Hello, I'm just trying to get a feel for what the healthcare reality is out there for those in the education profession. I work at a private school, and it was recently announced that our premiums are going up again - just as they do every year - but also that we will soon have to pay a higher percentage of the premium overall. Without going into too much detail, I'm looking at a pretty significant premium increase of over 40% for my single coverage. They said it was due to Obamacare, but I've done a bit of research and am not sure how Obamacare caused this since we are nowhere near the "Cadillac" penalty, which would only affect your school starting in 2018 only if they are paying over $10,500/year for a single person or $27,000 for a family - my school pays well below this. I don't personally know anyone who teaches in the private or the public sector who pays over 20% let alone as much as we will soon be required to pay, and in the schools I've taught in the past it has never been over 20%. However, I live in a unionized state where most public districts have great health benefits. Is the above happening to anyone else in private or non-unionized public schools?
My healthcare use to be 100% covered for teachers. I paid $0 and it was great. Those days are long gone. I still don't pay a lot at my private school. I pay between 6% and 7% of the total cost of coverage for me. I won't get into the cost of covering spouses and children as that is more complicated with our current plans.
Mine is completely free, but we have a high-deductible plan only and the limit is $4,000. Due to Obamacare, the insurance company is required to completely cover the cost of anything labeled as "preventative" such as cancer screening. Birth control is also completely free. However, all other costs are directly out of my pocket unless I reach the 4,000 deductible, and then insurance would pay for everything after that. We don't have co-pays or anything like that. We pay the full price for everything. A simple visit to the doctor for a virus or something would be well over 200 dollars. Barring a serious accident, there's now way I'd ever reach $4,000 in a year, so to me it basically feels like having no insurance. I take several prescriptions and fortunately I was able to find two of them on walmart's 4 dollar prescription list. The other two are topical acne medications and luckily they last for about 4-6 months, because without coverage they are both several hundred dollars.
Wow readingrules, your coverage sounds fantastic. To be fair, we still have a very good plan. There are top-ranked hospitals in my city and we can pretty much go to anyone we want, which I am very grateful for.
I am completely free, and I have good insurance. My copay is $20 I think. My dental insurance is also very good - I've had 3 cleanings and 4 cavities filled, all for free, no copay. However, my husband would not be covered at ALL on my plan. We pay for him to have independent insurance because his job does not offer it and we can't afford the $500 a month he would be on my plan. If we had children, it would be the same story because they would not be paid for on my plan either. Me + husband + any kids would be around $1,000 a month.
I'm in a charter school (non-union). Our rates are going up, but they went down last year, so it won't kill me. Fortunately, the same benefits apply to everyone in the school, including the staff and administrators. Because we're all in the same boat, the search for the best rates for all employees is a pretty aggressive one.
Waterfall, you don't pay anything towards the premium? That sounds great too, although I'd agree that it would be a little scary to have to pay for everything all up front! I can go to anyone, but our co-pays are pretty high - I've honestly seen an office worker at a doctor office gasp at my co-pay for a specialist!
My premium is decent--it's the copays that stink. I just paid 87.00 for an urgent care visit that will bill my insurance provider for 95.00. They will pay a whopping 8.00, unless they do an adjustment--then maybe...nothing? My husband's plan is much better. The copays for urgent care are 20.00. The only reason I'm not on his, is the spouse premium is sky high...
I got married this past summer and my DH doesn't have health insurance as an independent contractor. I asked about adding him to my plan and our insurance person literally laughed in my face. A healthy twenty-something year old male would cost me an additional $300 a month. Did I mention I'm broke to begin with?! Adding him would mean bills would not be getting paid!!!
Not sure, but we don't have a choice. DH is an independent contractor, so I supply the insurance. Plus, I learned today that when I retire, I won't have the option to keep my PPO; the district will only cover the HMO. Yuck.
Our district has a lot of older teachers so our insurance is outrageous (that's the reason I've been given). I pay almost $700 a month for myself. It would be $1200 a month to add dh and Henry-it's a family rate if you go beyond yourself, regardless of how many are in your family. I still have normal co-pays and deductibles. I paid $1 a month when I worked at the tech start-up before this job, so this was quite a shock. I know there are a lot of teachers working to find us better rates for next year!
Teachings4--$300 a month seems like a gift. I will have to go on Obamacare for a year between my DH retirement and going on medicare. My premium will be $600 per month.
At my previous school I was completely covered and I paid something for dh & the kids. When I started at my current school we looked at what was being offered to me and what dh's plan was. His plan was a little more expensive, but what they covered was more beneficial for us. So, that's what we use.
