Self-Employed, Health Insurance and The Public Option - Question........

[global1]

I currently am self-employed. I purchase my own health insurance - BC/BS - which costs me $12,000 per year - with a $3000 deductible. So they are in to me for $15,000 before they have to spend penny one.

Give what the President said the other day - I'm a bit confused. I was hoping for some relief from this high premium when HCR is passed. Now I'm not sure if I'll get that relief. I was counting on the 'public option' to allow me to purchase healthcare insurance at a lesser premium than current.

If I understood the President however, because I currently have health insurance I will not be eligible for purchasing through a 'public option'. Am I understanding that right?

I was hoping that the competition that a 'public option' might bring would cause BC/BS to drop my premium. But if they now know that I'm a captive audience - I don't know that this will happen.

Can anybody shed any light on this?

[Recursion]

1. Well, the bill hasn't been written yet

But there's talk of means testing and subsidies. Presumably they will look at your level of income X, and compare it to the minimum price of a plan Y that meets a certain service level; if X - Y is less than some statutory remainder Z, something will be made available to you. Whether that is a public insurance plan, a co-op, or a subsidy is not clear yet.

[WCGreen]

2. For one, if you are self employed, you can deduct up to half of the

cost of your insurance from you profits. The second half would be deductable, those over and above 7.5% of your AGI, on your Schedule A.

Mrs. WCGreen and I pay out of pocket, about $5,560 for our part of the insurance. The company picks up and adds another $4,300 in there matching capacity. We each have $1,500 deductable.

We only earn a little over $50K.

I think what will help you under the plan as it is now preseneted is that you can shop around to find a better plan after they allow people to shop across state lines.

[sandnsea]

3. If you're self-employed you can change insurance

So even with the insurance exchange, where policies must have the same basic requirements and no pre-existing clauses, there will be increased competition in our favor. I think it is only those working for employers who will have to stay with their employer based plan. I don't know what would happen if an employee opted out, the way they can do now. Maybe they can't. I do know if the employee premium is over 12% of their AGI, they can go into the exchange which would include the public option.

[laconicsax]

4. Your premiums will go up.

All Obama has done is get the HC industry to try to reduce the rate at which they'll go up. As I understand it, HR 3200 is worded to limit public option participation to people who don't already have insurance and don't have an employer who offers it.

[Diane R]

5. My husband is self-employed, and we pay exactly the same rate you do, including deductibles.

Yes. It's the self-employed people who are most getting hammered by health insurance. I keep waiting to hear we'll get some relief, too. Right now we can't afford to get sick, even though we pay $12K a year.

[tsuki]

10. When Lawton Chiles set up the 6 zones for health insurance, they

negotiated prices from health insurance companies. We, self-employed and small business, benefited from lower rates. Jeb Bush demolished this system and threw it open to the "free market." He also made it illegal for third party negotiations.

Five years quadrupled the rates.

My fear is that without a public option, the Republicons will get back in power, all regulation will go the way of Jeb Bush. I think this is why the insurance companies are fighting the public option.

[DrToast]

6. Your premiums would likely go down, public option or not

Right now you're purchasing insurance as a single buyer. Once reform passes you'll be able to purchase it through the exchange, where you'll be pooled with millions of other people.

[Lex]

7. I'm almost the exact same position as you. We're screwed.

I'm ccertainly glad more uninsured people will be covered by this so-called public option, but those us struggling to make huge premiums each month in a self-employed situation don't seem to get anything but the short end of the stick.

[johnaries]

8. The way I understand it, it is the Insurance Exchange that will

actually reduce the premiums, but the Public Option is meant to help further reduce the premiums available on the Exchange.

I had to have someone else help explain it to me, but basically joining the Exchange will give you group "bargaining power", just like large employers have. Well, not "just like" but rather similar. You won't be able to bargain directly, but because each Insurance Company will have to offer the same rates to every member of the exchange, they will have to offer competitive rates if they want to attract purchasers. This increased competition is what will drive rates down. The Public Option is intended to help drive the competition. Granted, since the Public Option will be limited in the demographics that it can appeal to, it's impact will be somewhat limited. However, that is on purpose since companies would not want to be part of the Exchange if they felt the Public Option held an unfair competitive advantage.

A further advantage of the Exchange is that members must minimum requirements before they can participate.

So, you see, it is the competition of the Insurance Exchange that will drive down premiums. The Public Option will serve to help keep those premiums low with added competition.

Does that make sense?

[Bluenorthwest]

12. A thing that can not be freely chosen among alternatives

if by definition not an option. Choice is inherently a part of an option. If you can not pick it from among others, or if it is a form of last resort safety net, it might be public, but it is not an option. A public plan with drastic restriction on who can have it, being limited in fact to those who have no other choice is simply not an option, much like the ocean is simply not dry, and up is simply not down.
It is just not the right word to describe what you are describing. What you speak of is not an option. It might be public, but it is not an option. Words have meanings.

[johnaries]

13. I beg your pardon, but limited options are still considered

"options". It may not be an option for you, but it is still an option for others. No option is available to everyone. None. We all have different options available to us. LIke it or not, that is Life.

Yes, I agree. Words do have meaning. And those meanings should not be twisted.

[invictus]

9. K&R. good question.

[treestar]

11. Can't find it now but I asked this the other day on DU

and another poster responded saying the bill as it is now would allow the self employed to be eligible.