VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Kim Fuller · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:47 am Post subject: Health care and VO?

I've searched the archives using "heath care" "Healthcare" and "Health Insurance"....not finding much on it, though if I've missed it somewhere and anyone wants to post a link - I'll look it up.

How do those of you in the United States manage health care as VO? Via SAG/AFTRA? An independent insurance policy? How does your business structure affect your health insurance options (i.e. sole proprietorship, LLC, or...?).

bobsouer · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:49 am Post subject:

Kim,

I'm a sole proprietor. I pay for private health insurance for my family. It's in the neighborhood of $1500/month. However, I'm hoping to convert enough of my non-union work to SAG-AFTRA this year to get coverage through the union.
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:08 am Post subject:

Sole prop, $1200 per month for a family of 4 at an HMO. Your business structure has no effect on insurance rates, unless you have employees.
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Dan-O · The Gates of Troy Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 1638

Tom Test · DC Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 629 Location: Chicago, IL

We have a Health Savings Account (HSA) type policy through Blue Cross Blue Shield. Our premiums are a relatively low $450 for a family of three because we have a very high deductible of $5000 per person or $10K for the family as a whole. We put away $5K a year into the HSA account, and we use these funds to pay our out of pocket costs (and most years we burn through the $5K and then some). So in addition to our relatively lower premiums, we're paying about $400/month in out of pocket expenses in top of the premium.

So that's about $900/month for a family of three (52, 48 and 8 yrs old) non-smokers in good health. We're in Illinois, so the deal is different in different states. Also my understanding is that HSAs will be phased out due to the ACA, so I'm not clear what the future holds for us. But if you are healthy, a high deductible policy may save you a fair amount of money.
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Kim Fuller · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:18 pm Post subject:

Thanks, all. Very interesting info. We'll look into the HSA options as well. We are both currently insured through my job, but there's no knowing how much longer my job will be there, due to some changes in technology they are going through. We've got some time to investigate, at least.

Chuck Davis · Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:17 am Post subject:

1200 p/m for private health care here. That's for a family of three.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 7:37 am Post subject:

I was paying around $1850 a month for myself only (no dependents) but had a very low deductible. I decided to try to reign in my costs by increasing the deductible to the $3000-5000 range and was told that because I was "grandfathered" in, any change, even increasing the deductible, could result in my premiums going up. So I did what I should have done years ago. I dropped them and went with a new provider and now pay $750 a month.
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bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

I originally wrote a longer post explaining the "why" behind this but decided I didn't want any of that searchable on the web. So here's the short version:

My wife cut her hours at her regular job and got a part-time job at Starbucks that includes benefits. Our monthly cost is now about $250 for a family of five including dental and vision.
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Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez!!!!

For once I'm very glad to be a Brit.

Scrub that! I'm always glad, but now I'm even more so.

If it's not too personal what are your tax rates like in the States? Given the cost of healthcare, do you pay lower taxes than us? A quick guide to the UK:

We pay 17.5% vat (that's sales tax and it applies to most things except food). Income tax depends how much you make obviously, but if you set up as a limited company you can draw up to £40,000 GBP as dividends per director and pay Corporation tax at a rate of about 21%. It jumps up to 40% for the amount you draw over that threshold. Oh - you also get to draw around £7k GBP tax free per director.

Am I missing anything - oh yeah - national insurance - not sure what that is but I'm sure Mr. Banks can fill in the blanks!
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Lizden · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:59 am Post subject:

I'm a sole proprietor and pay $502 a month for me as an individual, and that's with a $5000 deductible.....and it goes up every year. Explode

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ccpetersen · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:29 am Post subject:

Colin, the issue of single-payer healthcare gets very political very fast, and since we don't get into politics here...

However, higher taxes do not necessarily equate to paying for health care for all in the current version of U.S. Politics.

Some people want them to. Others do not. Everybody has their reasons why or why not taxes should be used to pay for healthcare for all. Some reasons on both sides of the argument are very sound and merit full discussion; others are not sound, but appeal to emotion. It's a very complicated issue.

I'm not trying to be intentionally obtuse, but this is about as simple as I can make it without getting into the details and a huge political discussion.

I wish it were not that way.
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bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

Eesh, good luck figuring out what our tax rate is in the states. The federal income tax rate varies from 10%-35% depending on income but there are a ton of deductions that must be figured in. On top of that, you pay a separate federal self-employment tax of either 15.3% or 13.3% (I can't tell which applies for tax year 2012). Then there are state taxes that vary based on the state in which you live. In Missouri, where I live, the tax rate is 6%.

It's starting to add up, isn't it?

Sales tax, again, varies by where you live but usually falls between 6%-9% in most places, and it may or may not be levied on food as well as everything else. Again, depends on where you live.

I'm starting to depress myself now.

Then there are real estate taxes for houses and property you own, personal property taxes on things you own (usually cars, boats, and airplanes), and taxes on pretty much everything else you can think of.

Okay, now I really am depressed.

Oh, and here's the kicker: if you're well-to-do and can afford a high-priced accountant, you can get away with paying very little.

I'm going to throw myself off a bridge now.
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Bob Ransom
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scottnilsen · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:01 am Post subject:

And the bridge Bob is going to throw himself from came from our taxes.
Circle of life!
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:09 am Post subject:

Bob doesn't actually have to throw himself off the bridge. Bridge maintenance costs tax dollars. Therefore, there are so many that are poorly maintained, all he has to do is stand on one and wait for it to collapse. Shocked

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