Tom
Tampa,#2Consumer Suggestion
Thu, May 08, 2008
These types of plans are ripoffs. They aren't health insurance. They have caps on the important parts of coverage you need. The cancer coverage is awful and they mis-represent what it really is. Look at the cap on surgical expenses.... its like 5k bucks? What a joke.. Imagine if you needed heart surgery? Mega Life, United America are not real health insurance. sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company, ..plus, if you post a competitors name more than likely they will show up on search engines as a Rip-off! - - your comments on this policy are welcome. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. In this case we removed an alleged competitor's name The guys help land me a Blue Cross policy that was really affordable and covered everything when my wife got diagnosed with cancer.
Insurance Guy
White Lake,#3Consumer Comment
Tue, January 29, 2008
Smart - you have it right!! An HSA is absolutely the right way to go, but you may want to consider going with an individual HSA rather than the COBRA plan. You can get a rate that is based on a larger population than the company you used to be with. Mega is an absolute rip-off, and though they have HSA's none of their agents are intelligent enough to sell them, and their managers discourange it as well. The problem is that they cannot compete when they pay commissions to an agent, a district manager, a division manager, and a regional manager. The average RM is making 1 - 3 million dollars a year in income. How can they be competitive with the other companies, where the agent can be direct to the company? Back to your situation, I work nationwide as an agent with all of the major carriers and can make some suggestions. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Smart127
Cypress,#4Author of original report
Fri, January 18, 2008
Smokin - To quell your concerns, I won't likely by needing the COBRA coverage for the full 18 months anyway, so it's not a problem when it ends. Also, it has been interesting shopping around for prescription medication using the HDHP. I'm keeping a spreadsheet of all our medication along with 7 different sources (CVS, Walgreen's, Costco, Target, etc.) and I'm giving my business to the store that has the lowest price. An example would be the generic for Flonase (nasal allergy spray). Six of the seven are $59.99 or more for 30-day supply, with one at $86.00. The winner? Costco for $21.73. If everyone that used this drug was aware of the price differences and used the lowest priced supplier, I'm thinking that the other six would get a clue and try to compete better. Too bad more Americans aren't on board with using free market forces to help bring down healthcare costs. I was one of the ones that accepted the $10/$25/$40 co-pay method and standard insurance plan's "management of care" at face value and never questioned them, but no more! I'm looking for cash discounts! Finally, just so everyone knows, the $961.22 premium (after tax, of course) is not much higher than the $800 premium I was paying before tax while employed with the COBRA provider (former employer)! Now, since it's coming out after taxes, I can deduct every single dollar of it on my taxes, along with every single dollar that I put into the HSA account (up to $5,800 for 2008). PS - It's HIPAA (two As)...
Smart127
Cypress,#5Author of original report
Fri, January 18, 2008
Smokin - To quell your concerns, I won't likely by needing the COBRA coverage for the full 18 months anyway, so it's not a problem when it ends. Also, it has been interesting shopping around for prescription medication using the HDHP. I'm keeping a spreadsheet of all our medication along with 7 different sources (CVS, Walgreen's, Costco, Target, etc.) and I'm giving my business to the store that has the lowest price. An example would be the generic for Flonase (nasal allergy spray). Six of the seven are $59.99 or more for 30-day supply, with one at $86.00. The winner? Costco for $21.73. If everyone that used this drug was aware of the price differences and used the lowest priced supplier, I'm thinking that the other six would get a clue and try to compete better. Too bad more Americans aren't on board with using free market forces to help bring down healthcare costs. I was one of the ones that accepted the $10/$25/$40 co-pay method and standard insurance plan's "management of care" at face value and never questioned them, but no more! I'm looking for cash discounts! Finally, just so everyone knows, the $961.22 premium (after tax, of course) is not much higher than the $800 premium I was paying before tax while employed with the COBRA provider (former employer)! Now, since it's coming out after taxes, I can deduct every single dollar of it on my taxes, along with every single dollar that I put into the HSA account (up to $5,800 for 2008). PS - It's HIPAA (two As)...
Smart127
Cypress,#6Author of original report
Fri, January 18, 2008
Smokin - To quell your concerns, I won't likely by needing the COBRA coverage for the full 18 months anyway, so it's not a problem when it ends. Also, it has been interesting shopping around for prescription medication using the HDHP. I'm keeping a spreadsheet of all our medication along with 7 different sources (CVS, Walgreen's, Costco, Target, etc.) and I'm giving my business to the store that has the lowest price. An example would be the generic for Flonase (nasal allergy spray). Six of the seven are $59.99 or more for 30-day supply, with one at $86.00. The winner? Costco for $21.73. If everyone that used this drug was aware of the price differences and used the lowest priced supplier, I'm thinking that the other six would get a clue and try to compete better. Too bad more Americans aren't on board with using free market forces to help bring down healthcare costs. I was one of the ones that accepted the $10/$25/$40 co-pay method and standard insurance plan's "management of care" at face value and never questioned them, but no more! I'm looking for cash discounts! Finally, just so everyone knows, the $961.22 premium (after tax, of course) is not much higher than the $800 premium I was paying before tax while employed with the COBRA provider (former employer)! Now, since it's coming out after taxes, I can deduct every single dollar of it on my taxes, along with every single dollar that I put into the HSA account (up to $5,800 for 2008). PS - It's HIPAA (two As)...
Smart127
Cypress,#7Author of original report
Fri, January 18, 2008
Smokin - To quell your concerns, I won't likely by needing the COBRA coverage for the full 18 months anyway, so it's not a problem when it ends. Also, it has been interesting shopping around for prescription medication using the HDHP. I'm keeping a spreadsheet of all our medication along with 7 different sources (CVS, Walgreen's, Costco, Target, etc.) and I'm giving my business to the store that has the lowest price. An example would be the generic for Flonase (nasal allergy spray). Six of the seven are $59.99 or more for 30-day supply, with one at $86.00. The winner? Costco for $21.73. If everyone that used this drug was aware of the price differences and used the lowest priced supplier, I'm thinking that the other six would get a clue and try to compete better. Too bad more Americans aren't on board with using free market forces to help bring down healthcare costs. I was one of the ones that accepted the $10/$25/$40 co-pay method and standard insurance plan's "management of care" at face value and never questioned them, but no more! I'm looking for cash discounts! Finally, just so everyone knows, the $961.22 premium (after tax, of course) is not much higher than the $800 premium I was paying before tax while employed with the COBRA provider (former employer)! Now, since it's coming out after taxes, I can deduct every single dollar of it on my taxes, along with every single dollar that I put into the HSA account (up to $5,800 for 2008). PS - It's HIPAA (two As)...
Smokin
Co,#8Consumer Comment
Thu, December 27, 2007
In the great state of TEXAS COBRA WILL end after 18 months of continued uninterrupted premiums. You must run the full 18 months to be HIPA eligible. HIPA only protects you for the TEXAS state risk pool. TEXAS is not a guarantied issued state. You must go through underwriting for any real insurance company. All insurance companies have unfavorable remarks about them. But Cobra does run out and the customer is found to be non insurable and declined by everyone. TEXAS risk pool is all you have. Or you could move to a state that will issue without underwriting with rate ups and preexisting condition clauses. Americans are the most educated people in the world and understand unhappy ex employees or competitors that come to site such as this to create doubt. They think its helping their sales. The hard truth is not everyone is approved. And when a client cant make a decision to see if they even qualify for a plan. When they call to cancel you would think a person with $900 dollar premiums would have already known that they are going to be declined. Buy the way if I were to cancel a policy i would do it in writing just to make sure that i didn't recieve coverage by mistake(you know the real legal way instead of phone) please re post how things turnout when COBRA ENDS.
Smokin
Co,#9Consumer Comment
Thu, December 27, 2007
In the great state of TEXAS COBRA WILL end after 18 months of continued uninterrupted premiums. You must run the full 18 months to be HIPA eligible. HIPA only protects you for the TEXAS state risk pool. TEXAS is not a guarantied issued state. You must go through underwriting for any real insurance company. All insurance companies have unfavorable remarks about them. But Cobra does run out and the customer is found to be non insurable and declined by everyone. TEXAS risk pool is all you have. Or you could move to a state that will issue without underwriting with rate ups and preexisting condition clauses. Americans are the most educated people in the world and understand unhappy ex employees or competitors that come to site such as this to create doubt. They think its helping their sales. The hard truth is not everyone is approved. And when a client cant make a decision to see if they even qualify for a plan. When they call to cancel you would think a person with $900 dollar premiums would have already known that they are going to be declined. Buy the way if I were to cancel a policy i would do it in writing just to make sure that i didn't recieve coverage by mistake(you know the real legal way instead of phone) please re post how things turnout when COBRA ENDS.
Smokin
Co,#10Consumer Comment
Thu, December 27, 2007
In the great state of TEXAS COBRA WILL end after 18 months of continued uninterrupted premiums. You must run the full 18 months to be HIPA eligible. HIPA only protects you for the TEXAS state risk pool. TEXAS is not a guarantied issued state. You must go through underwriting for any real insurance company. All insurance companies have unfavorable remarks about them. But Cobra does run out and the customer is found to be non insurable and declined by everyone. TEXAS risk pool is all you have. Or you could move to a state that will issue without underwriting with rate ups and preexisting condition clauses. Americans are the most educated people in the world and understand unhappy ex employees or competitors that come to site such as this to create doubt. They think its helping their sales. The hard truth is not everyone is approved. And when a client cant make a decision to see if they even qualify for a plan. When they call to cancel you would think a person with $900 dollar premiums would have already known that they are going to be declined. Buy the way if I were to cancel a policy i would do it in writing just to make sure that i didn't recieve coverage by mistake(you know the real legal way instead of phone) please re post how things turnout when COBRA ENDS.