Stacy Edgar is CEO and co-founder of Venteur, a company whose mission is to help employers provide the best possible health benefits for their employees. On this episode of CFO at Home Stacy and Vince discuss some of the challenges that rising healthcare costs presents for us as consumers, some basics that we should be aware of as we make decisions about healthcare coverage, and more.
Key Takeaways
- Healthcare costs can often keep individuals tied to a job for the health insurance, even if they would rather pursue an entrepreneurial venture or retire
- US Census Bureau - Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020
- 8.6 percent of people, or 28.0 million, did not have health insurance at any point during the year.
- In 2020, private health insurance coverage continued to be more prevalent than public coverage
- Between 2018 and 2020 more children under the age of 19 in poverty were uninsured in 2020 than in 2018. Uninsured rates for children under the age of 19 in poverty rose 1.6 percentage points to 9.3 percent
- Medical debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US
- Approx. 100 million Americans have some sort of medical debt
- In the last 20 years, the cost of healthcare has increased 215% for a average family of 4
- Good news:
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- There are more and more options available on the market; the price of coverage decreases due to the number of competitors in the market
- Both the Affordable Care Act and the American Rescue Plan provide more affordable healthcare options
- ACA compliant plans the doctor’s cost for well-being visits at no additional cost (physicals, etc)
- Open Enrollment
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- Don’t miss your enrollment period!
- Make your coverage choices based on your individual circumstances
- Deductible - The amount that you pay out of pocket before your insurance kicks in to cover costs
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- With a High Deductible(or Bronze) plan, the average healthy person typically will pay most of their healthcare costs out of pocket. The insurance is really more for catastrophic events
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- High Deductible plans sometimes have the unintended consequence of discouraging individuals from seeking medical care due to the out of pocket costs
- Lower Deductible plans (Silver, Platinum) have more expensive monthly premiums, have lower initial out of pocket costs
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
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- You can contribute up to $3,650 (individual) in pre-tax dollars that can be used to pay short term out of pocket medical costs or can be invested for future costs
- PPO - Fee for Service; you can go to any doctor that your health plan has contracted without a referral from a primary care physician; discounted rates for in-network
- HMO - You have to see a Primary Physician before seeing a specialist
- EPO (Exclusive Provider Organization) - Mix of PPO and HMO
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- You can see any doctor, but only in- network
Resources
Ways to connect/follow
Contact the Host - vince@thecfoathome.com
