Im young, Im in decent shape and I eat healthily. Do I need health insurance? Maybe, maybe not. Im not willing to take that chance.
Wakeup Call
Last week, I got a call from a friend of mine to say that our friend Jason in the band “The Hudsons” was hit by a car while crossing the street in Austin. It was a hit-and-run and the driver fled the scene. Jason didn’t have health insurance and is going to have a huge hospital bill. Im sure Jason is just glad that he is alive.
I have not had health insurance for the month of March. I wanted to postpone adding additional expense for as long as possible, but the risk of long term problems from not paying a few hundred a month is too great. Im getting health insurance.
Starting Point
I went to US News and World Report’s Best Health Plans 2006 to find a starting point. According to US News, “Harvard Pilgrim” has the best health plan in the country, and they are based in MA and ME. I called Harvard Pilgrim and they referred me to 3 companies who handle their plan for 10 or fewer employees. I wont name names… but 2 of the 3 were incompetent. The first one, I spoke with the operator about 20 times as she told me to please hold. After a while a gave up on getting a quote. The second company promised me a quote and never got back to me. The third one, I will name because they deserve to be commended. I spoke with Paul Yoffe at Northeast Business Trust. He was professional and knowledgeable. I was very happy. He gave me quotes for four different providers: Fallon (11), Tufts(2), Neighborhood(210), Harvard Pilgrim(1).
A decision to be made
In the process of writing this article, I checked the US News ratings for the four providers above. They are in the parentheses. I was going to say that I will be going with Neighborhood, but in all honesty, I am now nervous. Number 1, Number 2, Number 11 and Number two-hundred-and-ten?
Here’s a table to better diagram what I was looking at:
Most of the plans I looked at were on the lower end of the spectrum. Paul advised me that MA has some of the best health care because the state has a lot of mandated minimums for coverage - such as mental health and in-vitro fertilization. I dont take or will likely need prescriptions at the moment. I can also change to another plan within a month of needing a prescription.
Welcome to the Neighborhood?
Neighborhood is the lowest cost provider. $10 per office visit… max $500 per hospital stay whereas the others have a $2000 deductible. What’s concerning is the rating. Can you analyze healthcare purely quantitatively, or is there something Im ignoring such as quality of care or how difficult it is to make a claim that makes Neighborhood the wrong choice? Part of buying health insurance is protecting yourself against being in a horrible situation in the future. Is Neighborhood another version of Tenet Healthcare (provides poor healthcare and unethical treatment of patients worldwide). All of these questions are troubling. Even with the higher deductibles on in-hospital care, Im going with Harvard Pilgrim. It’s about the same price, and I know that if I do get sick, I will have access to the number 1 health care in the country.
Im glad I wrote this. My opinion on what to do has changed in the process!
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