Health Alliance

Yesterday at my new job I found the paperwork for my new health insurance benefits. They suck. Really bad. I told my (now ex?! what??) radio co-worker about what they offer, and he said "Wow, I thought OUR benefits were bad." It's expensive and you get hardly anything. I didn't find anything for dental or vision in there so I don't think I even have dental or vision insurance. Bad.

So I'm praying this other job I've put in for comes through, but since I don't count my chickens before they hatch and since life likes to kick me in the gut repeatedly which likely means I WON'T get the job, I'm thinking about getting insurance through Health Alliance. HA is fairly common for smaller businesses to offer around here, the small business I interview at a few months ago uses them, even some larger businesses use them... but I've never had to shop for health insurance before so I have no idea what I'm really looking at here. I'm looking at plans that are around $100 a month which isn't exactly cheap but it's not terrible either (and is cheaper than what my new work insurance would cost - which would be TWICE what my old insurance at the radio station cost, ack.) I really just need catastrophe insurance and to get my annual covered plus my birth control, and chiropractic benefits as well.

Anybody used them either as an individual, or even through their work? How do you like them? Or do you guys know of another company out there I could look at?

Get quotes from everyone, the more you have to compare, the better. Compare the details that you need, but also deductible, copays, what's excluded, the payment set up for scripts, etc.

Unfortunately $100/mo isn't going to get you a whole ton either way - when DH and I looked at private insurance, plans worth anything were easily $400/person/mo.

Does the new job offer any FSA or HSA options?

The only issue I see is chiropractic coverage. I don't think you'll find many bare-bones plans that cover it. Usually, you have to find an insurance that will cover visits with specialists, and that's where it'll start getting pricier.

Sadly, I've gotta to agree. My husband and I have great insurance, but it comes at a price. We pay around $460 a month for medical, dental and vision combined.

Personally, I think $100/month is really cheap. That's what it cost an individual for the employee sponsored plan at my old work, and through the school district it's $130/individual ($450 if you insure your spouse! Luckily, my husband's company is only $200 for employee + spouse). Dental/vision is extra.

I would ask your chiropractor if they offer discounts for paying cash, and then calculate if it's worth paying for the extra insurance to cover the chiro care. I know my dentist charges one rate if insurance is footing the bill, but will knock it down a % if you pay out of pocket, since they don't have to deal with paperwork and such. I'm pretty sure I was paying $20 copays to see the chiropractor for a $70 visit--so if I could have just paid $50 and walked out the door, it would have only been an extra $30 every two weeks ($780/year), and that may be less than the cost of the extra insurance.

Gotta agree about the $100. I can't see that buying you much of anything

I think we contribute close to $300 a month for family plan employer sponsored insurance. There are a couple different tiers and we get the 'best' offered............no vision, but we do have dental.

Like I said, I'm not looking for the most comprehensive insurance in the world... just something where I can go get my annual every year and where if I fall on a run and break my ankle or something I'm not totally $(@*ed as far as medical bills go.
It was quite a bit less than $100 at the station for health, dental, AND vision... but I was on the "cheap" plan. I don't go to the doctor much so it was fine. The "high" plan was over $100, but not as expensive as my new employer, and it was much better coverage for what I was paying... =/ I've never seen coverage so crappy and this is JUST the health, I haven't even seen dental or vision coverage so I'm starting to suspect we don't even have any. I'm guessing they really have no idea how to negotiate insurance rates at this place. We're not even really a small company, I know people working in offices of less than 10 people with better insurance. X_X And nope, no HSA or FSA either.


I found one of those "GET A MILLION QUOTES ON ONE SITE" places last night and remembered Blue Cross does individual plans, plus my doctor takes them, and they have a ton of options in the $100-120 range after you add the dental rider, up to about $145 which is a seriously decent plan. VCP is $13 a month and I think that's what we used at the station, so that $160/mo would get me covered. A ton more than I was paying before but still better than what I'd get where I work now, which is pretty disgusting that I could get far better for less on my own...

Yeah, a friend of mine works for the city and HIS insurance is free... but it's like $600 or something to add a spouse. :yikes: Apparently though, if you have kids, it's still just $600 for everybody. So if you had like four people it's only $600 total for everybody. Good for people with families and kids, sucks for him since it was just him and his wife. =P

The chiro gives me a small break because my whole family goes there, right now it was actually the same as my "specialist co-pay" through work, so I didn't actually get anything haha. It may not be worth it ultimately to pay extra for chiro benefits given that, as long as he doesn't have to do any more x-rays (he did them before I started going for adjustments but that was years ago) I think I'm okay. Good point.