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Archive 2017 · Health insurance?

  
 
NYCPhotog
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Health insurance?


For the pros that are doing on their own, and being a photographer is their full-time gig, how did you acquire health insurance? Can you provide some feedback on your experiences?

I put this thread in the wedding section as well as it seems that has the biggest, and most frequented, gathering of people who are full-time photographers.



Mar 15, 2017 at 11:36 AM
DannyBostwick
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Health insurance?


I have to go through the Marketplace. The affordable care act is brutal and makes my blood boil every time it's brought up in conversation, I think the intentions were pure, but it was poorly executed. We pay 80% of what our mortgage payment is a month for healthcare, for a shoddy plan that doesn't cover much. I know some people here use the Health Sharing systems, it didn't work for us because of a condition my wife has, they wouldn't accept us. It's expensive, it sucks, but I just deal with it, laugh it off and move on.


Mar 15, 2017 at 12:45 PM
NYCPhotog
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Health insurance?


DannyBostwick wrote:
I have to go through the Marketplace. The affordable care act is brutal and makes my blood boil every time it's brought up in conversation, I think the intentions were pure, but it was poorly executed. We pay 80% of what our mortgage payment is a month for healthcare, for a shoddy plan that doesn't cover much. I know some people here use the Health Sharing systems, it didn't work for us because of a condition my wife has, they wouldn't accept us. It's expensive, it sucks, but I just deal with it, laugh it off and move on.


Did you try to get insurance through Professional Photographers of America?



Mar 15, 2017 at 12:47 PM
DannyBostwick
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Health insurance?


NYCPhotog wrote:
Did you try to get insurance through Professional Photographers of America?


I did a few years ago, it was more than the marketplace. Forgot about that though, will look into it.



Mar 15, 2017 at 12:50 PM
rkgatteleport
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Health insurance?


We use the marketplace too - Its an annual nightmare to sign up for :-( We seem to go back and forth many times on income estimates - and its not like they'll just tell you what they don't like (preferably in an email so you can just fix it/provide additional documentation or whatever) - its always a half hour to an hour wait on the phone to get an answer that may or (more often than not) may not be correct - you fix what they tell you is the problem, they still don't like it, and its another 1/2-1 hour wait on the phone to find the next issue...

The cost is what the cost is I guess, but I agree with the prior poster about it not being cheep anymore - healthcare is now our largest expense :-(

But at least its a devil you know - with my luck the revised version will be even more of a nightmare to deal with :-(

Good Luck,
rkg
(Richard George)

NYCPhotog wrote:
For the pros that are doing on their own, and being a photographer is their full-time gig, how did you acquire health insurance? Can you provide some feedback on your experiences?

I put this thread in the wedding section as well as it seems that has the biggest, and most frequented, gathering of people who are full-time photographers.





Mar 15, 2017 at 01:06 PM
MRomine
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Health insurance?


DannyBostwick wrote:
I think the intentions were pure, but it was poorly executed.


If you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell you on the cheap.

To think that insurance companies and any politician's intentions are pure is just plain...I don't know what the word is for it.



Mar 15, 2017 at 01:54 PM
Tony Hoffer
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Health insurance?


We have a health sharing co-op. Our premiums would have nearly tripled in 2014 so we went the non-traditional route.

I don't understand why our country can't figure this out. It's not like we Americans are all fat, cancer-ridden and incapable of change.... oh wait.

(Typed as a finish my Starbucks Latte)



Mar 15, 2017 at 02:19 PM
rw11
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Health insurance?


our country can figure this out... and has example form every other developed country on the planet

but there are vested interests that prevent it

the bigger the group that negotiates for you, the better your insurance will be - that is why the PPA is not a good deal



Mar 15, 2017 at 03:55 PM
3catsinky
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Health insurance?


I go through the marketplace. for some reason or other I lost dental even after I had paid, but I went straight to the provider for a $2 difference in premium. For health insurance, the ACA has been awesome! I am diabetic, and my coverage has been superb!! So, for me, I am very concerned about what might happen with the new proposed bill.


Mar 15, 2017 at 04:33 PM
Depth of Feel
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Health insurance?


Repeat after me, Medicare for all!


Mar 15, 2017 at 09:06 PM
DannyBostwick
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Health insurance?


MRomine wrote:
If you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell you on the cheap.

To think that insurance companies and any politician's intentions are pure is just plain...I don't know what the word is for it.


Ha, well I mean that the provisions about not being able to deny people health care due to previous conditions and making it accessible to everyone is, in theory, a good thing. However, when those conditions are self inflicted through smoking, drinking & the inability to eat a salad for lunch every day, I have a bit more of a problem with it all.



Mar 16, 2017 at 09:37 AM
flash
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Health insurance?


Not getting involved with your politics but I do feel for you guys. Health insurance just isn't something we need to worry about here. I can't imagine the stress it must put you guys under to see what's covered and what isn't.

Gordon



Mar 16, 2017 at 02:47 PM
jlafferty
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Health insurance?


Paid out of pocket

I've gone through the Marketplace for the last, hmm, 5 years now? Otherwise, going without we would have been fined and the combination of the fine plus ongoing expenses puts us juuuust over the cost of paying the monthly premiums.

Freelancers Union offers something but nothing that - last I checked - is measurably better than what we're able to do on our own.

I'm adjacent to NYC



Mar 16, 2017 at 10:21 PM
Fred Miranda
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Health insurance?


I'm confident we can discuss this topic without injecting politics. Unfortunately a couple posts were deleted.
Please help keep this site about photography.



Mar 16, 2017 at 10:56 PM
Kris89
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Health insurance?


I'm a freelancer and sell my photos in the photobanks, so I must carry about health insurance myself. I have very nice health insurance, but it doesn't connect with my professional career. I got it when I decided to deliver a first baby. I didn't have a medical insurance before, I just paid for dr visits. That was nice and cheap, because I was young and didn't have any troubles. But after the first delivery I became a bit nervous about my health and about my family. So I decided to stay with medical insurance. I've changed a few insurance companies since I gave a birth. Right now I use MIS in California (https://www.mis-insurance.com/) We choose this company because they provide us auto and home insurance too.


Mar 31, 2017 at 08:58 AM
stevesanacore
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Health insurance?


Most of us have to have personal health insurance. It's a mess right now and there is no good solution that is affordable. The ACA was great for me the first year, (it cut my premium in half), and now the prices are as high as they were before it in my case. Good health care insurance is available but very costly. We really need to adopt the system used in Europe and Canada to fix this mess.


Apr 02, 2017 at 11:10 AM
LeeSimms
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Health insurance?


Prior to the ACA (Obamacare) we had a HSA (Bushcare), so we combined the two — an HSA/ACA combo. $5k deductible through Kaiser (which rarely charges us for anything) and the premiums are low.

I went freelance in 1997 and a family HMO plan with low deductibles was around $600/month (in todays dollars). That same plan, prior to the ACA jumped up to $1400/month. Then came Obamacare and the premiums were cut in half, but we decided to leverage our HSA savings and go for super low premiums.

My advice to anyone is to get an HSA plan and max out your yearly savings. If there's ever a Trumpcare, it will certainly leverage an increased reliance on HSA (they've said it publicly many times) so why not start now? All contributions to your HSA go to knocking down your Line 37 amount on your 1040 form. I stategize my whole financial life around lines 23-36 on Form 1040.

At least in Colorado (in our county), the HSA/ACA combo plans are super inexpensive and if you get with Kaiser you only have to tap the HSA for big stuff.



Apr 02, 2017 at 11:34 AM
LeeSimms
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Health insurance?


One of my personal interests is studying the unique American healthcare 'market', in relation to more-organized system around the globe. Since around 2000 I started reading a lot of subject, and now — more than ever — I think the US will adopt some version of Medicare For All / HR676. It will be later than sooner, but likely before I die.

The President likes to pride himself on being some sort of grand negotiator. With HR676, it would put more power to negotiate in his seat and he could be the rockstar he longs to be.

Backstory — the US is the only industrialized nation that doesn't have a centrally organized healthcare system. We're unique, but with little to show for it. Our healthcare costs, per capita, are twice what other countries pay and our results are mid-pack at best. As a country we're paying for a Cadillac but are getting a Yugo.



Apr 02, 2017 at 11:42 AM
garydavidjones
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Health insurance?


Fred,

Due to rudeness and incivility of some FM members I limit my

participation in forums and mainly read passively. I wish

you would impose a far stricter code of behavior on FM.

Why people assume they can insult one another in FM forums,

in tour groups, and on cruises when they would never

attack a stranger on the street in such a rude manner

is appalling.



However, it is ridiculous to expect people to

discuss issues like affordable health without mentioning politics.

Healthcare problems are incurable with our current

government policies. No meaningful discussion is

possible without identifying the elephants in the room.

Free speech and meaningful discussion is impossible

without dealing politely with dominant issues. Snowflakes

need not apply.


Gary Jones





Apr 02, 2017 at 01:02 PM
markd61
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Health insurance?


I have been purchasing health insurance since 1989. In no year have our premiums not gone up.

I had a small company with about 10 employees and got a group plan. I have since closed the company but am still allowed to maintain the group plan at $1900/mo.
This was critical back when companies would not cover pre-existing conditions ( I have a daughter with an illness). My deductibles are low and the plan is good.

I checked around (in Calif) after the ACA came in and found that I could save a lot but the deductibles were high so I stuck with the current plan.

The sad truth (politics aside) is that health care has always been expensive and until the ACA many could not even get any. So, yeah, the price is high but that is no surprise to us who have been buying it for decades.



Apr 04, 2017 at 09:31 PM
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