(over) insurance

dotdot · Post by **dotdot** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 4:23 pm

I finally got to the part about insurance in the ERE book and am trying to weigh my options...
I pay $112/mo through my employer (I'm a federal employee) and my partner, who has sporadic freelance income, pays $250/mo for individual health insurance. We are legally married in our state, but because my employer is the federal government and DOMA, I cannot add my partner to my health insurance (if only it were that easy!). I think about early retirement and, at this point, our health insurance would go up to around $450 to have equivalent insurance at early retirement.
We are both in our early 30's and relatively healthy, although we both had emergency room/urgent care visits for injuries last year (one would have been $7k without insurance). I'm trying to come up with a creative solution to possibly pay less than $362 a month for insurance. My partner is hesitant to change insurance because the current plan covers more than a high-deductible one would.
I know Jacob wrote about insurance being for catastrophic coverage, which I agree with, but we are still working on boosting savings, so potentially having a $6500 deductible or having coverage denied is a little scary at this point. So my question is, what have you done in your situation? When is a good time to switch from insurance that will protect a fragile financial situation to catastrophic coverage? What about people with existing medical conditions? How about people that are self-employed?

LiquidSapphire · Post by **LiquidSapphire** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 4:53 pm

Have you recently verified that you cannot put your partner on your insurance?
It used to be that you could not put same sex partners on your federal health insurance but I believe this changed last year, due to pushes from Hillary Clinton at State and John Berry at OPM (John Berry is gay).
I would double triple check this because I think you can at the next open season.
Other than that, some HDHPs are not so HD... I have seen deductibles under $5K, maybe you can find one for $2K or $3K. The premium might be higher, but could be a compromise. Good luck.

GandK · Post by **GandK** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:29 pm

Are either of you members of a large professional organization? Sometimes you can get private health insurance at a (relative) discount that way. My husband is on my insurance at present, but because he's an attorney he can also get insurance through our state's bar association if he chooses. Pretty much any large professional group whose members are very likely to work on their own has an organization in place that, among other things, provides access to group coverage. I don't know how competitive the prices are and there's probably a membership fee involved, but it's worth a look in your situation.

dotdot · Post by **dotdot** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:34 am

LiquidSapphire - I think that announcement was something about long term care insurance, not health insurance. "Same sex partners are not eligible as a family member under your enrollment in FEHB." http://www.opm.gov/insure/lifeevents/le4a.asp
GandK - thanks, this is a very good idea. It looks like a lot of the professional organizations that had group insurance dropped it in California....hmm...

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 1:27 pm

For 2012 we switched to a HDHP. It was (is) a little scary because 2 of us have serious health issues. I was worried about the deductible, so over the last 2 years I put away the deductible amount in a savings account (and $1000 extra for things not covered). I'm continuing to put money away this year but into the HSA the plan affords me. Honestly I'm still really nervous about it but the small savings for that makes me feel a little better.
If you can find an HDHP that allows you to set up an HSA that would be best. You can roll money from one year to the next to build up a safety net. After a couple of healthy years you would have enough put aside for emergencies in the HSA and it has tax benefits.
I'm really surprised you can't get your partner on the plan though. Even my DH could have done it this year (and his employer is not progressive in any way). Shameful.

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 1:44 pm

Under DH's plan your partner could not be counted as family and would not get the employee + 1 rate, but could be insured at the employee rate. Not as cheap but good coverage at a competitive rate. I hope you can get it for next year.

MacGyverIt · Post by **MacGyverIt** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:53 am

I'm been looking into this as health insurance (affording it in the long term) is a big concern for my ERE goals. I'm considering the Vanguard HSA as it has a decent portfolio.
Vanguard HSA: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatwe ... lthsavings

Vguard HSA portfolio options: https://hsaadministrators.info/vanguard-funds-list
In 2012 the personal HSA contribution is up to $3100 for individuals (http://www.hsacenter.com/2012limits.html) so you could invest the full $3100 and consider it an investment unless/until you have a medical need then put any amount btwn the $3100 and your HDHP (say 10k) into an interest bearing account. This will likely be the way I go when I am free from the 9 to 5.
I'm interested if folks here have better ideas for how to "invest" the HSA. Vanguard's HSA was the result of some Googling but there may be better options out there.
... All though I'm unsure what happens to any money generated by the $3100 in any funds - I can't imagine it's as easy as they cut a check over and above the IRS allowed amount.