Oh, yeah, and we in the US are putting those foxes in charge of the hen house now, instead of getting decent public option like you have in Canada.

Like car insurance, she should just pay out of pocket for the small stuff. But it's too late for that. Just be glad that she didn't have MORE claims, they'd probably triple that additional premium.

But all it takes is one misstep and a broken bone and those $$$ will seem like peanuts.
That's still only $90 a month.
You would have been better enrolling her for not a finite period I think.

Of course I agree Linda, that's why I got it. Mind you that's my point they have you between a rock and a hard place. The price of insurance should be a factor of risk though. At my age triple that would be fair.

Couldn't enroll her for an indefinite period. It had to be for a specific time. The price was ONLY as cheap as it was because our provincial health care covers some emergency hospitalization etc. and this kicks in AFTER our insurance and but our provincial insurance has limits on your time out of country.

But isn;'t that the point of group insurance -- to spread out the risk? We all pay close to the same, knowing that the older folks will be needing more care.

If I could get health insurance for $90 a month I would quit my job tomorrow.

Still, I see your point and the entire system is a complete mess.

At the business that I owned, we provided 100% insurance coverage. It has been more than 7 years since I left, but at that time the rates were between $350 and $650 a month per person, dependant on their age and whether or not they had dependants.

Not sure about the $90.... but from my perspective her insurance went from $66 a month to $162 a month because of an $85 claim and that isn't right. They specifically told me the premium would have stayed the same had she not made the $85 claim.

Don't forget this is not full insurance, it's supplemental medical insurance no prescriptions etc. and our provincial plan has to pay up first.

I'm just so glad I don;t have to deal with these robbers regularly....

That's exactly why we need health care reform. Unfortunately, by requiring everyone to have INSURANCE, sushipup is right about the foxes being in charge of the henhouse. Our goverment is idiotic. For some reason, no one can figure out that taking the insurance companies out of the system as the middlemanthief, would lower our costs across the board. Figuring out who should run it is our problem. No, the US can't take their cues from other countries who are doing it successfully, we have to make it more complicated so insurance companies can stay in business.

As recently as 24 years ago....the MO was the health care provider sent you a bill and you paid it or not and sent the claim which YOU FILLED OUT YOURSELF to the ins. company and they either paid the Dr or hospital directly, or paid you and you paid the bill. If the Dr. accepted assignment....the insurance company paid him directly....if the Dr did not accept assignment, then he billed you and you paid his bill.
Then somehow the insurance companies convinced people that they would pay all claims and send $$ only to teh provider....and drs then had to have staff to handle claims....and now they have whole offices with managers and secretaries and date input people.....and we are all paying for it. Doctors and patients alike.
The health insurance industry created itself!

I feel your pain, Sharon. And it's not just health insurance, either. They are all as crooked as the day is long.

And by golly, they all get their big ol' bonus checks, too.

Our system is FUBAR'd, allright.

Linda

Why can't you get her some insurance in Australia? I must say, those rates are pretty cheap, when my daughter was unemployed, 10 years ago, I paid for her health insurance for a while, BC/BS was $300 a month in Maryland, and she was healthy and in her early 20's. It's quite a profitable business!

Speaking of insuring our traveling children, I need to find health insurance that will cover my son as he sails international waters. Any ideas?

As I mentioned this is not full insurance only supplemental insurance.

I'm not saying the rates are too high. What I am annoyed at is that rates jumped by such an amount just because of a small claim.

Anyhow, guess I am just spoiled with the health care coverage we have in Canada and thankful I don't have to normally deal with these guys.

Insurance companies want one thing: profit. They don't care about anything else. What other industry can get away with telling you that if you actually use their product, they will cut you off from access to it?

I shouldn't even get started on this. I just spent most of the morning trying to get ours to tell me a) if they would approve the test my MD wants, and B) how much it will cost me if they do approve it, and c) what ramifications will be down the road if I choose not to have the test. They couldn't -- or wouldn't -- answer any of those questions. I ended up getting the price and my out-of-pocket from the billing department of the hospital. In the end, I cancelled the test, which, no doubt, made the insurance company happy.

There's a reason my DC used to tell us to "just pay cash for appointments because it's cheaper and easier for both of us." I ran the numbers, and he was right. It was a LOT cheaper to just pay him direct.

Barnmom I have no idea of the cost but many UK and international ex-pats here use BUPA or BUPA International when moving around the globe or living in another country.
It seems to be a respected company among the British living here, but currently I have no personal experience with international medical insurance.
However it may be worth your having a look.

SharonCb

Don't even get me started on insurance, and not only health. When I quit working ten years ago we had to get our own insurance, it cost $525.00 a month per year and now it is $1130.00 a month per year,well it just went up again and so more than that and our deductible is $5,000.00. I just turned 56 and DH is 61. What really makes me boil is we have never used it. I go to the Dr. once a year to have my BP medicine refilled and maybe a sinus infection or two , just office visits.. DH hadn't used it probably three times since we have had it and that was for office visits until last year and he had some tests done. He had an MRI and some other tests and out of pocket was $4800.00 That is the only time we have used it for more than probably 3-4 office visits per year.

We pay insurance out the a**, auto, truck, pivot,tractors, equipment, livestock, liability on farm workers, shop, even on two old farm houses that aren't worth anything, then there is homeowners and I am sure I am forgetting something.

But, it is just like my Dad used to say "you don't need it till you need it." I am thankful we haven't, but I guess what makes we made is that we have to pay for those that do.

Thank you, Sharon!

Trixie took the words right out of my mouth - "Don't even get me started on this." I'm now on a fixed income, yet my insurances and doctors and medicines all keep going up. Yes, "highway robbery" is an understatement. And I won't go off on a rant but I certainly could.

Fortunately I have health insurance at work, but when I was self employed, I felt that I couldn't afford it, and I got discounts at the doctor's office for paying cash, not to mention free sample of my BP medicine. The insurance I hate now is the mortgage insurance, which is $200 a month and was instituted recently because of all of the foreclosures in the past couple of years. I won't have to pay it once I have equity, and I would have had to pay it if I could have come up with a larger down payment, but I did what I could.

I sincerely hope we get a single-payer option for health care because insurance companies are only out of themselves. I think they are too powerful now (because of all of the money they have gauged from innocent victims) to be put out of business, but that is what I think they deserve. Health care should not be a capitalist enterprise that caters only to those with the most money. Anyone can suddenly lose everything and their health insurance with it.