This is so frustrating. Our insurance just keeps rising and rising and we haven't filed ONE claim in 3 years. We have a $5K Deductible and basically have it just for catastrophic emergencies .... we pay $400 a month for nothing and it's not a write-off!

For you Business Owners, has anyone tried Insure OK?

What do you do? We are an S-corp.... so that means if we pay insurance for ourselves, we have to pay it for our employees... at least that is the way I'm understanding it.

Can someone who knows something about this please help me out here. I'm going to make some phone calls to Insure OK and to BlueCross later but I need suggestions and help from someone who has experience in this.. we currently have Golden Rule - ugh. worthless and a waste of money.

This is the downside of small business ownership. This is the stuff that keeps me up at night. It really stresses me out.

Try talking to Bob or Robert @ Allison Insurance.

They specialize in health insurance. They helped us out a great deal.

One of the best things they do is they automatically re-shop your policy every year at renewel. They found us a differnet carrier after the first year when our rates went up. You have to shop it every year. They do it for you before your policy expires.

Health insurance sucks till you really need it. I had major medical problems (surgeries, ER visits, hospital stays) at the end of last year. We would be bankrupt if not for catastrophic insurance, so don't ever think you can get by without it. My insurance has paid out well over 200K (probably more). That high deductible doesn't seem so high now. Our deductible was actually $7500. It sucks, but you can deal with that number.

Sorry don't have their phone # handy, but they are in the book.

Thank you so much.. I'll look into it. I'm wanting to try to put it through the business... does anyone have any experience with this in your own small company?

The insurance company can walk you thru the process. There seems to be an income limit to those who access Oklahoma insure, but the agent you use can help you. Here are the levels
Family Size
Single Income (Gross)
Dual Income
(Gross)
1
$ 23,680
$ -
2
$ 30,880
$ 33,760
3
$ 38,080
$ 40,960
4
$ 45,280
$ 48,160
5
$ 52,480
$ 55,360
6
$ 59,680
$ 62,560
7
$ 66,880
$ 69,760
8
$ 74,080
$ 76,960
9
$ 81,280
$ 84,160
Self-employed individuals, please call 1.888.365.3742 for details on calculating income.

The first income is gross single income and the second amount is a dual income amount.

If you're up for a Christian take on health care, check out this:

Welcome to Samaritan Ministries International (http://www.samaritanministries.org/)

My family is on this. Basically we pay for any time we go to the doctor up to $300. So, there is no co-pay. Any time the cost of going to the doctor goes over $300, this group of people pay for it. We pay $300 per month for our family to be covered. We pay a different person each month. We literally write a check each month to a person who has had a procedure and help them pay for it. Really cool.

We have been on it for over a year now and so our next baby will cost only the $300 "deductible." Not bad for a "premium" of $300 a month.

And now that we've been paying for our own Doctor's visits each time, it's kind of freeing to know that we tell them up front, we are paying for this visit, we are shopping around, and will you offer us a discount becuase we are uninsured self pay. Every doctor we have gone to so far has offered us discounts because we pay up front and because we ask. Takes control away from the health care companies.

That's an interesting concept.. do you add this plan to your current insurance coverage?

My fear has always been a catastrophic illness or accident ....something that costs $20,000.00 a day intensive care illness.

That's why I'm trying to find something that will cover something like this.. I'm not so interested in being able to go to the doctor frequently (although I should for prevention) but we are relatively healthy so far.. I don't think I've been sick in at least 10 years.. the kids too.. we rarely even get colds (knock on wood!) but I'm afraid of big diseases like cancer.

On the InsureOK... this is where I'm confused...

As an employer (S corp) subscribing to the plan taking a paycheck as an employee.. do we still have to qualify for a family of 4 making under $48K?

Or just our employees?

Oh, sorry if I wasn't clear. My family is covered for up to millions of dollars for a catastrophic illness or accident with Samaritan. There are tens of thousands of people in this ministry all splitting each others bills.

If you're up for a Christian take on health care, check out this:

Welcome to Samaritan Ministries International (http://www.samaritanministries.org/)

My family is on this. Basically we pay for any time we go to the doctor up to $300. So, there is no co-pay. Any time the cost of going to the doctor goes over $300, this group of people pay for it. We pay $300 per month for our family to be covered. We pay a different person each month. We literally write a check each month to a person who has had a procedure and help them pay for it. Really cool.

We have been on it for over a year now and so our next baby will cost only the $300 "deductible." Not bad for a "premium" of $300 a month.

And now that we've been paying for our own Doctor's visits each time, it's kind of freeing to know that we tell them up front, we are paying for this visit, we are shopping around, and will you offer us a discount becuase we are uninsured self pay. Every doctor we have gone to so far has offered us discounts because we pay up front and because we ask. Takes control away from the health care companies.

Sounds great, but perhaps wasteful? Insurance companies often pay a discount rate to doctors and hospitals. If you're paying this money directly to these other folks or directly to their health care providers without any sort of collective bargaining, it seems like you're missing out.

Also, does this program cover absolutely everything? Say a member wants to have gender reassignment therapy?

Yes, there is bargaining involved. And interestingly, many doctors offices and hospitals automatically reduce the rate for people who are "uninsured" like my family.

Case in point: We took my daughter for some immunizations knowing we would be paying up front for each shot and the doctors visit. The doctor docked 1/3 off his charge for the visit just because we asked and said we didn't have any traditional insurance. We actually asked the Doctor, not the receptionists. When we got to the receptionist to pay for the shots, she rang it up and it was almost $550 for the shots and the doctor visit and asked what type of insurance we had. I told her we didn't have any and she RE-rang it up... $150. Which was what I expected.

The health insurance companies aren't getting a discount...at least at my daughter's doctor's office.

I dont' know anything about gender reassigment. They have their guidelines in a PDF on their site I believe. It goes into great detail about what is not covered. Since it is a Christian based organziation, you can probably assume what may or may not be covered. I just don't know about gender reassignment.

The health insurance companies aren't getting a discount...at least at my daughter's doctor's office.

They have a schedule they pay off. On a $79,000 hospital bill, the discount was $64,000 - they paid the hosptial $15K.

It's a very screwed system. Even on bills that were mine to cover as part of my deductible - the insurance company "negotiated" a lesser amount.

You may want to check this out-

Insure Oklahoma (http://www.oepic.ok.gov/)

They will subsidize a large portion of your premiums. There are some income limitations though. But in a nutshell -

Participating small businesses will contribute at least 25 percent of the employee’s premium. Employees will contribute no more than 15 percent of their family’s premium (up to a 3 percent cap of gross income). The premium assistance subsidy will cover remaining premium costs.

Thanks,

I talked to them and you can't make over $48K a year for a family of four...