Daley Ponderings

I thought I had written about this before, but I can't find it, so maybe we just talked about it over email.

We purchased health insurance through Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield when I first started working for myself. It was the same plan as we had when workingfor Dynavox, though since there wasn't a co-pay any more, it was actual cheaper for regular visits, because some things are covered at 100% and some at 90%, and the 10% is cheaper than the $20 co-pay, which I hadn't realized would happen.

We purposely got a high deductible plan, at $3500 for each person with a maximum of $7000 for the whole family.  However, when Faith was born, we received a bill for $4500 or so, which seemed pretty strange.  We then found out that when they say there is a $3500 deductible on this family plan, they don't mean it, they mean there is a $7000 deductible per family and no deductible per individual.  The documentation is very confusing, and I ended up talking to the Pennsylvania Insurance Commission.  He originally thought I was being annoying, and after about an hour of talking, he finally realized what I was saying - he couldn't believe that we could have gotten a $4500 since we had a $3500 deductible.  Aha...  Now we're getting somewhere, or so I thought.  We just got the official word back from the Insurance Commission - they agree that the information is misleading, and are looking into changing it, but won't make Highmark stick by their agreements for all the people who are already signed up.

So, now we are looking into insurance plans.  Ick.  There are so many choices, and you never know what fine-print the seller is going to leave out, and so have to get a degree in insurance to figure out what they are actually selling.

It turns out that the problem was that when you add a Health Savings Account (HSA) that removes your individual deductible and apparently we are all just supposed to know that (though I find it humorous that the Insurance Commission wasn't even aware of that fact).  I am not sure why Highmark is allowed to lie to their customers and not face any consequences when they are discovered.

I am told my only recourse is to talk to my State Representative to complain about the Insurance Commissions findings.  I guess it is worth writing a letter, but hardly seems like anything will come of it.

As far as the future goes, I have been thinking that since we live in a state (and in a couple days, a country) that believes we should tax everyone to pay for the few, I might as well take advantage of the dollars that the system will give us.  The kids are probably eligible for free health care through the state programs.