

Ask HN: any changes in the last year to make getting insurance easier? - neilkod

I'm self-employed with an outrageously expensive Aetna insurance plan for my business.  The premiums are increasing to a seemingly astronomical $1,650/month for my family of four.<p>Degree of difficulty: Wife and older son(11) have some medical conditions and have typically been tough to insure.<p>I haven't been paying too much to the Obamacare and related initiatives but I figured I'd do some research before committing to renewing.  I know that there have been some changes made to allow people who were previously considered uninsurable to secure insurance.<p>We are in Florida, I'm not sure if this matters.
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dadro
That rate is actually in-line with other family plans. What makes it more
expensive is you don't have the employer contribution component being self
employed. I have a PPO plan that is actually more than that per month but my
employer covers ~75% of the cost.

Some states, like MA, have a "Health Connector" which is a marketplace for
insurance. Unfortunately FL isn't too progressive when it comes to state
funded insurance initiatives so you probably won't find much, particularly if
you are in the non-poverty income bracket. The self-employed get the shaft
when it comes to health insurance in the US because they lack collective
bargaining power against the insurers. .

I'm not too well versed in what is going to become of "Obamacare" as nothing
major has been rolled out. Some of your more immediate options are:

\- Consider looking into a p/t gig that includes health insurance. \- Have
spouse look into p/t gig (Municipal/Town Job!) that includes insurance. This
is what many tradesmen in US do. \- Look into joining a trade group or
professional group for discounted rate \- Look into state funded insurance
marketplace.

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consultutah
As of September 23rd, 2010, you should be able to get less expensive insurance
for you son:
[http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/ChildrensPCIP/child...](http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/ChildrensPCIP/childrenspcip.html)

It also looks like there will be a federally run plan that your wife could be
included in:
[http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/preexisting/states/...](http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/preexisting/states/fl.html)

I purchased the domain, <http://healthcarelawfacts.com>, to answer these types
of questions. I really need to get that going... Anyone wanna help? ;-)

