Hello Moms,
My husband will soon be taking a job, for about $10 more/hour. But, the employer does not offer a health insurance benefit. I am not sure the raise in pay will compensate for the cost of an individual plan for families. I have heard so many horror stories about the high cost. As of now, we are with BCBS of TX and it is about $160 health-$19 dental/check (twice-monthly). If you have an individual plan now, or have previously, could you please give me any information (i.e. monthly rates, start-up fees, service, companies etc) about it. Also, would I be able to just sign up my husband and myself and have the kids on a seperate insurance, like CHIP? I'm sure we would meet the income guideline.
Thanks in Advance for your help!
A. V
I bought an individual plan for my son through Aetna. You can go to their website directly to get a quote - www.aetna.com. What I did, though, was use an online service www.ehealthinsurance.com and compared several plans from several different companies...Aetna, BCBS, Unicare, etc.
Good Morning Amada V
I look at the cost of your medical and dental and have to smile. I'm retireed, have BcBS for me and my daughter. I pay 560.64 a month, with a 700, deductible (350@) and still have copays. This doesn't include dental. Do you have a deductible and copays. If not, thank God for the amout you are paying. If you get something different, it may not cover pre-existing illnesses.
One thing to keep in mind about individual insurance policies in Texas -- none of them have maternity benefits. None of them. I found this out the hard way when I was told that not only would my current policy not cover any pregnancy-related expenses, but I couldn't even buy a policy with any insurance company that would. The State of Texas does not require insurance companies to offer maternity coverage for individual policies, so none of them do. They only have to offer maternity benefits for people with group policies. Unless you are absolutely positive you are done having children, you'll want to avoid buying an individual insurance policy -- either by getting in on a group policy if you can, or, if you qualify, going the Medicare route. Good luck!
Hi, A., I am a SAHM of 4 and when we only had 3 kiddoes, neither of us had insurance with work. Our premiums for a $1000 deductible and 80/20 coinsurance were over $600 a month through BCBS. I was checking in Unicare rates when my husband got a job that had benefits. Their rates seemed lower. Individual health insurance is expensive and does not usually cover maternity if you're planning on more kiddoes. Hope the advice helps.
