Do you have Hartford insurance?
10 years ago
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What happens when you don't have Health Insurance?
Comments (65)Late husband worked for a health insurance company, and that was the last time we had a health insurance benefit. When he left that job, we got catastrophic care insurance, with a huge deductible. We eventually opened HSAs as well. Over the last ten years, each of us has had jobs that offered health insurance plans. We looked at the cost (to the employee) of those company plans, and the benefits, and restrictions imposed. We compared them to the cost of our current plans and benefits, (when you pay yourself, you chose who you want with no restrictions). The HSA balance creeps up over time, allowing more payments, (dental, doctor's office visits, optometrist exams,) on a schedule we controlled, instead of what the company plans would allow. Employers have been hit hard the last few years, too. The workplace plans we were offered had higher premiums than our individual accounts with Unnamed Health Insurance Company, and were not of more value to us. In spite of being a "catastrophic care" policy with a high deductible, It seems to be paying for things, or making partial payments for things, every time i turn around. Tick removed from back at walk-in facility: Paid half the bill. Prophylactic medication in case I was exposed to Lyme disease: I was stunned to have the couple bucks and change it cost. I asked the pharmacist "Isn't there a minimum dispensing fee?" Yes, she said, but the insurance covers it. If I hadn't had that policy, it would have been twenty dollars or so, for two pills. As it was, I paid less than three dollars out of pocket. I'm actually quite happy with the situation I'm in: the fewer people sticking there noses into my health care (policy wonks in DC or that lady in personnel) the better I like it. And it had no bearing on Poor Late Husband's demise: He had lung cancer, quite likely from his thirty eight years of smoking two packs a day. There were unusual circumstances that contributed to his sudden death only five weeks after diagnosis. No amount of chemo, surgery etc., would have saved him. I had a cancer scare myself, actually less than three months after his passing. I asked a nurse what would happen if I had cancer, and my insurance didn't cover treatment. She said she didn't know how that worked, and she said the doctors and nurses take precautions to not know anything about the finances of patients. That way, she said, those with or without insurance are treated the same way while in the hospital. I think it's stupid to go without insurance to have more money for lattes and cell phones, but I defend others' rights to spend the money they earn in a way that they find valuable. As for people who "End up in the emergency room because they couldn't afford a doctor" I've personally known, lived near, worked with some of those people...and they abused the emergency room option so they wouldn't have to pay. I've heard them rationalize taking a child with an earache to the emergency room to avoid a $20 co-pay at the doctor's office, and the hassle of scheduling an appointment. Then in the next breath they griped that they had to wait so long to be seen....See MoreHow do you value your old house for insurance?
Comments (15)"Just out of curiosity, who here thinks that you can build an new old house? " You do not have to use old materials, just old techniques in most cases. Plaster instead of drywall, mud beds for tile floors and walls instead of cement board, etc. You neither can use nor want lead plumbing (DWV or supply), but cast iron is still available (though not with poured lead & oakum joints). Electrical wiring has moved a long way since K&T (and the lack of any electricity before that in many houses). Hardwood floors are not going to be as tight a grain as very old stuff (especially if it was virgin timber) but there is no shortage of wood flooring, even in very large widths of you want to pay the cost. Virgin reclaimed (from old buildings or bodies of water) is also available. There is no reason to use full size dimension lumber (though it can be found if you want to look & pay). Joist spans are likely smaller than in very old structures, so extra wood is likely to be needed (I have never considered the bouncy floors of an older structure a 'feature' worth preserving or repeating. I do not think anyone wants to exactly recreate the old house, just the important parts of the surface finishes. I have repaired 18th century townhouses in Alexandria, VA so that you cannot even tell without putting a hole in the wall to see the new framing and wiring....See MoreCan you reconcile Medicare acct like you do regular insurance acct?
Comments (53)In prior years, the medical deduction was limited to the only the expense amount in excess of either 7.5% or 10% of adjusted gross income (I forget which). So people needed to have some combination of low income and relatively high medical expenses to get any deduction for medical costs. Starting in 2018, the federal standard deduction will be $12K for single filers and $24K for joint returns. With the state tax deduction haircut to $10K in total and the same continuing limit on medical expenses, far fewer people will be itemizing deductions on their federal returns. For many people's state income taxes, changes corresponding to these federal changes have not been made and many may have a federal standard deduction while still itemizing for state taxes. I expect that when we have regime change in the US, the tax rules will be changed to revert to something closer to what they were before this latest round of nonsensical and deficit bloating changes. The upshot is that even for those who did deduct medical expenses (and insurance premiums) in prior years, far fewer will do so in the future. If there's no deduction for the current year (which you'll see when your return is prepared), there's no need to keep bills and correspondence beyond when each individual claim has been resolved....See MoreHave You Used An Insurance Broker for Auto, Home, Etc.?
Comments (10)I don't have high regard for customer-facing people in the insurance business and so I don't rely on them, whether it's independent agents or captive ones (like State Farm has). I don't distrust them, they just frequently seem to know less than they should. I believe the advice of independent agents can be swayed as much by which companies and policies pay better commissions as by what's best for a customer so I would never deal with one for personal insurance matters. Anyway, like Nicole, I do my own leg work. It doesn't take much time or effort. With auto insurance, as an example, furnish the spec page of your existing policy for a quote. You can do the same with homeowners' insurance. Talk to friends and neighbors for their experiences and recommendations pro and con....See More
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