3700$ for health ins.!!!! Anybody have a cheaper plan?

[Twotoros]

Just got my yearly increase. 55$!!! Now paying 309 a month.
47 non-smoker. What a rip. If I try raising my customers that much I would be picking buckshot out of my arse.
Anything out there cheaper??? And decent. I now have Premera Blue Cross.

[smburgess]

WOW! 43 non-smoker $157 per month. Great plan. Trigon Healthkeepers.

[Administrator]

Any ideas how I can use the power of 3,300+ registered members to negate a discount from a major insurance provider?

Chuck

[Mr.Ziffel]

We just got our notice from Blue Cross Premera and they didn't even give us the dollar cost, probably assuming we wouldn't renew. They just put in big bold red letters that as of July 1, our health care would increase by 60%, through my wife's former employer's group, and I don't mean because of the end of her COBRA but because that's what they decided to raise it. Our COBRA ran out a few years ago but some ex-employees formed an association and got group insurance.

We can go non-group, but then we can't get any eye or dental and the cost will be more than it is even now. With two grade school kids, being self-employed is starting to look like a luxury. I could get a government job but I had to quit the one I had before because I was too bored to spend the day hiding out and avoiding work. I work harder and enjoy it more and wouldn't want to go back, even for the bennies.

Chuck, there should be some type of affinity program you can get involved in if an insurer is interested in lawnsite members as a group but I don't know about it, but I'd sure be interested. Will M.

[LoneStarLawn]

Try http://www.quotesmith.com to see if you can get a better rate..I believe you can.

[guntruck]

Chuck im all for it if its possible. I Know countless people on here that would be interested also....... good thought!!!

[Vandora Lawn & Landscape]

A co op would be specacular!

[MikeGA]

31 no smoke, no drink 2 kids wife. Just went from $431/month to $451/month goes up $20 to $50 per year. "due to the increase in health care, although we tell the providers how much they can charge, we decided its time to rip you another one, you don't have high enough monthly bills yet, and the doctors need payments for their lake homes and Hummers." BCBS of GA.

[Charles]

This is what some on he and myself have been saying on the forum for quite awhile. As self employed people we are screwed when it comes to health insurance. And you need to get a bigtime company that will hopefully be in business for your lifetime. If you get a no name company and they fold when you are over 50 good luck getting any reasonably priced insurance at that age. The company I am with keeps raising rate periodically as I age. They all do. At 60 before medicare kicks in it will be around 500 a month. God forbid if you lose your insurance and then you get a major illness and then try to get reinsured. I know a man with heart problems. he was covered under his wifes job and her employer went bankrupt and he was selfemployed and went to looking for insurance. They wanted 10000$$$ a quarter!!! and thats all he could get until medicare kicked in. We keep getting post are we charging too much. With all the insurance and taxes we have to pay---- hail no

[powerreel]

Mr.Z- same letter....Group Death is even worse. Maybe Gary Locke will save us!LOL!

[Scotty]

My wife and I are 37 nonsmokers with two young children. We now pay $605.00 a month for our family. Last year our insurance increased $80.00 a month, this year $50.00 a month. I don't think we use $7260.00 a year in medical, I can't remember the last time I went to the doctor.

[HOMER]

BCBS of Alabama through Alfa: $580.00 every 2 months

$1500.00 deduct per family, $500.00 per person

80/20 coverage

Beats paying the 490.00 a month cobra

[Pentonenterprises]

Try a high deductible policy teamed with a Medical Savings Account...The MSA is fully deductible...I have an MSA that we pay $200 a month into and the high deductible plan costs $149 a month with me, my wife, and 4 young children...We only go to the doctor when necessary and pay for all expenses out of the MSA...the deductible is $4500 year...what we have developed is our own self insured plan that has a back up if we have serious health problems develop.

email me if you want more information.

[Samurai WeedWacker]

Age 49 nonsmoker. For my daughter & me, $2500 deductible per year, $197/month includes NASE membership fee.

[Pentonenterprises]

by putting that money into the MSA what we are experiencing with after tax benefits is a positive gain on $51...which means the government pays us $51 to have our health insurance....

[Atlantic Lawn]

We were in the same boat here. Rates kept goin up and coverage kept goin down, we never had enough claims even with three kids to meet our ever rising deductable. This winter we just couldn't find a plan to meet our budget and needs so for the first time in over 25 years we were without health insurance for two months. Guess what happened.....my wife gets hit in the mouth with a baseball at a little league practice, knocked out cold,plastic surgery to her face and dental bills have added up to about 5k. The league's insurance will pick up most of the bill. As we know Murphy is lurking around every corner... my advice is stayed insured while you shop around. Count me in on any "group" we could put together.

[Charles]

I have heard of the NASE and have talked to a rep. But what bothers me is that if they have a slew of claims coming in that causes them to go under then where would we be? How stable will they be over the long term? I have checked out their website and they have many programs. Do you go with a company with a longterm history or the new kid on the block? That is the million dollar question

[Fine Lines Lawn]

NASE...
Yikes!
My attorney could go on and on. So could I, but I'll limit it to suggesting that you never have a claim.

[Charles]

We need more details Finelineslawn. Sounds like you have some important info about this company. Without getting slanderous of course tell us what happen to you.

[John DiMartino]

Mine costs 647 a mo,31,non smoker/non drinker,wife N/s,n/d,3 kids.I have bluecross,bluechoice HMO.I never went to the doctor til this last year-now I am getting my moneys worth with my 2 herniated discs.

[GrassMaster]

Hello Everybody:

Chuck, the Administrator said Quote: >>Any ideas how I can use the power of 3,300+ registered members to negate a discount from a major insurance provider? Chuck<<

Chuck, I've had a insurance company lined up for months. They say all they need is numbers to give Group Rates & they be glad to do it? It's one of the Biggest Green Industry Insurance companies out there. But folks don't seem interested in it. The company is able to provide insurance of almost anykind for almost any State in the United States.

As I can tell it doesn't appear anybody is Interested in it.

My Partner & I has done all we can do. We got the Insurance Company lined up that could Give Group Rates on just about any phase of the Green Industry needs.

Can't do nothing unless we have the numbers of Members to make it happen.

It's all there in Black & White, it just takes Great Numbers to get it going. That's all we can do?

We have it all in Place to get the Discounts & if we can't get the very best prices. We can always go somewhere else, we have the Know How to get the Insurance Company to give the best possible rates. If they don't & we have the numbers needed in membership, we can just go somewhere else?

BTW: Please don't get me wrong, butt if a 1,000 people joined in the next week. I still would not be payed enough for my time, expenses & 100's of hours of effort I've put into this.

My Hospitalization has just went up to $481 a month for family of 4. That's $5,772 a year. It's putting a hurting on my wallet T00!

Non Members can get on the Phone & call our Sponsors, & yes a few of them will give in & get the discounts. But try getting on the Phone & get one of the Biggest Green Industry Insurance Companies to give you the Group rate compared to a Membership if it had just a 1,000 members.

If we had a 1,000+ members we could reap the most benefits that could be even thought of? Suppliers & Service related companies would be chasing us offering our members Discounts that could never even be thought of on the Phone or anywhere else.

Then we could just take ideas from the membership & we call the shots instead of the Suppliers? They would come to us on a Silver Platter with offers for our Pricebreakusa.com members?

Could you even fathom what we could do if we wanted to order say 35 of one kind of ZTR or if we wanted the Best price possible on 50 Ford F250's, 350 individuals wanted Group Insurance for Hospitalization? The list could go on for ever if we never get another Sponsor!

Thanks a Million Chuck for letting me Post this? It will work, we've already done all the leg work & everything is in place, it just takes numbers to make it happen. What else can we do? I would be glad to listen to any ideas that anybody has? Post it here on this Forum & I do all I can do to help make it happen?

[Fine Lines Lawn]

Grassmaster... I'm interested. First I've heard of this, so more details please.
...as to NASE, I can't make any further comments at this time since litigation is still pending.
I may be able to post more tomorrow.

[CSRA Landscaping]

I would like some more info on this too. I already have a 2 year old daughter and another on the way.

[GrassMaster]

Hello Everybody:

Hey are you guys checking out the banners Chuck has on this site? There is Plenty of Sponsors here & they are looking to do business with you now.

I'm not even in the Lawn Service Business & I always try to click on a few! :-) It really Helps the Forum in a Very Positive Direction.

As you can tell Lawnsite.com just Keeps Getting Better Every Day!

Like I say in order for it to work we need a number of members to be able to obtain the Group Rates at a good price, they claim that they can give very competitive prices on all phases of your Insurance needs now.

[CSRA Landscaping]

Grassmaster, are you Nilsson in disguise? Or are you A-1? At any rate, that could be why there's not an overwhelming response rate.

[sheppard]

My wife got Mega Life and Health Inn. 800-527-5504. She's fairly happy with it (this is in itself remarkable). This comapny specializs in self-employed people. Think she's paying $229.00 a month. The options you want would make your price different. Hope this helps.

Cordially,
Sheppard

[Lee Homan]

I would definately be interested but I would like to see some numbers before I put down my $49.50.

[MATTHEW]

there is no other way to go.nase!!!!!!!! don't
panic too much about premiums. you get what you pay
for. nase is in the average. but, if you sign up
for association105 you can deduct 100% of the premiums
and all out of pocket expenses!! it is legal. they do
all the work for you. you need to qualify. you need to
have a spouse on the payroll.i will save $1500 this year.

[David Gretzmier]

woa- this floated to the top and i missed it back in may- I'm switching companies at the moment because my insurance comapany- national travelers- is getting out of the business in Nov. my rates are around 300 month for 2500 deduct and 25 co-pay for 32 drinker, smoker, drug user, and no-good loser...

kidding, but 32 nd/ns and wife, 4yr old daughter. looking for medical saving account, but last year my daughter had 28,000 in hospital surgery and the insurance paid all but deduct and some incidentals.
I'm open for ideas..

Dave g

[lawnman_scott]

Mine is $134 a month 34 somker. Sounds fair priced compared to some.

[lawnman_scott]

Lawnman scott, its spelled smoker, not somker.

[steveair]

hello,

I only am part time in the biz, but have full coverage (major, prescription, dental, eye) through my full time job. From up above, I was told that if you average out what the company pays per year for all its 16 employees + family members, that it averages out to $800 a month per employee.

I've often wondered if saving money and investing would be better than having a health insurance. I've been with the company for over 2 years now, and besides a few dental cleaning bills, one cavity, and one trip to the doctors (about $800 in total), I have zero claims. If they were to just give me the 800 dollars a month instead of insurance, I would then have $9200 a year in the bank earning interest. I could have close to 20K in 'health' insurance then already in the bank.

Of course, one accident/health problem and bills could hit 100k in now time, but what are the chances of that. If the chances of something major happening at my age (27) were high, then health insurance would be WAY higher.

It really makes you wonder on how to approach things now. If young, you could start saving, and putting that money away, earning interest. Then, when you start getting older, you could have a large nest egg. Much like a 401k. The key here of course, is to start when you are young and to be diciplined enough to not touch the money until the day you need it. Think about 9200 being saved up each year and how much that money could be at age 45 if invested modestly in lower yield, safer type investments.

I have to question health care these days. People are living way longer than they use too. I have a grandma who's 70 and she has been in and out of the hospital weekly for the past 10 YEARS. I love her, but hate to say that if it wasn't for all this new technology, she would have 'met here time' 8-10 years ago. I've seen her bills, and there's now way that during her lifetime she put enough money into a health plan to cover the expenses that she has. So, all of you people are paying for it.

Society is becoming a 'hospitalized' group of people. In years to come, I think rates are just going to skyrocket. All this new technology is fascinating but very expensive. Also, we all want to live forever anymore, and with the technology, it seems we can keep people alive for years longer than ever before. The only problem is, who is going to pay the bill for a eldering women on life support in a hospital that costs 1k a day when she's in there for 5 years. The answer is US. I don't think the true economical impact of health expensives has even started to begin yet. The way I see it, rates will be doubling, tripling, even quadroupling over the next 20 years if people coninue to 'force themselves to live' forever as we are beginning to see.

steveair

[awm]

i have mine thru my wifes harris teeter plan.
if not for that id just have to stay young and healthy.

[TLS]

I get my Insurance (Vision, Dental, Medical, Legal, Fitness) through my part-time job at the Supermarket. I've been there almost 14 years and make a decent wage, but the benifits are outstanding! I am required to work at least 8hrs a week. I work another 8 on Sundays (time and a half). In the winter, they give me 40+ hours and when it snows, (cough-cough) i'm sick! I consider myself a fulltimer (mowing wise) and get to spend my weekends in a free airconditioned workplace.

This may sound bad, but there are several jobs out there that give benifits and would allow you to continue to work your (green) job. To those that are complaining, CHARGE MORE $. This is part of your overhead and should be considered in your bids.

[Volhunter]

Hey, I'm all for checking into some type of group plan. I think it is a great idea. Never know until its checked out.

[CSRA Landscaping]

Well, alright. Now that I've had my rant let me say that I'm sorry. Also, I would be game for this, I just need to see some hard figures before I commit to anything.

[GrassMaster]

Hello Everybody & CSRA Landscaping:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote: Grassmaster, are you Nilsson in disguise? Or are you A-1? At any rate, that could be why there's not an overwhelming response rate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No I'm not, I's the GrAssMaster? :-)

Of all the Post I've ever made on this website, I think I've asked 2 or 3 questions, only 2 questions answered I think & the rest have been to help others. Now that's pretty good don't you think?

I would not Jepordise GrAssMaster, David Fiveash's name or anything else, as I take all this very serious. I've worked hard to build up my Credibility & wouldn't do anything to harm it? I can not be bought & I would never profit off others in a dishonest way ever! That's a Fact Jack! :-) Hey, I hear a bunch of cheering in the Background? LOL, :-)

Just like in my home town I've helped plenty get started in the Business. If I sell them something well that's OK, If I don't I still know I helped them & their families. That means far more than Monetary gain to me.

I almost died of a Massive Heat Stroke & it was because I was Stupid. I thought I had to do it all & I had to work harder than everybody else, proving my self to others.

About 12 years ago I was one Bullet Proof Joker & no body was near the man I was, then the Next day & for over a month after that I couldn't drive, because I almost Killed my self working in the heat. Trying to prove to others that I was Bad to the Bone. If I can help Prevent this Happening to one person & their family, well I will consider myself Winning the Golden Rivet Award. I have won many & will win plenty more, ask some of the other members! :-)

If someone can & ever offers to help me no matter who they are or what they look like, I'll let them do it. They might help me & they might not, it's the thought that counts. Not many folks ever helped me out but I remember every one of them? If I have to pay my way that's OK T00!

Hey I'm a fairly good at this Writing & Internet stuff, I didn't even finish the 10th grade, but I does OK for a 8-Up JawJa Redneck don't I. If I ever finsh any of My Books I will give you every one that I complete & put for sale. Just Remind me? :-) I wish everyone the Best Of the Best!

I'm very happy the way things are now, God has blessed my part of the U.S. with rain & I thank him for every drop!:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Last year I drove home one day & 8 yards in a row the Grass was Dead. Now when I drive anywhere around here Everything is Green & Beautiful. My Prayers have been answered. Thanks a Million!

[CSRA Landscaping]

Dave,
So what about some figures for us to put our minds to? That would help out a bit.

[powerreel]

I would look @ the teeth VERY close on ANY horse Nillson/A-1 has for sale!

[GrassMaster]

What happened that was so wrong? :-)

[CSRA Landscaping]

Let's not go there, Dave.

[Fine Lines Lawn]

My attorney got the check this week. After he takes his cut, I'll get mine :)