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Wednesday, July 12, 2006
AllKids Fired Up!
 These folks have a seriously problem with AllKids. Some of them have apparently downloaded my family budget and decided that I do not need AllKids. Something about me being "part of the problem". Yay!Perhaps it is useful to look at what the savings from using AllKids, the new State health insurance for children, can buy a family. Let's pretend that an employer offers his employees two plans: PersonalCare and Health Alliance. Since the employee is far from rich, he goes with PersonalCare which is the cheaper plan. As an individual his monthly payment might be around $20.00. Which, is quite reasonable for basic health insurance. If he adds a little Pinky to the equation his monthly payment becomes $320. Which is obviously an additional $300 a month, or $3600 a year. If he adds his wife and a Pinky to the plan the monthly payment works out to around $500 a month, or $6000 a year. While this seems like a lot, from what I can tell it is below average for the workers in this part of the state. So what to do? Seems like two options. One, the employee could ship his Pinky off to daycare everyday while he and the wife work full-time to try to make ends meet. The healthcare premiums would quickly become their second largest monthly expense (daycare would now come in at #3). The would have less time with their daughter, and less time as a family. Maybe Pinky's first words would be spoken to the daycare provider. Maybe her first steps would take place in daycare. Who knows? But this family would definitely not be a "part of the problem". Or, the family could utilitize a government program that is designed for lower-middle class folks, having the wife stay home with their daughter, and trying to live cheap. Less eating out, less vacation time, but focus on the family values we hear so much about. AllKids makes it easier for this very average family to live on one income. It makes it possible for a mother to stay home with her daughter instead of going to work. It makes families stronger, not weaker. This, of course, is "the problem". Who am I to thank?  
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8 Comments:
Nice posts, Mark. Thanks for your work in sharing about the program.
Congrats on the new addition to your family.
I echo Xian. Thank you for sharing personal your insight into the AllKids program, and for being willing to put aspects of you private life out there despite the criticism.
And congrats on the birth of your child. I send love to you and your family. :-)
Thanks for the kind words.
It is a little weird to have your posts sort of ripped off without being asked first. Very weird to have someone named "Rich Miller" steal my image without asking. Extremely weird to have a bunch of folks named "Anonymous" reprimand me for daring to take advantage of a government program that was designed for folks like me.
But I don't really care. The thing I've learned about conservatives is that they are usually all bark and no bite. They get in a big uproar over something, call people names or insult their character, and then go eat a bag of chips. It's all in a days work for a conservative because, honestly, I don't think they really believe half the shit that comes out of their mouths.
Anyways, enough rambling. Thanks again for the support. :)
$3600 just to add someone to your insurance for a year?
Who the hell has $3600 a year in medical expenses without a major unexpected medical problem (which is what you're trying to insure yourself against, right?).
Instead of insuring yourself against unexpected and expensive medical costs you are just creating a major medical expense all the time. Insurance this expensive isn't insuring you against major medical expenses... it *is* a major medical expense.
This doesn't make any sense.
rsw - I may be misunderstanding you but isn't AllKids pretty much a subsidy for one income families? That's the way we are using it - our taxes haven't gone up but the money is coming our way.
And yes - we are very conservative about our family values. It's one of the main reasons I lean to the left politically. :)
glock - you know it really doesn't make any sense and it hasn't made any sense for years. I have never had a conversation with a co-worker in which one of us said how happy we are with our insurance. Everyone hates it, and almost everyone buys into it.
This AllKids thing is really a Godsend for us, and I am truly grateful. It is literally saving me over $3000 a year on health insurance premiums. What's not to like?
foleyma... almost sounds like a massive opportunity for someone to actually start a *real* health insurance company.
You pay your expected healthcare costs and we're here to pay for any major unexpected costs.
Might not be a bad idea... or does this already exist? Are people throwing away money so some company can pay their bills and make craploads of money off their ignorance?
If you pay someone 50 bucks a month to cover your 100 per year physical... is that the insurance companies fault... or the customer just being an idiot? Are their health insurance companies that offer actual insurance at reasonable rates, or are people just too ignorant to know about or take that deal?
Try the Blue Cross Blue Shield's Basic Blue plan. The wife and I have been using it for years. In my situation I am actually given around $1500 from my employer for not taking the insurance (thank you, Union). This more than covers the $50 a month premium for Basic Blue, with a little left over.
This is none of your business, but what the hell. I haven't been to the doctor in years. All they really do these days is hand out anti-biotics anyway. I don't sick much but when I do I usually just ride it out.
If something catastrophic happens then the Basic Blue will kick in. In the meantime, with the AllKids think starting, we are able to cover the family for very reasonable rates.
Look into it. There is another company that will do basic coverage for cheap, but BCBS is an established company that I trust. Plus they are pretty universally accepted.
Foleyma's wife posting here. We both buy our own Blue Cross Blue Shield basic insurance, which has a $2500 deductible for unexpected major medical expenses, hospitalizations, surgery, cancer, etc. It does not cover doctor visits or outpatient services but we figure we just pay these out of pocket. If you are healthy and don't care to buy into the wasteful health care system, this plan seem to be the best deal. It still costs us $50/month each and we have never used it, but I can't complain about our good health so far. Also this plan will not cover children <1 so we would have had to go without insurance if All Kids didn't exist. Hopefully we won't have to use the All Kids either. It is a good safety net to have in case our child does get sick.
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