Fulltimers: so what do YOU do for a dental plan?

[Jim]

Originally posted by Phoenix
Hi Jim...i know something about the insurance industry, i was planning to be an actuary, but ended up here..much better choice.

anyway, seeing an interest in this here i placed a call today to some major insurance companies and spoke with their underwriters. I will now try to put together what i need to come up with a plan to cover all webmasters in Canada and the US.

have a call scheduled tomorrow with some people about it as well. I will post back here.

any companies wanting to help sponsor such a thing can shoot me an email, and we can discuss....preliminary stages right now.

Ill find out more juicy details tomorrow.

It is a good idea but I know New York has something strange that won't allow insurance from other states.

[SandWalker]

Originally posted by Jim
Going to the dentist is also covered by our health insurance. The trick to get good inexpensive health insurance is to contact your local chamber of commerce. They usually have a deal where a small business can purchase it directly through them. With all their small business members doing that, they get good prices.

I wish this were the case where I live. From what I understand it's true in most states but not here in California. Checked with my local chamber and they said the lawyers ruined it here for us in cali

So far paying cash once in a while has been cheaper than insurance.

[Phoenix]

well...i have been back and forth with various people

basically we need to form an association of sorts, then we can apply for group coverage.

Like a webmaster guild or something.

the guild also caries the repsonsibility of the insurees, so if they are ripping off the insurance companies it comes back to the guild.


This would almost form a union among webmasters..not something i like.

If i can get more input from people here it would be helpful.


Is this something people would be willing to donate their time to?
programming skills etc


i doubt we will find many sponsor programs to step up and shoulder the costs, but im guessing we could still get a substantial discount especally if we have 1000 + people in the guild.

it would probably require a monthly due to belong..something small..like 10 bucks or something. then of course you will have to pay for the insurance, but it should get us all a good rate.


thoughts?

i dont want to spend my days on the phone with these people if it is not a viable plan.

[CD Smith]

Originally posted by Phoenix
Is this something people would be willing to donate their time to?
programming skills etc

I would be into lending a hand, certainly. I'm just not sure how much interest from webmasters there would be for this. I'm sure a few test threads on some of the larger boards like here and GFY etc would answer that question pretty quick.

[Bill]

It's been proposed before, but I've never seen it get far.

But maybe this is the time. It would be nice to see adult webmasters get more organized and professional.

For it to work, you would need these two things I think:

A. the insurance package would have to be a decent one, with a lot of hospitals and providers willing to honor it.

and

B. The organization would either have to be extremely neutral and obviously fair (like some trust kind of thing managed by lawyers hired as uninterested parties), or be backed by a highly respected group. Otherwise all the little political squabbles that adult is rife with will tear it apart.

Sooner or later a functional adult webmaster industry group will form.

(Didn't both Free Speech Coalition and ASCAP talk about insurance groups at some point?)

[Tommy]

why dont we all move to canada

[Smoothie]

I'm pretty lucky as far as health and dental insurance goes, my wife is retired from General Motors and we have the creame de la creame of insurance plans.

I do know that it's tough without something like that though, my sister who is also in the biz pays something like $700 a month for insurance.

Over the years I've seen a few groups try to get something going on like a group insurance thing for webmasters, but so far they all pretty much fizzled out...probably because of the multi-state problem.

[Tommy]

health insurance costs me 1100.00 a month thats including the new addition

[Jaden]

I use NHCD which is a discount program and saves me a TON each year with the kids and everything....

[SirMoby]

For me it's not the cost savings of the insurance that's the issue. It's the issue of being on an individual plan. Legally an insurance company can't cancel my policy because someone covered needs expensive ongoing treatment for major illnesses but they can legally raise my monthly rate to $1,000,000 if they choose. Most states offer protection with group plans but not individual plans. That's the only reason I'm interested in group health insurance.

The association could be dedicated to small web based businesses. Basically anyone that doesn't have a store front but sells goods or services on-line.

The association could also negotiate discounts with legal services, hosting and software providers. As some people have pointed out NY and I think New Jersey are different beasts and may not qualify for a national group sort of thing.

Finding 1,000 webmaster may be tough and then you need to find someone in each state that's willing to handle the paper work.

[rollergirl]

We pay cash. Our dentist also discounts for cash.. well basically it's like this.

You can't get a "price" for services until you say whether or not you have insurance. My cleanings are 60 dollars. They charge insurance a lot more for the same thing.

Our office just flat out told me, that dental insurance is a scam. It doesn't cover 'everything' and it limits what you can be covered for.

It used to be different years ago....

I'm getting my invisalign braces next week.
I've been to the dentist a lot in preparation.

[CaptainJSparrow]

For dental, I just pay for myself and my 2 kids whenever we go...which is usually twice a year. We have pretty good teeth so it's not a big deal.

For medical insurance, I've used Blue Cross since 1996 when I started this company. Blue Cross does go up on my rates every year. Last year, it was right at $450 per month for me (I'm a 41 year old male) and two children. This year they were gonna go up to over $500 per month...and they offered me an alternative plan where I "self insure" with a higher deductible and only pay $294 per month. I calculated the best and worst case scenarios on both Blue Cross plans and determined that the $294/mo plan was the best either way, so I switched us to that.

As others have pointed out though, for an individual policy such as mine, they go up on the rates every year. I'd imagine that when I'm in my 50's and 60's that rate is going to be exorbitant!

I would be interested in a webmasters' group plan.

Hey Greenguy and Jim, how about a plan through your board as a "Chamber of Internet Marketers?"

A good friend of mine had his appendix blow up and no insurance. He racked up many hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills for a month or so long stay in the hospital. I think it is well worth it to have health insurance, especially if you have children.

[Ernie G]

Unlike cleo that has no teeth ...LOL

I do have a pair of pliers that will do the trick




Ernie G.

ernie@greg-gregory.com

http://www.greg-gregory.com

[Rictor]

Pay as I go...it's been very expensive this year as my wife got a coupel root canals and I had about 6 teeth worked on (2 cavities and some chipping). Grand total of around $4,000!

[CD Smith]

Originally posted by Rictor
Pay as I go...it's been very expensive this year as my wife got a coupel root canals and I had about 6 teeth worked on (2 cavities and some chipping). Grand total of around $4,000!

On my old hospital plan from Blue Cross, 80% of that bill would have been covered for me.

I think for regular checkups, cleanings and the odd cavity, a dental plan isn't really needed in most cases. But in a situation like Rictor just described, a good dental plan can really ease things up finanically.

Maybe webmasters do need something like this. Not a union, but some sort of organization where they can register, pay a small monthly fee, and be covered for certain things that are otherwise quite costly. Could be a good business opportunity for someone with the time and the know-how to put it together and make it fly... but sadly that person is not me.

[urb]

I don't pay anything because the country that I live in provides free medical care for everyone.

[Useless]

Originally posted by urb
I don't pay anything because the country that I live in provides free medical care for everyone.

Oh, you live in one of those funny countries where people are considered of value, where there is enough compassion to care for them, and where capitalism wasn't allowed to take favor over that compassion.
<rant>
I live in the U.S., where people would rather have a system motivated by $ than one motivated by common sense and the realization that there are times that we should care about the guy down the street. It's everyone for themselves here. I often wonder, when does a nation become mature enough to make these types of decisions?
</rant>

[Surfn]

Originally posted by urb
I don't pay anything because the country that I live in provides free medical care for everyone.

Don't get my started on socialized medicine. I've had the same negative experiences in 3 different countries.

[Alphawolf]

I've had Canadian friends complain especially if they needed to see a specialist.

That stated- this is a dental thread.

My root canal is all finished and my infection is like 98% gone. I still need a perm filling put in, but the last temp filling lasted nearly 3 years.

The guy I used charged $400 total for the root canal and he put in a perm filling on the other side.

[finnbear]

I pay by cash - without recip. Illegal, but works everytime. They drop the half of tax and that's allright with me.

We have "free" dental service (you must pay some 11 euros or something) but I use paid services.