The system is awful. The bill for a knee surgery from June 2022--18 months ago!!!--is still in process. At this point, the insurer and healthcare provider are dealing with how things are coded, and I'm crossing my fingers they can reach agreement, but that's not a given. So, I can't totally forget about it. Such a mess.
We just tried to figure out our health care coverage options through my spouse’s employer for our big health care usage family. It was ridiculous even though I’ve run a complicated spreadsheet many years and it turns out that for our family, OOP Max + annual premiums is our defining situation. Last year we were annoyed by the plan that was a PPO with lower deductible and a million piecemeal bills, so this year we’re trying the High Deductible plan with the HSA to see if that process that costs about the same overall but all up front. The money is about the same, but how it shows up is the issue.
I'm also painfully aware of the cost of my time having to decide which health coverage to choose. Even I can't believe it took prime hours out of about 10 days. But being unemployed and trying to estimate my income for next year was tough. Could be very little or could be too much to get a subsidy. And none of the doctors I recently started using with my corporate coverage accept the plans on the marketplace. And I've had to do this so many years. With more and more people freelancing and looking for their own insurance, the inefficiency and lost productivity is high. This cost me time I could have been looking for work.
The system is awful. The bill for a knee surgery from June 2022--18 months ago!!!--is still in process. At this point, the insurer and healthcare provider are dealing with how things are coded, and I'm crossing my fingers they can reach agreement, but that's not a given. So, I can't totally forget about it. Such a mess.
We just tried to figure out our health care coverage options through my spouse’s employer for our big health care usage family. It was ridiculous even though I’ve run a complicated spreadsheet many years and it turns out that for our family, OOP Max + annual premiums is our defining situation. Last year we were annoyed by the plan that was a PPO with lower deductible and a million piecemeal bills, so this year we’re trying the High Deductible plan with the HSA to see if that process that costs about the same overall but all up front. The money is about the same, but how it shows up is the issue.
Thank you, Annie! I always love reading your newsletters. You are spot on with this one. Happy holidays to you!!
I'm also painfully aware of the cost of my time having to decide which health coverage to choose. Even I can't believe it took prime hours out of about 10 days. But being unemployed and trying to estimate my income for next year was tough. Could be very little or could be too much to get a subsidy. And none of the doctors I recently started using with my corporate coverage accept the plans on the marketplace. And I've had to do this so many years. With more and more people freelancing and looking for their own insurance, the inefficiency and lost productivity is high. This cost me time I could have been looking for work.
It's so wild and inefficient, isn't it?