Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. When we started out it only cost about $500/month. Jumped to $890 and deductible went to $23K with the affordable healthcare act. Basically, now we pay all of our health care out of pocket.
TLDR; the current situation sucks, and is not sustainable. Save your pennies.
I started freelancing in 2012 with BCBS of MI. Being young-ish and healthy with no kids, just a spouse, I was paying something around $200/mo for a PPO with an HSA (side note: get an HSA and save - it's your best option for not being screwed as a freelancer). 3 years later and the AHA has left me at $400 a month for a HMO (downgrade), higher deductable (downgrade), but thankfully I still am allowed to use an HSA (HSA compatibility is complete bullshit, BTW).
Everything is out of pocket except some bare minimum prevention stuff. Everything trip to the doctor involves me wondering if it's really worth the money and the hassle (thanks to the HMO I can no longer see my old family doctor).
Those of you bound to say that I should shop around using the marketplace - yup, I did. This was the best deal. Insurance is dependent on geography. I'd love to see an app that told me which address would give me the most reasonable insurance. Any takers?
My suggestion - budget something like $500/mo/person. Half for insurance and half for saving in the HSA. As a freelancer you'll likely make too much money to have any of your insurance covered by the government. It's outrageously expensive, but if you have serious health problems, a $12.7k deductible is way less than potentially ten times that in hospital bills.
As an aside - I do believe the AHA did some good. I had friends in states without a non-profit insurance provider like BCBS who simply could not leave their jobs due to pre-existing conditions. That no longer happens, thankfully. However - we can do better. It's insane that I have to weigh the monetary cost of going to the doctor in my decision to go. Of course we all go for an acute illness, but I believe there are millions with minor chronic illness that are simply not getting treated because they cost of even the most common diagnostic tests is astronomical.
That's atrocious. We're in Michigan and only pay $798/mo for a $1,500 individual /$3,000 family PPO through HAP for my wife and I. Individual deductible for ACA plans is limited to $6,600 individual and $13,200 family, so you may want to shop around for a new plan during open enrollment this year.
The deductible cap is only applicable to plans purchased through a health care exchange. He is likely on a family plan and purchased his insurance individually. similar ACA coverage would certainly carry a lower yearly deductible, however would likely double his monthly premiums. This was the case for me on my individual plan.
If he has a healthy family who does not need coverage outside of basic physicals, then its likely he purchased this plan to only cover catastrophic events, I know I would rather purchase the $500/m with 23k deductible rather then the $1000/m 13k deductible if I only planned on using coverage in the event of a horrible catastrophe.
Something's wrong here, because the out of pocket max for a year (which for BCBS of MI is not the same as the deductible) cannot exceed $13,200 a year for a family. By law.
I had a BCBS/MI family plan through the marketplace up until last month. (Silver Multi State) It cost $1,000/month and had a $6,000 (family) deductible, after which BCBS pays 80% of all costs until you hit that out of pocket max. It also allows you to bank $6,500 a year in an HSA pre-tax, which basically covers the deductible.
[edit] Forgot to mention that this plan included medical, dental, and vision.
Briefly. In the old days you just called an insurance provider and a helpful person would come to your home and explain all the intricacies. Now you have to devote a couple of days to research on infuriatingly obtuse websites. As a free lancer time is really money.
