9 Responses to “Individual Health Insurance Policy and Group!”

1. noob Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 7:16 am

   No. Flexible spending account monies – aka cafeteria plans – cannot be used to pay insurance premiums.

2. great_and_mighty_adam_levine Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 7:53 am

   I agree with the other posters about the state mandate. They are obligated to follow state laws if they operate a business in that state. You should have this point clarified by your state's insurance department and get something in writing from your employer's insurance.

   The birthday rule generally applies for children. Whichever parent's birthday comes first in the calandar year is primary for the child. ( The parent's birth year is not important).

   Example:Father's birthday is 2/19
   Mother's birthday is 5/21

   Father would be primary, mother would be secondary. If father's insurance denies, then that EOB is forwarded to the secondary and the secondary considers the claim for payment. If primary pays something on the claim, secondary will usually only pick up the balance to the maximum amount they would have paid as primary.

3. Curious Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 8:17 am

   Yes you can use it as a tax write off.

4. jerrold Says:
   July 30th, 2009 at 9:14 pm

   How about you are getting quotes from the agents around your town. One time entry will bring the several quotes for him. Check the following site;

   http://www.insureme.com/landing.aspx?Refby=614787&Type=health

   The agencies will compete for his attention with their best quote for him. He just enters his basic information thru the site in above, and then the real agent will contact him via phone or e-mail within a few hours or a day. He just chooses the best quote for himself among them. It is free. No obligation.

   I saved my premium about 40% from this site. He may take same advantage that I ve got. Good luck!

5. Kent Says:
   July 31st, 2009 at 1:10 pm

   Pregnancy cannot be included as a pre-existing condition on a group policy, even if you didn't have any previous coverage, so as long as your new policy includes maternity coverage you will be covered.

6. Charles L Says:
   July 31st, 2009 at 11:20 pm

   A group policy may or may not be cheaper, it depends on the health of the group and the age for a small group. And a large group factors in health conditions such as cancer, heart problems and premature births.

   But, have you thought about switching your family to another individual policy and you staying on your current policy. That way if they are all healthy, they would get preferred rates. It would be a pain to have two individual policies for the family, but it might be cheaper.

7. chris_az_74 Says:
   July 31st, 2009 at 11:37 pm

   You aren't stuck in your job, no.

   What you need to do is first make sure that your current group coverage is subject to COBRA. (Most are, but not all, so it's an important thing to verify.)

   If the group you're with now IS subject to COBRA, they'll have to offer you the option to keep your current coverage for up to 18 months. (You will have to pay 100% of the premiums and possibly also a 2% handling fee for the group to maintain you.)

   At the end of that 18 months, as long as you do not allow more than a 63 day lapse in coverage, you will be able to apply to any individual plan as a HIPAA eligible individual (meaning that you do NOT have to fill out the health history info; under Federal law, they are obligated to take you.)

   However, I will forewarn you that the rates you'll pay for the individual policy will be MUCH higher (possibly double) your group rates. (And you may not realize how much your current insurance actually costs, either, if your current employer is paying part of the premium.) This is because they presume that you do have some serious pre-existing conditions if you're applying under HIPAA (because you'd certainly take almost any other route if it were available to you.)

   So, to answer your question, as long as you follow the rules, you can't be turned down, but you'd better hope that the pay increase in the new job is significant to offset the additional expense.

8. AriesJWR Says:
   August 1st, 2009 at 6:45 am

   Having worked in this field for years now, I would answer your question this way. One Presidential Candidate would level the playing field between those who get insurance on the job, where benefits aren't taxed, and those who buy it on their own, where it is subject to tax. The tax credit would also let more of the uninsured afford coverage. HERE'S HOW. (more on the candidate later on…)
   Employees would get taxed on the value of their health insurance, which on average costs $12,680 per year for a family, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Workers pay an average of $3,354 in premiums, while their employers cover the rest.

   Most employees have their premiums deducted from their paychecks without paying tax on them. So, if you make $50,000, you are likely paying tax on only $46,646 of income.

   So, under this candidate your taxable income would rise to $59,326. If you were in the 25% tax bracket, it would mean an additional $3,170 in taxes.

   But this increase would be knocked back by the $5,000 tax credit. So in the end, you'd actually have $1,830 to put in a health savings account, which could be used to cover premiums and other medical expenses.

   HSA accounts are the real answer to our problems, if you want to know what I think. Eligible individuals can slash their federal income tax bills by making deductible HSA contributions. This is like making deductible IRA contributions. And HSAs are almost as easy to set up as IRAs (more on that later). Even better, you can qualify for the HSA break regardless of your income since there are no nasty phase-out rules for high earners like the ones that apply to deductible IRA contributions.
   Get this. You're allowed to make HSA contributions only if you are covered by health insurance with a 2008 deductible of at least $1,100 for self-only coverage or $2,200 for family coverage (family coverage means anything that isn't self-only coverage). People working for large companies with generous benefits won't be eligible. But potentially anyone else under age 65 is.

   Assuming you meet the insurance deductible requirement, the maximum HSA contribution for 2008 is $2,900 for single coverage or $5,800 for family coverage.

   You claim the writeoff for HSA contributions on Page 1 of your Form 1040 (a so-called above-the-line deduction). This means you'll get the federal tax-saving benefit whether you itemize or not. (In some states, you may get a state-tax write-off as well.)

   Say you work for a small company that doesn't provide any employee health coverage. You had to arrange for your own health insurance, which in your case means separate self-only policies for you and your spouse with separate $2,000 deductibles. For 2008, you can contribute up to $2,900 to an HSA set up in your name. Your spouse can also contribute up to $2,900 to a separate HSA set up in his or her name. So the two of you can together contribute and deduct a total of up to $5,800 ($2,900 each). If you're in the 33% federal tax bracket, this would reduce your tax bill by $1,914 with very little effort on your part. You'll collect similar tax savings year after year as long as your circumstances remain the same.

   now here is where things get exciting due to the fact that HSA's do imitate IRA's in a sense. As the account beneficiary of your HSA, you can also take federal-income-tax-free withdrawals from the account to pay uninsured medical expenses for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. (However, you cannot take tax-free withdrawals to pay the premiums for your high-deductible health coverage.)
   You get a bonus if you're healthy and incur minimal medical expenses. Your HSA balance is allowed to accumulate from one year to the next, and any income earned on your balance is federal-income-tax-free. So if your health is really good, you can use your HSA to build up a substantial tax-favored medical expense disaster fund over the years.

   As I see it, this is your best option. And oh, I explained John McCain's plan to you. It just makes better sense all-around, I should know!

9. Connie Says:
   August 1st, 2009 at 6:41 pm

   ~~In California you are eligible for the greatest insurance. It's through Costco, you must be a member.

   You would not be dropped if you had an illness, and the insurance available through Costco does not play games of switching groups (long story but BX and B/S both do this on individual policies), so it can cost you a fortune if you develop something.

   The more worrisome would be if you had a medical problem while under COBRA. This could make it very difficult for you to then qualify for an individual policy.

   If it were me I would opt for getting the individual policy now (it's much cheaper than Cobra anyway), then you would be set.

   We used Lisa at 1-800-611-9057 extension 2206 to get our insurance through Costco. She is excellent at explaining your options and giving you the best policy to fit your needs.

   We have had our insurance about 5 years and it is absolutely the best. Dental is also available. The premiums are very reasonable. The best part is everything has to go through Costco's quality control, so you know you are getting the very best people and insurance. Their policies are PPO's.

   Congratulations are your soon to be retirement! Lucky YOU!~~

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