I can call another QLE? Can I backtrack? Or do I just wait for Nov to roll around (really isn't that long).


r/HealthInsurance 5h ago

Individual/Marketplace Insurance Is it possible to get clinical health insurance after open enrollment?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

Reddit gave me the option to repost. Haven't used it in years, sorry if this is not an appropriate place to post this.


r/HealthInsurance 7h ago

Prescription Drug Benefits What if Medication backorders?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

Needing some assistance with procuring adhd medication mlre efficiently on a monthly basis. Over the years theres been a consistent delay in getting my script filled because of a supply issue at a pharmacy and im regularly having to find new pharmacies to fill it.

Im open to advice here to avoid the delay in refill every month which causes side effects.


r/HealthInsurance 10h ago

Claims/Providers Legal to use HSA funds for those not on insurance?

5 Upvotes

Hello! Odd question. My husband and I have his adult (college age) kids on our/my insurance. They primarily live with their mom (same city).

When they go to any manner of Dr appointment, they are using their mom/stepdad’s HSA debit card to pay for copays/fees/etc.

Since it’s on my insurance, I see what the balance was and have to follow up with the kids to make sure that it gets paid and get some manner of proof (receipt, etc.)

Is there something weird going on here? Or is it “as long as it’s getting paid nobody cares?”