When we got out of the military, JB started a job as a contract employee as an Emergency room physician. This meant he didn't work for the hospital and was therefore not eligible for insurance through his job.
We quickly got in touch with Blue Cross and picked up the cheapest plan we could.
It was $1,800 a month for our family of six. In addition, we had a $10,000 deductible, and the only thing covered under the plan was one well visit check-up for each of us each year. Isaac had to go to the ER one time while he was out of town and away from JB, and it cost us $1,000. Our insurance covered nothing until we hit $1,800. Even our prescriptions were not covered until we hit $10,000.
We decided after that year to try something different. We are using Medi-Share. I know this may not be an option for everyone, and I know that it is not fool-proof, but it does quality under Obamacare. We are paying around $215 a month for our family. We pay everything out-of-pocket until $10,000, but we figured, even if we paid $10,000 for the year, we'd be well below the $21,600 we paid just in rates last year.
We have a savings account for our medical care, and we put a certain amount in that every month as we work toward making sure we have $10,000 saved. In addition, when you hit $10,000, you have to pay and file for reimbursement. I truly can't say how well I'd recommend Medi-Share until we really needed them which we haven't yet.
Hope this may help someone who, like us, was completely overwhelmed with the cost of insurance!
