Gyroscopic Investing

MachineGhost wrote:You must have really been asleep at the wheel!  Open enrollment on the new health care exchanges was from beginning of October to end of March.

Thanks.  Yes, if by "asleep at the wheel" you mean focused on my own life and career and family and ignoring the (invariably stupid) minutia, machinations, and endless decrees of the political world: I was asleep at the wheel.

I am healthy.  I haven't needed to see a doctor (nor dentist) in years and years.  As a single man, I merrily ignored all this nonsense and came out financially way ahead of course.  But as a responsible husband and father now, I'd like to get some catastrophic insurance.  You are saying that I can not do that until next winter.  But other posters seem to have presented some other options, which seem to be available year-round.  But I may be misunderstanding either them or you or all.

  Next time it will be middle of Nov to middle of Feb.  There's an enrollment period so people can't game the system by waiting until they get sick, acquire guaranteed insurance, get treated, drop it, rinse, repeat, etc..  Although I think there is a caveat to that that if you're sick you can get insurance outside the enrollment period, so gaming is still doable.  But most people won't do it...  its just the small minority of rotten apples in every barrel, as usual.

I really don't care about the details and intricacies of the politicians' all-wise demands, nor about any apologia about their alleged reasoning for their decrees and how it will all work out wonderfully due to theories about apple ratios.

I just want what I want.  Period. 

Just so, I could care less about the Grand Pumba of India's Master Cell Phone Plan when I'm traveling in India: I just want to use a cell phone.  And so I have an Indian loan me one (which is illegal, so I'm told, but I don't care, because obviously there is no risk whatsoever of being punished).  This is how I look at things.  This is exactly parallel, in my mind.

If you're over 30, catastrophobic is not available on the health care exchanges and I'm not sure how it can be off exchange with insurers conforming to the same federal regulations.

Well, what are these plans from:

United/Golden Rule
Humana
Aetna
Assurant
Altrua
Christian Healthcare Ministries
Samaritan
Liberty Healthshare
Christian Care Ministry

Are they not real options?

At the bronze level (40% copay/coinsurance, etc.) on the exchange the premium is all but free for you after the tax subsidies, so you really dont need to worry about getting just catastrophic.  Unless you're over 400% FPL, then you got expensive problems.

What does 40% copay/coinsurance mean?  This is what [url=http://"http://obamacarefacts.com/insurance-exchange/health-insurance-plans.php"]Obama Care Facts[/url] says it means:

1. Bronze plans split covered expenses 60-40.

Bronze plans are the cheapest because insurers pay only 60 % of a your covered health expenses, and the policy holder must come up with the other 40 %. In other words a plan with 60% actuarial value covers 60% of your out-of-pocket costs. Bronze plans also have the most basic benefits and most limited networks of doctors and hospitals. This is a good choice for those who don't plan on using many medical services. Many low-income Americans may qualify for free or very low-cost Bronze plans, but out-of-pocket expenses should be considered as out-of-pocket cost assistance can be considerably higher for only a slightly higher monthly charge on "the marketplace standard" Sliver plan.

This appears to be total worthless junk to me.  Why in the world would I pay a penny for such a blatantly stupid product?  If I incur a medical bill of 10 million dollars, I only have to pay $4,000,000.  The "insurance" helpfully pays the other $6,000,000.  Wow, that's helpful.  That will be my financial salvation in such a situation.    Unless there is some expense ceiling above which the copay does not increase, this is a product that a man would have to be ludicrously foolish to purchase.

LC475 wrote: This appears to be total worthless junk to me.  Why in the world would I pay a penny for such a blatantly stupid product?  If I incur a medical bill of 10 million dollars, I only have to pay $4,000,000.  The "insurance" helpfully pays the other $6,000,000.  Wow, that's helpful.  That will be my financial salvation in such a situation.    Unless there is some expense ceiling above which the copay does not increase, this is a product that a man would have to be ludicrously foolish to purchase.

Out of pocket limits are $6350 single, $12700 families.

MachineGhost wrote: Out of pocket limits are $6350 single, $12700 families.

Ahh, thank you!  I figured there had to be some limit!

I thank you very much for all your help on this, MachineGhost.  You seem to be the resident ObamaCare expert.  And thanks to everyone else as well.  I shall have to look into some of the companies I listed in my last post.  Perchance they are not all outlawed.