Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Mods: Please move to proper forum if this is not posted in the correct place.

I'm relatively young, in my early-mid twenties, and play poker professionally. I am now in a situation where I have to provide for my own health insurance. Curious to hear about what other poker players are using, particularly the younger ones. The more details the better!

Thanks in advance.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Get the BLUE CROSS CASTASTROPHE insurance that will cover you on major, major medical issues.......it will cost you less than $40 a month at your age if you take a 10,000 deductible.

This will protect you from a huge financial loss........which is all you need if your in good health.

Hell, I'm pushing 50 and only pay $46 a month here in Florida for the coverage...............have had this plan for 6-7 years now.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Catastrophic type health insurance is a great idea for a healthy young guy like yourself.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Excellent. So catastrophic insurance with a $10k deductible means I basically pay for all doctor visits I might have to make in full (I probably get sick enough to go to a doctor about every 7 years) except when the cost gets above $10,000? If this is correct, I think that's just about what I need.

Any particular places to shop around for this type of insurance? I typed "Blue Cross" and "catastrophe insurance" into Google and didn't really get any specific links.

Thanks for the replies!

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Ya basically you pay up to 10k out of pocket. I had this type of insurance b4 I got married but I cant seem to remember the company it was with. Does assurant sound right?

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Check out the BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD website..........you should find the details there.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

If you're gonna get a catastrophic insurance with a huge deductible, you're might as well get an HSA-eligible health premium.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

insuring for events that you cannot pay for is really the only insurance i would get.
they include health, house, liability.
unless you think you are high risk then it may be a good bet in other circumstances.
seems best to have a very high deductable policy to cover you if something big happens.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

I'm an independent web developer and get my insurance through "Golden Rule". It could be a decent alternatively if you wanted a little bit more. I pay about $100 per month, have a $2500 deductable, get some dental/eye coverage, and get like a 50% discount on doctors visits and medicine. (the discount varries doc to doc, medicine to medicine)

If you are as healthy as you say, this is probably not the route to go. But if you go to the dentist twice a year, have eye glasses, and go to the doc once a year, this is a good plan.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

I dont really know much about it, cause insurance is the kind of stuff I hate dealing with, but I am covered and I do pay for it myself. Catastrophic something-or-other sounds about right.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Ok, I checked rates on for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. I have two options. Blue Care Co-Pay and Blue Care Co-Insurance.

For the Co-Pay one with a $10,000 deductible I would be $25 to see a doctor and 20% of the cost of the visit. This plan costs $56.03.

For the Co-Insurance Plan I would pay for everything below $10,000. This plan costs $34.07.

The Co-Insurance sounds like what was recommended here. Just making sure which I should pick since the Co-Pay isn't outrageously expensive.

Also, does anyone here have an HSA? If so, what do you think about it?

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Good luck man.......$34 a month is a bargain!

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

I've been paying $376/month, which covers pretty much all doctor and hospital visits and some dental. There's no deductible to worry about, so I just have to pay the $20 copay and sometimes some small fees.

II'm always getting injured (ride BMX), so it's nice not having to worry about deductibles. I'm not sure yet if i'm losing out in the long run.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

I currently pay a lot for COBRA from the job I left in November. It will be good until next June, it's over $450 a month. Great coverage and I have some problems, I've been in the hospital for over a week twice this year.

I'm in NY where I believe there's a law that you cannot pay a higher rate due to pre-existing conditions as long as you don't let your coverage lapse more than 60 days or something. This is a crappy law for everyone as a whole, but great for me personally. NY also has Healthy NY, which is subsidized health insurance that looks excellent (several different reputable companies and plans), for about half of what I pay now.

The problem is, I might be moving out of state soon and am wondering what will happen. If I move to a state that doesn't have the pre-existing condition law I'm assuming I can keep my COBRA, but don't know what I will do when that runs out and/or if I switch health plans now. Does anyone have any insights on this?

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

[ QUOTE ]
I currently pay a lot for COBRA from the job I left in November. It will be good until next June, it's over $450 a month. Great coverage and I have some problems, I've been in the hospital for over a week twice this year.

I'm in NY where I believe there's a law that you cannot pay a higher rate due to pre-existing conditions as long as you don't let your coverage lapse more than 60 days or something. This is a crappy law for everyone as a whole, but great for me personally. NY also has Healthy NY, which is subsidized health insurance that looks excellent (several different reputable companies and plans), for about half of what I pay now.

The problem is, I might be moving out of state soon and am wondering what will happen. If I move to a state that doesn't have the pre-existing condition law I'm assuming I can keep my COBRA, but don't know what I will do when that runs out and/or if I switch health plans now. Does anyone have any insights on this?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is a Federal law, part of COBRA itself. Feel free to move but keep in mind that if your former employer changes insurance (or their rates increase upon renewal) for it's current employees you will fall under the new plan as well and your rates may go up. One reason for them to change to a higher deductible of more costly plan would be because of excessive claims which it appears you seem to add into the likelihood of that occurance.

Jimbo

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm an independent web developer and get my insurance through "Golden Rule". It could be a decent alternatively if you wanted a little bit more. I pay about $100 per month, have a $2500 deductable, get some dental/eye coverage, and get like a 50% discount on doctors visits and medicine. (the discount varries doc to doc, medicine to medicine)

If you are as healthy as you say, this is probably not the route to go. But if you go to the dentist twice a year, have eye glasses, and go to the doc once a year, this is a good plan.

[/ QUOTE ]
I am looking to sign up for probably this same plan with Golden Rule myself. I am 21 years old and in the market for health insurance.

I was going to start a new thread about this but figured it's better to just run a search and post in an already existing thread.

Is it worth it to get health insurance at my age? 21 and not engaging in high risk activities? If I don't get health insurance now can I still get it later in life when I become more of a health risk without any consequences? Also does anyone else use Golden Rule? The plan i'm getting on will have a $100 premium and covers dental, eye, annual physicals, etc with a $1000 deductable for brand name medications.

Can someone more knowledgable chime in with comments about this plan with golden rule from their site... http://www.goldenrule.com/health_ins...lth/index.aspx

The co-play plan is detailed like a bit less than halfway through the page.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

I advise, and most poker players use www.ehealthinsurance.com

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

Mine is $22 a month with a $7,500 deductible and $25 per doctor visit.

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

I don't want to start a new thread if I do not have to but...

I have a question about "zip code" when applying for health insurance.

I own a house in Maryland
I rent in NY (currently reside here)
The majority of my income is documented in NYC

Obviously an input of NY zip code health insurance is 3times as much/month as in Maryland. My license/ID is Maryland, is there any law/requirement that says I have to apply for health insurance in NY or vise versa?

Thanks

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

just use maryland

Re: Health Insurance For A Poker Player
 

a question about coinsurance:
if i have a deductble of 10k and 20% coinsurance and i get a bill for 110k with i have to pay 30k out of pocket? (10k deductable plus 20 percent of the remaining 100k)